BBQ KETO Chicken Thighs | Great As a Low Carb Dinner or For Meal Prep

This Keto BBQ chicken thighs recipe makes for an excellent family dinner! It can even be a solid low carb meal prep idea for the week too. And, this chicken thigh recipe is full of sweet, tangy, and BOLD barbecue flavors that all of us crave from time-to-time. Plus, each serving has only 5g net carbs, and it’s just so easy to make too!

Keto BBQ Chicken Thighs for Dinner or Meal Prep

As the season starts getting warmer – not that it ever gets hot here in Buffalo – barbecue cravings always begin to hit.

I love this recipe because it’s absolutely packed with flavor and definitely hits the spot when you’re in the mood for a vibrant & summery dish.

It’s got the perfect mix of sweet, savory, and tangy flavors that you really want in a good barbecue.

And, let me tell you, this low carb BBQ chicken recipe is one of the BEST keto dinner ideas you can put on the table.

It’s super filling, insanely delicious, and totally low carb so anyone in the family can enjoy it! Plus, a serving is about 2 cups worth - that’s a ton of BBQ Chicken - and has only 5g NET CARBS.

By the way, if you want to take this dinner idea to the next level, you can make some of this excellent keto coleslaw to go on the side too.

It’s keto-friendly, super easy to throw together, and I guarantee it’s one of the best low carb coleslaw recipes you’ll ever taste!

MEAL PREP

This keto chicken thigh recipe also makes a fantastic meal prep idea as well.

This recipe makes a huge batch - 6 servings worth - of chicken and veggies that you can portion out and have for lunch or dinner throughout the week.

That said, once in a while, I’ll actually “double-up” and eat 2 meal prep containers worth of the chicken. It’s that good.

Also, when I meal prep chicken, I try and eat it all within 5 days. So, doubling up helps me do that too.

By the way, when I meal prep this keto chicken, I usually pair it with some riced cauliflower. Adding the cauliflower adds even more volume - food - to each meal prepped serving. And, honestly, it’s just a match made in heaven too.

Homemade Keto BBQ Sauce

Now, I think we can all agree that the best thing about BBQ chicken has got to be that sweet & tangy barbeque sauce.

Thing is, barbecue sauce is typically made with lots of carb-heavy sugar. And, “normal” BBQ sauce just won’t cut it if you’re following a low carb diet, like keto.

So, then how do you make BBQ Chicken keto?

The answer is making a homemade sugar free BBQ sauce.

And it’s surprisingly pretty easy to make.

The Liquid ingredients

To start, we’ll want to use a quality no sugar added keto ketchup like this one.

Ketchup is one of the main components to almost every BBQ sauce, and I like to use this one because it’s got one of the lowest net carbs in any keto ketchup I’ve seen.

It also has an excellent flavor that helps make this BBQ chicken thighs recipe an absolute stand out.

Anyways, the next ingredient we’ll be adding is some vinegar.

But, we don't want to use just any vinegar. For our BBQ sauce, we’ll want to use some apple cider vinegar. And using ACV is really what’s going to round out those sweet, tangy, flavors in our BBQ sauce.

So, don’t go substituting it out with something else.

We'll also want to add some extra sweetness to our sauce by using some Brown Swerve.

Adding the Swerve will provide a deeper, richer, and sweeter flavor to our sauce, without adding any additional carbs or calories.

It's basically the keto equivalent of brown sugar. So don't leave this out!

The spices

Ok, we’ve talked about the two main ingredients for the BBQ sauce, now let’s talk about some of the spices.

Of course, to achieve that bold flavor that we talked about earlier, we’ll want to use a mix of garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, and a splash of hot sauce. You can add as much as you like depending on how fiery you want your BBQ chicken thighs to be.

Frank’s Red Hot Sauce is a great option, but you can also use any hot sauce you like.

Maybe Duff’s Hot Sauce? I heard it’s pretty darn good (wink wink).

Keto Breading For The BBQ Chicken

So, you probably weren’t expecting breading on your BBQ chicken recipe.

But trust me, it works.

This keto breading is full of savory flavors and adds another layer of deliciousness and a crispy coating that complements that BBQ sauce.

I know what you’re thinking: “But breading isn’t keto, Joe!”

Don’t worry, I’m way ahead of you.

This low carb breading is a mix of almond flour, crushed pork rinds, and grated parmesan cheese.

All totally low carb and make for a seriously satisfying keto friendly breading.

Dare I say it’s even better than regular breading?

Either way, this is probably my favorite way to achieve a crunchy low carb coating. I also use it in these addictive keto mozzarella sticks – and you should seriously consider making these if you haven’t yet.

How to make BBQ Keto Chicken thighs 

All told, there’s quite a bit of prep work needed for this recipe.

But honestly, you’ll probably only need to make this recipe just once for a whole week’s worth of BBQ chicken.

Add on a quick side of keto coleslaw or riced cauliflower, and all your dinners for the week are set!

Pretty fair deal, in my opinion.

Anyways, let’s dive into the details of this recipe! 

Chicken prep

First off, you’ll want to trim any excess fat from the chicken thighs and then cut them up into bite-sized pieces.

Also, it’s worth mentioning you can use chicken breasts for this recipe as well. So, if you decide to use those, make sure to give them a good trim as well. 

Anyways, once the chicken is trimmed, we are going to add some baking soda to it.

I know this may sound weird to some of you, but this is a technique called “velveting”. And, it’s really the secret to making the chicken insanely tender & juicy. 

That said, we’ll want to massage the baking soda into our chicken well, and make sure every piece is coated with it.

Veggie Prep

Next, we’re going to give the veggies a quick chop. 

And for today’s recipe, we’ll be using green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and yellow onion. 

So, when we’ve got those chopped up nicely, we’re going to add them to a medium-sized bowl and set them aside. 

Breading prep

Now, at this point, we’re going to get the egg wash, and the breading for the chicken thighs prepped. 

Making the egg wash is as simple as just cracking and adding 2 large eggs to a small dish, and whisking them with a fork until well combined.

Preparing the breading is about as simple to do as the egg wash. Just add all of the breading ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and then use a whisk to mix them until they’re combined.

Breading the chicken

Ok, so, now we are ready to bread the chicken. Well, almost ready.

Before we bread it, we’ll want to rinse the baking soda off of the chicken. 

Then, when we've removed the baking soda, we’re going to add the chicken to a large baking sheet lined with a paper towel. And, we’ll also want to pat the chicken dry with some paper towel as well.

Now, once the chicken is looking dry, we’re all set to dip it into the egg wash and then into the breading.

When the chicken is thoroughly breaded, that’s when we’re going to add it to a large plate/platter. And we’ll continue doing this until we run out of chicken. 

Cooking the chicken

Then, when we’ve got all of our chicken thighs breaded, we’re going to heat a tablespoon - or two - of macadamia nut oil in a large skillet/wok and start cooking it.

However, I recommend cooking it in 2 batches.

Doing this will ensure that your chicken cooks evenly, and you don’t burn it. You'll also want to start cooking our BBQ sauce at this point as well, but we'll talk more about this in a second.

Anyways, you’ll want to cook the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. When it does, add it to the largest bowl that you own, and set it aside.

Making the BBQ Sauce 

So, as I said, while the chicken thighs are cooking, we’ll want to get our keto BBQ sauce going too.

That said, we’ll want to heat the sauce over medium-high heat and whisk it occasionally as it cooks.

Eventually, the BBQ sauce will start boiling, and at that point we can turn the heat down to a simmer. Of course, we’ll want to continue to whisk the sauce as it simmers and reduces. This will take a bit of time to happen, so as the sauce is coming together, we can also cook our veggies.

Cooking the veggies

We’re going to cook our vegetables in the same pan we cooked the chicken thighs in. Cooking the veggies like this is not only going to add a bit of extra flavor to our vegetables, but it’s also going to reduce our clean up as well.

Having said that, we’ll want to add another tablespoon of macadamia nut oil to the pan, and heat it up before adding the veggies.

Then, we’re going to cook the veggies until they’re soft and slightly charred.

Mixing and Serving 

Ok, we’ve got pretty much everything set at this point. Now, we just have to put it together.

So, the first thing we’ll want to do is add our veggies to the chicken that we cooked earlier. Then we’re going to top both of those with our homemade keto BBQ sauce, and mix until combined.

And there you have it – sweet, tangy, & bold keto BBQ chicken thighs!

As I said earlier, I like to serve this stuff over cauliflower rice. It’s not only a great addition to the dish if you’re meal prepping it, but if you’re making to for dinner too. 

More Keto Meal Prep Ideas & Recipes

Meal prep has got to be one of the best ways to save you time and energy when it comes to getting dinner and lunch on the table every day.

And I also know it’s an important factor in following the keto diet successfully. So, I also have a bunch of other awesome meal prep recipes for you to try. 

For instance, another great meal prep idea is my keto meatloaf recipe! It's another great for dinner & great for meal prep recipes like this BBQ chicken one is.

And, if you happen to any extra ground beef from that recipe - the meatloaf - you can make these easy low carb meatballs. And, I can confirm, as a proud Italian American, that these saucy meatballs are fantastic!

Or, you could use the extra ground beef to make this incredible Cheeseburger Casserole Recipe.

Now, there's a good chance you’re going to want some dessert after dinner, right?!

For that, I highly recommend the sweet keto recipes in my cookbook! There are over 125 recipes in there for you to try, and most of them come together in MINUTES. 

Top-notch stuff.

And that’s it! 

I hope this chicken recipe satisfies your BBQ cravings and helps you stay on this keto journey with me!

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