The Perfect Balance of Sweet and Savory: Exploring the Deliciousness of Molasses Chicken

Molasses is a not so secret staple in most Amish kitchens. It's cheap, plentiful, and can be used as a rich flavoring in everything from baked goods to stews. I mean, at its core, molasses really is just sugar, well it's a byproduct of the sugar refining process. Geez, you wondering how this type of stuff is discovered: "gee, there's this goop that forms during the sugar refining process, let's try it and see how it tastes?" I guess. It's been around for thousands of years in some form.

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• 🍯 The Amish and Molasses
• 📜 Step-By-Step Amish Molasses Chicken
• 🍗 More Amish Chicken Recipes
• 🖨️ Full Recipe

Molasses can be used in everything from cookies to chicken and this Amish Molasses Chicken was soooooo good. I mean, often, to me, chicken is chicken. It's tough to get it really flavorful, but this was fantastic.

🍯 The Amish and Molasses

As noted, molasses is a common ingredient in Amish cooking and baking, and is used in a variety of dishes, including:

• Baked goods: Molasses is often used in Amish baked goods, such as cookies, pies, and cakes. For example, Amish Shoofly Pie is a popular dessert that is made with molasses.
• Breakfast foods: Molasses is also used in some Amish breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and pancakes. Or it can just be drizzled over granola.
• Sauces and marinades: Molasses can be used to make sauces and marinades for meats and vegetables. For example, Amish BBQ sauce is often made with molasses and other ingredients such as ketchup, vinegar, and spices.

The Amish also use molasses as a natural sweetener and to add flavor to their food. Molasses is a good source of vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, and potassium. It is also a low-glycemic index food, which means that it does not cause blood sugar levels to spike.

The Amish typically use sorghum molasses, which is a type of molasses that is made from sorghum syrup. Sorghum molasses has a slightly sweeter and less bitter taste than other types of molasses.

The Amish obtain molasses from a variety of sources, including local Amish mills and stores. They may also make their own molasses by boiling sorghum syrup until it thickens.

📜 Step-By-Step Amish Molasses Chicken

Well, the ingredients are simple. Most of the ingredients are ones you may already have in your kitchen. SIGH, I had to run out and get sour cream at the last minute. I always forget to check my ingredient list to see if I have everything and there is nothing worse than starting a recipe and realizing you don't have something.

Okay, ideally, you will mix the marinade and refrigerate it overnight. Above are the chicken breasts marinading. By the way, you don't have to use breasts. Chicken thighs, drumsticks, or other pieces work fine.

I wanted this molasses chicken for my supper and didn't see the part about refrigerating overnight. So I mixed the marinade and stuck in the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour. And the chicken still turned out fantastic, so if you don't have overnight, stick the chicken in the marinade for as long as you can.

The marinade recipe works fine as is. I didn't have quite enough molasses, so I used some dark corn syrup. Shrug. Seemed similar enough! But if you don't have molasses, well, try to use molasses. But if you don't have enough, honey would be a better substitute to add to the marinade mixture. You could also add some brown sugar or a little dijon mustard to the marinade. I used a fork to stir in the marinade to break up the sour cream, but a whisk probably would have worked better.

I set up a "dredging station" with flour and cornmeal. I used a disposable plastic pan lid that I had for the flour and it was so nice to just be able to throw it away when I was done.

The recipe said "seasoned flour", so I seasoned the flour with oregano and garlic powder. But, really, you can season the flour with any spice or seasoning you like. Spices and seasonings like pepper, salt, or kosher salt can be mixed into the flour. Or cayenne pepper if you like some heat. You'll only taste a hint of whatever you put in.

Wow this cornmeal really is what I think makes the chicken, it helps seal in the flavor and melds with the molasses to make this thick breading. And it was so so good.

Place chicken in iron skillet or some other similar pan. I did not have vegetable oil on hand for frying the chicken breasts in a skillet, so I just butter and it was fine. Olive oil would be another good choice.

I cooked it until it was golden brown and done, I think it ended up being about 8 minutes on each side on medium high heat or high heat, perfect temp for cooking chicken.

Again, this Molasses Chicken was fantastic. A lot of times I need to dip chicken in something (ranch, BBQ) to really enjoy it, but this chicken was great just on its own. The breading pieces were amazing, if they fell off the breast, I still ate them.

The chicken would pair well with potatoes, green beans, broccoli, or corn. Any leftovers, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container and enjoy the next day.

🍗 More Amish Chicken Recipes