This Chicken on a Stick recipe is a finger licking flavor explosion! It’s the perfect combination of tangy sticky sauce and juicy chicken. The first bite offers a satisfying contrast of textures with the tender chicken with a crispy exterior from grilling and the sticky sauce with the sweet and savory flavors mingling together.
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Why this Sticky Chicken on a Stick Recipe is a Keeper
I love this recipe because it’s so flavorful and perfect for summer! These are great as an appetizer or as a main dish. Wonderful for parties, potlucks and quick weekday dinners.
- 30 Minute Cook: When you’re ready to cook, throw the chicken onto the grill for just a few minutes on each side.
- Easy Ingredients: You’ll need a few easy ingredients to make this chicken marinade recipe.
- Family Friendly: Kids love the cooked chicken on the bamboo skewers; These are sure to be a hit!
- Adaptable: This recipe is super customizable to make it your own.
- Makes Great Leftovers: These tenders on each skewer are still great the next day.
If you’re looking for more grilled chicken recipes, try these Crispy Grilled Chicken Wings, Asian Grilled Chicken and Grilled Balsamic Chicken with Strawberry Salsa
How do I Know When my Chicken is Done?
The best way to tell if your Chinese chicken stick is done is by using a meat thermometer. Insert it in the thickest part of the chicken and it will read 165°F when it’s done.
Ingredient for Chicken Skewers
You will need just a few simple ingredients that might already be around your kitchen.
- Chicken Breasts: Use chicken breast for your chicken on the stick.
- Fresh Ginger: Fresh ginger will give you a more intense flavor but you can also use ginger powder if you’d like to marinade the chicken.
- Sesame Oil: If you can’t have or don’t like sesame oil, you can use vegetable oil in it’s place for this easy chicken recipe.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Variations and Substitutions for the Chicken Skewer Recipe
- Chicken Thighs: Chicken thighs will offer a bit more flavor than breasts in this sticky chicken recipe.
- Veggies: Feel free to add more veggies to this easy chicken skewer marinade.
- Vinegar: Instead of cider vinegar try white vinegar or rice wine vinegar.
Special Equipment Needed for Good Chicken Kabob Marinade
- Skewers: You can use metal skewers or wooden ones when you make this recipe for grilled chicken on a stick.
- Grill: I like to throw my teriyaki chicken appetizer on my grill outside but you can use a stovetop grill or even a campfire! Remember to preheat before cooking.
Pro Tip
Wooden skewers can burn on the grill. To prevent this, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before threading the chicken.
How to Make Chinese Chicken on a Stick
This recipe comes together in just 4 simple steps. Marinate the chicken for extra tenderness and flavor.
These are the basic steps for making Sticky Chicken on a Stick. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Mix the Marinade Make Sticky Sauce
Heat vegetable oil over medium heat in medium saucepan. Next, add onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Then add garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant.
Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes; Remove from heat and cool sauce completely.
2. Marinate Chicken
Place boneless chicken in a bag and pour half of the sauce over the chicken. Close bag and roll the chicken to make sure the chicken is coated in teriyaki marinade.
Allow the chicken to marinade in the refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight.
3. Prepare Chicken Skewers
Remove skinless chicken breasts from marinade and throw marinade away. Thread chicken onto the skewers.
4. Cook the Chicken
Pre heat your grill to medium-high and spray with cooking spray. Place chicken on grill and cook until well browned on one side. Turn chicken and baste with sauce. Grill for 5 to 7 minutes to cook per side, then turn and baste again.
Continue grilling until well caramelized and the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Remove chicken and serve with reserved sauce.
Flavorful Chicken on a Stick Recipe FAQs
Store leftover tender kabobs in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also freeze this chicken recipe for up to 6 months.
If frozen, thaw in the fridge overnight. To reheat, you can either grill, in a pan over medium heat, use the air fryer or oven until it’s the desired temperature.
Since we cut the chicken pieces before cooking, the kabobs should cook evenly on their own. However, make sure you’re rotating them every few minutes to ensure even cooking.
Your chicken could be dry because it got overcooked. Use a meat thermometer to accurately determine how done the chicken is.
Expert Tips for Making This Grill Chicken Skewers Recipe
- Double this Recipe: Increase the ingredients proportionately. You can work in batches to make cooking easier.
- Wrap in Foil: To keep your grill from getting completely sticky. wrap the kabobs in foil
- Bake: You can bake these kabobs in the oven.
- Skewers: It’s important to soak wood skewers in cold water for about a half an hour before using to prevent them burning.
- Make Ahead: The sauce can be completed 1-2 days ahead of time.
- Extra Sauce: Make some extra dipping sauce to dip your chicken tender kabobs in. I like to serve extra sauce on the side.
- Cheese: Try to grate some cheese over the kabobs!
What to Serve with Skewered Chicken
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Sticky Chicken on a Stick
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds Boneless skinless chicken, cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
- ¼ cup Onion, minced
- 8 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons Fresh ginger, grated
- ¾ cup Ketchup
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- ½ cup Soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon Red pepper flakes
- Bamboo or metal skewers
Instructions
- If using bamboo skewers, soak skewers in water for at least 20 minutes. This will prevent the skewers from burning on the grill.
- Heat vegetable oil in medium saucepan. Add onions and saute until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes; Remove from heat and cool sauce completely. (This step can be completed 1-2 days ahead of time.)
- Place chicken in a resealable bag and pour half of the sauce over chicken; reserve remaining sauce for basting.
- Close bag and knead to ensure all chicken is coated in sauce. Refrigerate for 6 hours to overnight.
- Remove chicken from marinade and throw marinade away.
- Thread chicken onto the skewers.
- Spray grill lightly with cooking spray and preheat grill on medium high.
- Place chicken on grill and grill until well browned on one side, about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Turn chicken and baste with sauce.
- Grill another 5 to 7 minutes. Turn and baste again.
- Continue grilling until well caramelized and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
- Remove chicken and serve with reserved sauce.
Christina’s Notes
- Double this Recipe: Increase the ingredients proportionately. You can work in batches to make cooking easier.
- Wrap in Foil: To keep your grill from getting completely sticky. wrap the kabobs in foil
- Bake: You can bake these kabobs in the oven.
- Skewers: It’s important to soak wood skewers in cold water for about a half an hour before using to prevent them burning.
- Make Ahead: The sauce can be completed 1-2 days ahead of time.
- Extra Sauce: Make some extra dipping sauce to dip your chicken tender kabobs in. I like to serve extra sauce on the side.
- Cheese: Try to grate some cheese over the kabobs!
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
Thanks so much for the recipe loved it definitely make it again 👍
So glad you liked it!
Yummy recipe! I served it with pot stickers and peas. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that grill clean up ( despite spraying before cooking) was a nightmare. The sauce stuck to the grates like glue! It took soaking overnight, and LOTS of scrubbing to get the grates clean.
Best ever! I didn’t realize it had to marinade for so long. I only marinated for 20 minutes. It was still very flavorful to me. Can’t wait to show this one off to friends.
Can I bake these in the oven, I have done on the grill but it is too cold now
Of course!
Can it be marinaded for more than 24 hours? My parents came over unexpectedly and took us out for supper. Do I need to grill them tonight or can I wait until tomorrow?
I wouldn’t marinate longer than the recipe states. If you want to get a jump start, make the marinade ahead of time and marinate when you’re ready to cook.
This was delicious. Served with basmati rice and zucchini. My husband said it’s one of the best dishes I’ve made.
Delicious! A great recipe! A definite repeat in the dinner rotation!
So glad you like it!
This has become a family favorite at our house. Easy to make and so flavorful!
I’m so glad you like it!
I love this recipe. Made it recently but didn’t print so I was going crazy trying to find it online again!
Everyone do yourself a favor and print it out because this will be a regular recipe. So good!
YAY! I’m so glad you loved it! It’s definitely one of our faves too!
Amazing recipe! Everyone in the family loves it.. my daughter loves the sauce so much, she’ll take it and put it over some soft noodles (like egg noodles or soba) and eat whatever table sauce we have left. Thank you for a great grilled chicken meal that everyone in my family looks forward to ☺️
Awesome!! I’m so glad your family loves it! It’s a hit at our house too!
Looks perfect for the upcoming Memorial day weekend as long as it doesn’t rain. I’m always looking for something new to try.
We love it! Enjoy!
Hi Rachel-I wanted to make these for my daughters team dinner. I was wondering if I could bake these and if they’d still be a hit??? I don’t have a grill at the school, just ovens. Please let me know. Thank You-Natalie
I think they would still be great baked!
We had people over yesterday for a cook out. My husband was grilling steaks and I made these for those of us who do not eat steak. These were amazing! Even the “steak eaters” were grabbing these. I did replace part of the ketchup with a little Siracha as we tend to like things with a little extra kick. I can see this becoming one of my go to recipes!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂 Thanks for reporting back!
This recipe sounds great but where does the 1500+ sodium come from, the ketchup?
I plan on making this tomorrow
THX
Most likely the soy sauce is the source of the sodium. I would use the low-sodium variety.
What do we do with the sesame oil in the ingredients list?
Step 4 — add remaining ingredients. That’s where you add the sesame oil 🙂
after sauteeing the ginger until fragrent, the recipe says to add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Does this include adding the raw chicken? Sorry if this came thru twice, I couldn’t tell if it went thru successfully the first time I posted.
after adding the ginger and sauteeing until fragrent, it says to add remaining ingredients & simmer for 10 minutes. Does this include the raw chicken?
Love ❤ the recipes.they taste wonderful
These are SO for me!! Pinned!
Oh my husband and I would love this! Thanks! Looks so delicious and easy!
They are soooo good!
It’s been WAY too hot too cook this past week, so we’ve been mooching & eating out a lot, too. These sound amazingly delicious I have to say!