Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken Thighs

I don't remember where I noted this recipe from but can't believe I haven't shared it here yet!  If you don't like a little kick of spicy heat here and there, you will want to lessen the amount of the ground red pepper you add.  This rings in at 446 calories for two whole chicken thighs and halving that for one thigh is only 223 calories!

Chicken thighs have a little more fat and a bit more calories than your average diet-friendly choice of chicken breasts, but they also have more flavor and are more tender.

You'll want to have a brown paper bag handy to shake your chicken up into the spice mixture perfectly!  You can just put everything in a bowl and toss to coat, but that shake-in-a-bag trick you see in the movie The Help is really nice with this one!

Spice Ingredients:

2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground red pepper  (can take down to 1/4 tsp)
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking Spray

Glaze Ingredients:

6 Tbs honey
2 tsp cider vinegar

Instructions:

Preheat the broiler to low with rack in middle of oven.

Combine all of the spice ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Place spice mixture in the bottom of a brown paper bag large enough to hold all 8 thighs.  Add the thighs, fold down the bag and shake 'er up!  You can open and check and pull out well-covered pieces so as to allow those less so to get covered on subsequent shakes!  You can also just add all ingredients into a large bowl and toss to coat but the bag method allows all of the seasoning to stick to the chicken specifically!

Cover the broiler pan with cooking spray and broil chicken at least 5 minutes on each side.  Make sure to open the thighs so they lay evenly on your pan avoiding having pieces that are so thick they will take longer to cook through.

Combine the honey and vinegar for the glaze and stir it together well with a whisk while the chicken is broiling.

After 5 minutes broiling per side with only the dry seasoning, remove the chicken from the oven or just pull it out far enough for brushing and brush the glaze onto the chicken and broil again for at least 1 minute.  Flip the chicken and repeat glazing the other side and broiling again for at least another minute.

Let me tell you, that allowing a little extra time (watching closely) so that the surface of the chicken with the glaze applied has a moment to caramelize and appear a little crispy or burned, is delicious!

Brush whatever little bit of glaze mixture is left over the top once done while still hot.

SERVES: 4 Servings
SERVING SIZE:  2 chicken thighs

Nutritional Information:  Calories 321, Fat 11 g (sat 3 g, mono 4.1 g, poly 2.5 g), Protein 28 g, Carb 27.9 g, Fiber 0.6 g, Chol 99 mg, Iron 2.1 mg, Sodium 676 mg, Calcium 21 mg