Honey Garlic Chicken is an epic 12 minute chicken breast recipe with a magic 5 ingredient Honey Garlic Sauce! This is a terrific back pocket quick dinner idea for busy nights that’s made with pantry staples. It’s quite amazing how so few ingredients can transform into such a tasty sauce for chicken!
BONUS: This can be made with any protein – beef, pork, lamb, shrimp/prawns, even tofu!
Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
This sauce for chicken breast is a variation of my Honey Garlic Salmon which has been popular with readers for many years.
If I were ever to do a summary of my top 5 Most Used Sauces, Honey Garlic Sauce would probably be right at the top of the list. I love it because it requires so few ingredients that are pantry staples, and when simmered with a seared protein in a skillet so it becomes all bubbly and syrupy…. oh WOW.
It’s just DA BOMB!!! ( <– Who talks like that at my age???! I do. Only in extenuating circumstances. Excitement over crazy delicious secret-weapon sauce falls under this category. 😎)
Terrific quick chicken breast recipe
Though I personally have a preference for chicken thighs over chicken breast (better flavour, juicier!), I find myself putting chicken breast in my shopping trolley week after week.
Thus over the years, I’ve built up a wide variety of quick and easy chicken breast recipes – and this Honey Garlic Chicken is one of my favourite quick dinners that I find myself making over and over again.
What you need
See? I told you that you’d have everything! 😉
How to make Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
Split chicken breast in half – so 2 breasts makes 4 pieces;
Dust chicken with flour (gives the chicken a slight crust so the sauce clings to it better!)
Sear chicken, add butter, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, honey.
Simmer until the sauce thickens. Turn chicken to coat in the amazing honey garlic sauce.
And THAT’S IT!
Want to BBQ it? Use this Grilled Honey Soy Chicken recipe instead.
Notice how the sauce is clinging to the surface? That’s because we dusted the chicken with flour so when it’s pan fried, it creates a crust.
What to serve with Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
There’s enough sauce to drizzle over veggies and soak into rice or whatever you serve it with. The flavour is strong enough such that you don’t need loads – a bit goes a long way!
It’s pictured above with Cauliflower Rice (tossed with a squeeze of lemon, parsley, salt and pepper) with Cucumber Salad on the side.
Even though it’s got soy sauce in the Honey Garlic Sauce, this doesn’t taste specifically Asian-y. But it’s versatile enough that it will go just as well with Fried Rice as it will with a Macaroni Salad or even Mac and Cheese. Yes really! Try it once and you’ll understand (it only takes 12 minutes, you’ve got the time!!) – Nagi x
Honey Garlic Chicken breast recipe
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 500g / 1 lb chicken breast , boneless and skinless (2 pieces)
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup flour (Note 1)
- 3 1/2 tbsp (50g) unsalted butter (or 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white or other clear vinegar)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce , light or all purpose (Note 2)
- 1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup)
Instructions
- Cut the breasts in half horizontally to create 4 steaks in total. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
- Place flour in a shallow dish. Coat chicken in flour and shake off excess.
- Melt most of the butter in a large skillet over high heat – hold back about 1 tsp for later.
- Place chicken in skillet and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until golden. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute.
- Turn heat down slightly to medium high.
- Make a bit of room in the pan and add garlic and top with remaining dab of butter. Stir garlic briefly once butter melts.
- Add vinegar, soy sauce and honey. Stir / shake pan to combine. Bring sauce to simmer, then simmer for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.
- Turn chicken to coat in sauce. If the sauce gets too thick, add a touch of water and stir.
- Remove from stove immediately. Place chicken on plates and drizzle over remaining sauce.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Honey Garlic Chicken breast recipe originally published February 2018, it has since been improved with new photos and video but no change to recipe (I wouldn’t dare, readers love it as it is!).
More quick and easy chicken breast recipes
Life of Dozer
The fish down at the beach taunt Dozer endlessly, splashing around and leaping out of the water. Sometimes he’ll be in the water swimming non stop chasing fish for an hour! It’s brilliant – no effort required on my part!
What a wonderful quick dish for any day of the week ! The sauce alone my hubby and I could have easily indulged in however we did add the chicken . Definitely a repeat in this family household
Thanks again for this delicious recipe
Great recipe!! Just wanted to mention that for this dish to be truly gluten-free, you also need to use a gluten-free soy sauce or other soy sauce alternative, such as Braggs… since regular soy sauce contains wheat. There is also a gluten-free flour blend (Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1) that works just as well as regular wheat flour for dredging. Hope this helps anyone looking for a true gluten-free meal 😊
An excellent balance of flavors. I cooked mine extra trying to get a heavy glaze. Tender too! Will make it again.
Absolutely delicious!!! Tonight was my third time making this. So so easy and everyone loves it.
Made this for a lunch with a couple of friends, it went down a treat, yummo. A definite regular for our table.
How does something so easy and simple to make, using really basic ingredients taste so delicious? Thank you Nagi for yet another wonderful recipe.
Loved this super easy and tasty recipe. Even my fussy teen gobbled it up happily with a bit of pasta. Thank you for sharing your gems with us.
Hi Nagi, is there a good way to make this a few hours ahead of time?
This is my new favorite dinner recipe. I love how quick it comes together and that I don’t have to dirty a bunch of bowls and pans to get something that tastes flavorful onto my families plates. I love it!
I made this recipe today and it was splendid and delicious. You’re right a little sauce on the rice does go a long way.
This was delicious and easy to make. This is my second time making it and the family loves it. I served it with fresh green beans and white rice. I also made extra sauce to pass for the rice, next time I will make it as directed and make a side of the sauce as it did not set up carmalized on the chicken like it did the first time. Was still yummy though! Thanks!
I’m trying the parmesan crusted chicken tonight!
I made this recipe for dinner last night using chicken thighs. Even though my husband is not a huge fan of honey garlic he loved it and requested it be added to our favourites.
This recipe was enjoyed by all! Great flavor and a wonderful way to stretch out two chicken breasts.
NO RUBBER! Found this recipe when looking for inspiration after purchasing some discounted chicken breast fillets. Best part is I think I can adapt the technique with other flavors, and “eyeball” ingredients in the future for more time savings. A delicious recipe AND a cooking lesson. My thanks!
This is the first time I’ve made chicken breast I actually enjoyed eating! Simple and delicious 🙂
So good and so easy peasy. It’s a keeper 😊
Made this tonight for the first time. My kids loved it! The flavour was exceptionally delicious. Can’t wait to put this in the regular dinner rotation. You’ve done it again Nagi! Thank you.
This recipe was so easy and absolutely delicious. I’m not the best cook and my poor family tolerates my meals most of the time but this time they all wanted seconds and cleaned their plates!
Made this tonight, first recipe from tineats. Followed the recipe exactly, watched the vid first – away I went. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER. This is a simple, tasty recipe that we both loved. Can’t wait to make it again soon. First recipe for yonks that actually looked like the pics on your website. Nagi, you are making us want to try new things from your website – we are both 67 and feel like we are new cooks. Thank you.