Honey Garlic Chicken is an epic 12 minute dinner with a 5 INGREDIENT SAUCE made using pantry staples. Juicy seared chicken breast smothered in the most incredible Honey Garlic Sauce, this is a brilliant back pocket recipe for busy nights!
Originally published February 2018, post tidied up 8 September 2018 but no change to recipe (I wouldn’t dare, readers love it as it is!).
Another addition to my 15 Minute Meals collection! This Honey Garlic Chicken is long overdue. The Sauce in this is a variation of my Honey Garlic Salmon which I first shared way back when I started this website.
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.😎)
HOW TO MAKE HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN
- Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, dust with flour (makes sauce cling 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!
It really is that crazy simple.
The chicken in this recipe is dusted with flour before searing, and while it is an optional step, I really do encourage you to do this. The flour creates a crust that the sauce can cling to, so the chicken is smothered with the sauce. If you just sear plain chicken, the sauce just sort of slips off – which is fine, you can scoop it up with each bite. But it’s even better when the sauce is clinging to the chicken!
There’s enough Honey Garlic Sauce to squidge your veggies into as well as drizzling over your rice or mopping up with a bread roll. Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
MORE QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN BREAST RECIPES
Sun Dried Tomato Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast
Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast (great staple recipe)
Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Recipe video above. An incredible quick and easy way to serve up chicken breast - seared then simmered in the most amazing honey garlic sauce. Don't be deceived by the short ingredient list! It's absolutely worth the extra step of dusting the chicken with flour because it creates a crust for the sauce to cling to.
- 500 g / 1 lb chicken breast , boneless and skinless (2 pieces)
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup / 60g flour (Note 1)
- 50 g / 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter (or 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar (or white or other clear vinegar)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce (or all purpose, Note 2)
- 1/3 cup / 90g honey (or maple syrup)
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Cut the breasts in half horizontally to create 4 steaks in total. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
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Place flour in a shallow dish. Coat chicken in flour and shake off excess.
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Melt most of the butter in a large skillet over high heat - hold back about 1 tsp for later.
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Place chicken in skillet and cook for 2 - 3 minutes until golden.
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Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute.
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Turn heat down slightly to medium high.
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Make a bit of room in the pan and add garlic and top with remaining dab of butter. Stir garlic briefly once butter melts.
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Add vinegar, soy sauce and honey. Stir / shake pan to combine. Bring sauce to simmer, then simmer for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.
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Turn chicken to coat in sauce. If the sauce gets too thick, add a touch of water and stir.
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Remove from stove immediately. Place chicken on plates and drizzle over remaining sauce.
1. Make this gluten free by using cornflour / cornstarch instead. It won't brown quite as evenly but once covered in sauce, you won't know the difference.
2. Light or all purpose soy sauce is suitable for this recipe. I don't recommend using Dark Soy Sauce (flavour will dominate).
3. Nutrition per serving, assuming you scrape every drop of Sauce from the pan, and why wouldn't you? 🙂
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. 😎
Any reason that you specified breasts? Wouldn’t it work with boneless skinless thighs?
Hey Nagi
I do the cooking at home and my daughter approved the taste. Simple but onolicious. Going to try it at a tailgate party. Let you know how it goes. Thank you for sharing!.
This dish was outstanding! Tons of flavor and very simple to make.
Loved it! 🙂
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. Could I slow cook it?
I haven’t tried, sorry Rebecca!
I’ll have a go. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Like many, I am a big fan of your recipes. Tried this last week with your mushroom rice as the side. It was excellent. 🤗
That’s SO GREAT to hear Kirsty! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N xx
Fast, easy and delicious dinner!
That’s so great to hear Carol!! So glad you enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
My family loved this! My kids ate every piece of chicken i couldn’t believe it. I made double the amount of sauce as we really love our sauce, i also added extra garlic too lol.
Can I leave the vinegar out? That’s the only thing I’m missing to nah or this recipe 😥
You need some kind of vinegar – do you have anything?? Even balsamic! Rice vinegar! White vinegar! Anything!!
Fantastic, nice quick and easy meal we really enjoyed it thank you.
That’s terrific to hear Lydnsay! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
I just made this, I mean really the taste is still in my mouth. This was one of the best meals! Thank you for this recipe it is definitely a keeper.
That’s terrific to hear Alicia ! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
You cannot make it gluten free by just substituting the type of flour you use. You also must substitute the soy sauce with a gluten free soy (tamari). Soy sauce is made from a wheat base!
Hi Nagi! Hubby and I absolutely love your food blog and we’re so grateful you’ve shared your talents through this wonderful resource. We absolutely love this recipe, but each time I make it the sauce doesn’t seem to come out as glossy and runny as yours? I’ve been following the proportions closely but it always come out very thick and gluggy, like its been sitting in the fridge overnight and formed jelly clumps if you know what I mean. Flavours are still absolutely delicious, but I would just love to get the same consistency as yours. Any tips would be really appreciated!