With the prices of just about everything else going up at the grocery stores, chicken is one of the few things that has remained reasonable for some of the pieces. Boneless chicken breasts remain high-priced, in my opinion, but you can get legs and thighs for a very good price, bone-in breasts are reasonable, and you can always get a whole chicken and cut it up yourself to get several meals out of it and then some stock as well. In any case, I have been stocking up on legs and thighs lately so I have also been scouring around looking for new recipes to try to get some different tastes and flavors so it doesn’t seem like we are eating the same thing several times a week. I cam across this recipe on the Internet not long ago from The Beeroness for a honey chili beer chicken that looked great, so I thought I would give it a try.

Honey Chili Beer Chicken

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup sliced onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup brown ale, divided in half

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon red chili sauce (such as Sriracha), plus additional if desired

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onions and caramelize the onions over medium heat, mixing occasionally, until the onions are a nice golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and then add 1/2 cup of the brown ale, the balsamic vinegar, the honey and the chili sauce. Simmer the mixture until it is reduced and thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the sauce from the pan and set the sauce aside.

Sprinkle the chicken thighs on all sides with the salt, pepper and all-purpose flour to coat the thighs well. Increase the heat of the stovetop to medium-high, place the chicken thighs in the now-empty cast iron skillet and cook the chicken thighs until they are browned on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Pour the sauce back into the cast iron skillet with the chicken along with the remaining 1/2 cup of the brown ale. Cover the skillet loosely with a lid, lower the heat of the stovetop to maintain a simmer in the skillet and allow the chicken to cook until the chicken thighs are cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes, turning the chicken once during the cooking process. Remove the chicken and sauce to a platter and serve.

The sauce that you make with this chicken is really good. You get a great combination of flavors from the brown ale, the balsamic and the honey and a little bit of heat from the chili sauce to round it all out. Add in the sweetness of the caramelized onions and it seems just perfect. I am sure you could do this meal with boneless chicken breasts if you wanted to or even just make the sauce to use over something like chicken wings or drumsticks and get the same great results. The sauce might even go well with some pork chops if you wanted to give that a try as well. It was a quick, easy way to make good use of chicken and gives you some great options when you are looking for something different to try for your meal. I used a lighter ale than the recipe called for, Smithwick’s, because that is what I had on hand, but I think you could use just about any type of ale and it would work well here.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I have lots of things I have tried lately, including a bunch of chicken recipes, and I just got the latest issue of Cook’s Country (my personal favorite cooking magazine) and it has some great chicken recipes to try along with some other great options, so I will be giving a bunch of those a shot as well. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!