I never thought I would ever turn to Food Network’s Italian beauty, Giada de Laurentiis for BBQ recipes, but she certainly surprised me with this one. I saw it in her book, Giada’s Kitchen, and I was drawn in by her balsamic BBQ sauce. I tweaked her recipe a bit by reducing the sugar content (using tomato sauce instead of ketchup and reducing the sugar by half), but feel free to add more if you like your BBQ sauce super sweet.

I loved this sauce. The balsamic vinegar gave this a tangy punch in the face. A good punch in the face, though.  It’s probably one of the best BBQ sauces I’ve ever had. My kids LOVED this chicken (and the sauce, which they ate mostly with their fingers), and I had a hard time to get them to eat anything else I made that night.

Chicken with Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces or 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the BBQ sauce:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
8 oz can of tomato sauce
3 T brown sugar, honey, or molasses
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T Worcesterchire sauce
1 T Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Combine all of the BBQ sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Whisk until thoroughly combined, then simmer over medium heat until it's reduced by about a third. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, reduce heat to medium-low. It'll take 15-25 minutes for the sauce to thicken up and coat the back of a spoon.

Meanwhile, preheat a stove-top grill pan or outdoor BBQ to medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Transfer 1/2 cup of the finished BBQ sauce to a small bowl. Place the chicken on the grill for about 10 minutes per side, brushing chicken with the 1/2 cup (or more) BBQ sauce for the last 2-3 minute of cooking.

Transfer chicken to a serving platter and serve with remaining BBQ sauce.

Serves 4.

Nat's Notes:
1. I like to butterfly my chicken or slice it in half horizontally to create thinner pieces. It cooks faster this way and you have a higher BBQ sauce to meat ratio.

adapted from Giada's Kitchen by Giada de Laurentiis