Sticky Guinness Chicken
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Want some finger-lickin’ good sticky Guinness chicken? Tender chicken thighs are seared to perfection and then bathed in a delicious sticky sauce, infused with deep and complex flavors from your favorite Irish beer. Guinness melds with honey, ketchup, and balsamic vinegar to create a well-balanced glaze that’s rich and savory, with a hint of sweetness. Everyone will be coming back for seconds.
With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, pouring Guinness into dinner feels like exactly the right move. This Guinness chicken is one of my favorites because it delivers big flavor with very little effort — always a win.
As the chicken cooks, the Guinness reduces into a rich, BBQ-style sauce with a subtle smokiness that coats everything beautifully. I like to serve it with a simple salad and some potatoes for an easy, crowd-pleasing dinner that disappears fast.
For another recipe that uses Guinness, try this deep, complex Guinness Irish chili next.
Ingredients needed
Guinness chicken is made from just a handful of simple, kitchen-staple ingredients. This is all you need:
- Guinness chicken: A cup of Guinness and boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Other ingredients: Ketchup, honey, balsamic, dijon mustard, garlic cloves, and cooking oil.
Variations
Guinness chicken can be flexible – whether you can’t find Guinness, have chicken breasts in the fridge, or want a gluten-free variation, there are some modifications you can make:
- Beer: While Guinness beer adds a distinctive flavor to this recipe, you can use other beers if you have trouble finding Guinness. Experiment with another dark stout, porter, or dark beer for a similar result. Just keep in mind that the flavor profile may vary slightly depending on the beer used.
- Chicken: While boneless, skinless chicken thighs are recommended for their tenderness and flavor, you can use chicken breasts. Cut the breasts to smaller pieces if you’d like. You could also make this with chicken wings by pouring the glaze over baked wings – just adjust the cooking time for different cuts.
- Gluten-free: Guinness does contain gluten, but it is possible to find gluten-free stouts. If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, you’ll need a gluten-free beer. Ensure that other ingredients, such as the ketchup and balsamic vinegar, are gluten-free as well. Always double-check ingredient labels to confirm.
More recipes using Guinness
The dark, rich, and complex flavor profile of Guinness allows it to add so much depth to recipes. If you’re buying Guinness to cook with, you’ll usually find them in packs of four. This means that after you use a can of Guinness for this chicken dinner, you’ll have more cans left to use for other delicious recipes! Here are some of our favorites:
What to serve with Guinness chicken
Guinness chicken is a great main course and the star of the show, so you’ll want to serve it with sides that can soak up the Guinness sauce, like roasted garlic mashed potatoes or some crispy roasted potatoes.
Add some veggies or salad to round out the meal, like broccoli coleslaw or a spring mix salad. Guinness chicken also works well with parmesan corn on the cob or sweet potato wedges.
Cheesy cheddar cauliflower will keep the Irish flavors going – soak up the sauce with some whole wheat Irish soda bread. Finish the evening with a Guinness chocolate cake.
Recipe FAQs
Should I cover the chicken while it cooks?
It’s best to cook the chicken uncovered as this will allow the sauce to thicken.
Can I use maple syrup instead of honey?
You can! Feel free to sub the honey for maple syrup if that’s what you have in your pantry.
How do I store leftover Guinness sticky chicken?
Store leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container. You can also use a freezer-proof container to freeze leftover Guinness chicken for up to three months.
Sticky Guinness Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Guinness
- ¼ cup EACH: ketchup and honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Instructions
- Add the Guinness, ketchup, honey, balsamic, dijon, and garlic to a small pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until it starts to thicken.1 cup Guinness, ¼ cup EACH: ketchup and honey, 2 tablespoons balsamic, 2 teaspoons dijon mustard, 2 cloves garlic
- While the sauce is simmering, start the chicken. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and brown it on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Drain the fat from the pan.1 tablespoon cooking oil, 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Reduce the heat to medium and then pour the slightly thickened Guinness sauce over the chicken and continue to cook the chicken, uncovered, turning it over a few times so the sauce coats both sides, for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce reduces and is thick and sticky.
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Excellent!
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it—Guinness really makes the chicken rich and flavorful, doesn’t it?
This was soooooo delicious!! I had no trouble with the sauce thickening at all. I used a nice big stainless steel skillet so all of the thighs were in one layer, and the sauce was spread out and could reduce faster. The only minor change I made was I salted the thighs before I browned them. Otherwise everything was the same. Thank you so much for this recipe! It is going into my regular rotation 🙂
It took a while for the sauce to thicken but when I turned up the heat towards the end, it turned into a perfect glaze that coated the chicken. It was delicious 🙂
Very successful St. Patrick’s Day dish! took a little longer than the estimate provided, because the sauce needed more time to thicken.
Can I substitute maple syrup for honey? I’m low on honey and funds! Lol
That should work just fine!
Will try to cook this recipe on this coming new year but im planning to replace the chicken with port. Any changes to suggest from the standard recipe, please let me know asap. Thank you.
Hi Rosbe. I would sear the pork chops first. Then remove them from the pan, make the glaze, then add the chops back into the pan. Basically, follow the recipe for our honey garlic pork chops but use the sauce ingredients with this Guinness chicken recipe. I hope that helps!
Hi Kristen, I wld love to make this Guiness with chicken wings instead of the thighs. Does the recipe need any additions and/or deletions. Ty!
Chicken wings do need to be cooked differently. Here’s what I would do. Start with this recipe here: https://www.theendlessmeal.com/sweet-and-sticky-honey-garlic-chicken-wings/
But instead of making the honey garlic sauce, make the sticky Guinness sauce and pour it over the chicken when the wings recipe says to add the honey garlic sauce. You may have more sauce than you need but you can decide how much to use. 🙂
Hi, how long would the sauce keep please in an air tight jar? I’d love to make some and send it down for my dad (he lives in the south of England and I’m in the north of Scotland) so it would be in transit for a couple of days.
Thanks in advance ?
I’ve never tried making and storing the sauce, so I can’t say for sure. The ingredients are similar to a bbq sauce though, and that would last for about 2 weeks in the fridge. If you’re concerned, you could always can it in a water bath, and then you’ll know it’s shelf-stable for a long time!
Hoping you can tell me how much of the alcohol will burn out of this sauce. This looks delicious but I don’t want to make it and feed it to the family with my toddler unless the alcohol will be removed during the cooking process. Thank you in advance for any help you are able to provide me with.
Alcohol generally burns off when cooking. It a recipe that I serve to my toddler, if that helps!
Delicious, quick and easy
So happy to hear that the recipe was a hit!
I, too, had some difficulty getting the sauce to thicken while simmering in the pot. However, once we poured it over the chicken on higher heat it did reduce down and thicken a bit. It never got to “sticky,” but I am going to blame that on my error somewhere. We used chicken breasts instead of thighs, and due to the high heat cooking with the sauce some parts of it looked burned, but the taste was still wonderful. I may need to experiment some more in my skill with this recipe, but it’s still a wonderful recipe! We may add 1 tbsp of brown sugar to the sauce next time (just for preference). Half the fun of cooking is the experimentation! Thanks for providing such a great recipe for us to use up some Guinness.
I’m so happy you liked the recipe! My guess is the chicken breasts are what caused the sauce to not thicken as much. The often release more liquid than thighs when cooking. 🙂
So happy you liked it!!
Mine didn’t get thick no matter how long I boiled it before or with the chicken. What did I do wrong or what can I do to thicken it next time. Husband loved the taste but it was more like thin soup than a thick sauce.
How long did you boil it for? Once the liquid evaporated (from boiling it) then it has to thicken. If a sauce is taking longer than I think it should I’ll sometimes increase then heat so it rapid boils and then it’s usually only a minute or two till it thickens.
Hello, my sauce also didn’t thicken on first attempt. I ended up the next time pre-baking the chicken with salt pepper and cornstarch coating. Then dipping the chic in the sauce and baking a little further. It has a great taste!
Did she cook with a lid on, that can make a big difference.
That’s a great point! The lid needs to be off for the sauce to thicken.
Love this Recipe I did it with chicken breast and I love
I’m so happy you liked the recipe! Good call on the chicken breasts, too!
Thought I would try making this tonight, I only have skin on and bone in thighs. Will this still work?
If you want the chicken smothered in the sauce, I would pull the skin off the chicken as it won’t be nice and crispy since the chicken cooks in the sauce. Bone in is totally ok!
The other thing you could do is crisp the skin in the pan first then pour the sauce into the pan being careful not to get any on the skin. Then cook the chicken without turning it so the skin stays crispy.
Both ways would work!