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!
I had run out of honey so I used treacle- it actually tasted really good! Bit worried, but everyone said it tasted better than when I made it with honey!
I love this recipe! I will definitely make it again.
I probably used a little extra honey- but that’s never a problem.
I par-roasted broccoli with some olive oil and garlic and onion salt and pepper. Then I added the broccoli and coated in the honey sauce. I think it was the perfect complement to the chicken.
Have you made this but marinade in the lemon honey marinade/ dressing first?
I wouldn’t marinate in this recipe Tyler because you need to brown the chicken breasts and seal them before cooking them in the sauce. I have these recipes if you are looking for a chicken marinade: https://www.recipetineats.com/honey-soy-chicken-marinade-sauce-grilled/. and https://www.recipetineats.com/lime-marinated-grilled-chicken/ N x
Hi! What’s the best way to make this when I double the recipe but have a skillet that can’t hold all the meat?
This was the first recipe in a long time that I found online that came out really good. I made whole grain rice and once cooked used the drippings in the pain to flavor the rice and tossed in green beans.
It was off the charts amazingly delicious. My fiancé and I loved it. Definitely will be making this again!!
This came out great! A bit too sweet for my tastes but it’s probably because I went very easy on the vinegar (someone in my household really can’t stand the flavour) and I didn’t reduce the honey as much as I should have. Next time I’ll try with slighly less honey and more soy sauce, but regardless it was delicious
Made this with diced chicken breast and my whole family liked it so much they asked me to add to the rotation. Thanks for providing a simple super tasty recipe. Served with roasted broccoli and fries.
I’m a vegetarian so no idea how to cook meat but starting on this learning curve for my husband. I’ve tried your baked chicken recipe and its always a big hit! This recipe also looks amazing and easy. Naive question, with this skillet method, how long do you cook the chicken and how do you know it’s properly cooked through?
Nagi, Nagi, Nagi, You never disappoint. I Googled Chicken recipes and looked at yours first and thought “well that looks yummy” but then I made the mistake of looking at “60 chicken recipes” on another site and ended up right back where I started. Husband LOVED it!! Only thing I did different was to add about 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes to compliment the Sweet/Salty/Spicy taste I crave. Thank you once again!!
I am making this recipe as we speak and I too added red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit. So yummy!
lol same i think we did the same things and on the same websites
you might want to mention in Notes that to mage it gluten-free soy sauce has to replaced with gf one as well 🙂
Is there a way to make more of this, say in bulk/for meal prep? I’m feeding three very hungry adults (who love this recipe by the way!) and I like to prep a few things for rotation during the week. Is there maybe a way to do this in the oven with several steaks on a baking sheet?
Thanks!!
Great recipe but add less honey! This was too sweet the first time I made it!
I’m making this tonight! But do you think it would be good in the air fryer?
This was absolutely delicious! I added about a tbs of flour to the sauce to thicken it up a bit and it was perfect! I served it with mashed potatoes & balsamic glazed carrots. Will definitely make again 😊
This was so flavorful, quick and easy to make. It will go into the family favorites rotation! I can’t wait to try it on different proteins.
This recipe was delicious! Easy to make. Husband is not a big fan of honey, so will try with the maple syrup next time. I asked my son if he liked it, and he said yes and would not be opposed to having it again!
Just a comment that in order to make this glutin free have to check the soy sauce as well, (just learning this as a close relative is now not able to have glutin)
The first time we thought it was delicious, but this time we added some red pepper and we like it even better. Thanks for all your delicious recipes.
You are very welcome! N x