Cook Time: 20 minutes Difficulty: Easy

Move over BBQ chicken, and say hello to Spicy Cherry Chicken, featuring Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam and a few pantry items! This easy sweet, spicy chicken recipe is baked in the oven but can also be grilled (unless it is sub-zero outside, where grilling is no fun!).

Grilling is my hubby's thing. Our family usually grills year round, but at 19 degrees, as it was here the other day in Pennsylvania, with a wind-chill factor of something crazy, it was even too much for my die-hard grilling hubby. Of course, my craving for BBQ chicken occurred on the coldest day of the year, so we baked the chicken instead and stayed nice and toasty inside;).

One problem, we were out of our favorite bottled BBQ sauce;( So, what's a gal to do? Improvise! One missing ingredient was not worth braving the Tundra to the grocery store, so I improvised with what I had in the pantry, ketchup, Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam, and liquid smoke! Holy Smoke (pun intended), it worked!

The chicken legs were juicy, tangy, and delicious; I may never return to store-bought BBQ sauce again, friends! Homemade is so much better, even baked! So stock up on Cherchies® Hot Pepper Jams (Cherry, Cranberry, or Strawberry), and the next time you crave a sweet and spicy BBQ chicken (even if it is sub-zero outside), you will have all the ingredients for this Spicy Cherry Chicken Recipe, ready at a moment's notice.

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Ingredients

1 package of chicken legs or chicken breasts
1 Tablespoon Cherchies® Garlic Seasoning Blend
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam (could also substitute Cherchies® Strawberry Hot Pepper Jam, or Cherchies® Cranberry Hot Pepper Jam)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon (tsp) liquid smoke
1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the Cherry Hot Pepper Jam, ketchup, and the liquid smoke. Place chicken on a baking sheet and drizzle the chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle the chicken with Garlic Seasoning and pepper. Brush half of the ketchup mixture over the chicken, reserving the other half for later in the baking process.

Bake chicken for 15 minutes. Remove chicken briefly from the oven and brush on the remaining sauce and finish cooking for another 15 minutes or until thermometer reads 165 degrees. Once chicken is removed from oven, allow it to sit for 10 minutes.