This Chicken in a Hurry recipe (also known as "Chicken Hurry" ) is one of my family's very favorite quick and easy weeknight meals. It's so quick and easy to make with a few ingredients like boneless thighs, onion soup mix, ketchup, and brown sugar, with only 5 minutes of prep.
This recipe is great for any time of the year, but especially for back to school/fall and winter, (or when it cools down enough that I can actually turn on my oven again) and for busy weeknights in general. I love that this easy chicken recipe only requires a few ingredients and I can throw it together in 5 minutes or make it in advance and either leave it in the fridge or freeze it.
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If I'm not making up my own recipes, I find many recipes online these days. However, I also get my recipes from the cookbooks I have received as gifts from my Grandma over the years.
Many of them are favorite recipe collections compiled by Ladies Auxiliary groups, Legions, and Centennial cookbooks. And most of them are from rural Manitoba, where my Grandma spent her entire life, either on the farm or in a small town. This recipe is from one of those books; books that I will always cherish. It's also a recipe many members of my family (My Mom, Aunts, and Grandma love to make regularly)!
🥗 Side dishes
This Chicken in a Hurry recipe is the perfect busy weeknight dinner and pairs perfectly with simple minute rice, brown rice, white rice, or mashed potatoes and a garden salad (I use a spring mix and grape tomatoes), especially if I'm also in a big hurry. But it's also delicious with these side dishes:
- Green beans and Mushrooms (shown)
- Sweet Potatoes
- Quick Cucumber Kimchi
- 3 Ingredient Onion Baked Potatoes in Foil, Caesar Twice Baked Potatoes, or plain baked potatoes
- Skinny Coleslaw Recipe
🥘Ingredients
The beauty of this onion soup mix chicken recipe is that you only need 5 ingredients!
- skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- ketchup
- water
- brown sugar
- dry onion soup mix *I use Lipton onion soup mix, but you can use any brand
See recipe card for quantities.
📋Variations & Substitutions
- Chicken - If you only have chicken thighs with skin on them, you can easily take it off and use them for this recipe. You could also substitute large chicken breasts or chicken legs (skin removed) in place of thighs. Bone in chicken thighs also works, but may take 10-15 minutes longer to cook (just be sure it's cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F)
- Spicy - if you like spicy, you can add red pepper flakes or hot sauce
🔪Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees F and spray the bottom of a small roaster or casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken pieces in a roaster or casserole dish in a single layer.
- In a small bowl combine ketchup, water, brown sugar, and dry soup mix together in a bowl.
- Pour sauce over chicken pieces.
- Seal with aluminum foil.
- Cooking Time: Bake for 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink inside [internal temperature of 165 °F (74 °C) ]
- Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired. Serve warm.
🍽 Equipment
You can use a small oval roaster (affiliate link) a lasagna/roasting pan (affiliate link) or any casserole dish or baking dish (affiliate link) to make this recipe. I like to make this chicken in my small roaster and then transfer it to a nicer-looking casserole dish when I serve it.
🌡️Storage
- This leftover chicken recipe with onion soup mix can be stored with the sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you make rice to go with this recipe, keep the rice stored in a separate container in the fridge.
- This recipe freezes well for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
💭Top tip
Make sure you tightly seal the roaster/pan with aluminum foil (shiny side facing the chicken inside the pan) before putting it in the oven. This will ensure it cooks evenly and quickly.
👪 Serving size
This easy dinner recipe serves 8. However, if you have a teenage son, as I do, it will feed 4-6 :). You can also cut this recipe in half by adjusting the serving size on the recipe card. Just click on the serving size (it's highlighted in blue) and select the number of servings you’d like. But you'll probably end up wanting to double the recipe because it's seriously that good! Then you can freeze half the recipe for another busy weeknight meal.
🔢WW Points
Use boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs to make this recipe more WW friendly (as they are 0 points). Just switching to chicken breasts will bring this dish down to 5 WW points (from 10). You can further reduce the points by using a sugar substitute and sugar-free ketchup (if you are comfortable with using artificial sweeteners.)
🦺Food safety
- Cook chicken to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C) . Temperature is the very best way to check for doneness. I use this instant read thermometer- (affiliate link) it's great for everything food related!
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched the raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
So if you're looking for a quick and easy baked chicken dinner or a delicious and easy chicken with onion soup mix recipe that the whole family will love, this Chicken Hurry recipe is the one!
You might also like my Honey Lime Chicken. It's also a simple recipe, made with pantry ingredients and chicken thighs.
📋 Chicken in a Hurry Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 56 g -of dry onion soup mix * 2 - 28 g packages of onion soup mix
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees F and spray the bottom of a small roaster or casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place chicken pieces in roaster or casserole dish.
- Whisk ketchup, water, brown sugar and dry onion soup mix together in a bowl.
- Pour sauce over chicken pieces.
- Seal with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 1 hour or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees F/74 degrees C.
Garnish (optional)
- Garnish with fresh parsley
Notes
Nutrition
🐓More Quick Chicken Recipes
Vanessa
With back to school and back to routine, quick dinners like this are always a life saver! All I need to do is throw some rice on and toss a quick salad together and dinner is done!
nancy
back to school / work / fall season - perfect for those busy nights!
Sally
Made this last night and it was delicious - just wish the sauce was not so runny. Will cut back the water next time.
Terri Gilson
Hi Sally,
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, just cut back a bit on the water if it's too watery. I find if my chicken isn't completely thawed out, I need to use less water.
Thanks,
Terri