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 apple 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. 😎
Wow. Wow. Wow. The Photo is so appealing. I’m totally drooling.
Made your honey garlic chicken for the first time. It was so easy and absolutely delightful. Family loved it. Will be a regular item in our home for sure and trying your other recipes. Thank you for making cooking fun!
I made this tonight. It’s absolutely delicious, the chicken beast were juicy and moist. Thanks Nagi. Your recipe never fails to impress x
I just made this dish tonight and me and my kids loved it!!! It was inexpensive and very easy to make. Will be saving this to my recipe box. Reminds me of honey chicken from a Chinese restaurant. Thanks a bunch.
Can you use rice vinegar? Or by cider vinegar do you mean apple cider vinegar?
Hi Rasha! I do mean apple cider vinegar but rice vinegar is fine too!
By cider vinegar do you mean apple cider vinegar??? Sorry amateur cook here.
My Family Loved this meal
That’s terrific to hear Julia! So glad you enjoyed this, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback – N x ❤️
Just made this for a quick dinner tonight…doubled the ingredients to get 6 servings (my son and his friend eats a lot!!). This was super easy, quick, and had all the ingredients in my pantry!! Very, very tasty sauce!! Thank you so much for all your delicious recipes. I think next time I’ll also add some fresh grated ginger to this. My family loves ginger and garlic.
So great to hear this was enjoyed so much!!! N x
Can I use pork shoulder, instead of chicken breast, for this recipe? Thank you.
Not for this Jeannie because shoulder needs to be slow cooked. But you can definitely make this with chops! N x
Thank you, dear Nagi, for your quick response!😘
Can I use gluten free flour for this? Will it still stick to the chicken?
I think,you can use corn flour for gluten free version. That is what i do when i cook for my MIL which has strict no gluten diet.
Oh it stated on the Notes. Please read..
I made this the other night it was a hit in my house.
Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts?
Hey! You can make it with chicken thighs, breasts are just easier to prepare if you get them boneless.
I cooked this dish for my friends – it was so simple to make and absolutely delicious!! The sauce was so sweet and complimented the chicken well. Everyone enjoyed it. Would make this dish again and again! Thank you so much.
Wow! I was skeptical but I tried it last week and have since made it three times! So easy and delicious – kids and husband never tire of it! I just don’t let them know how easy it is 😉 Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Nagi,
Is there a substitute I could use instead of the vinegar, saves me from going down to the shops 😂
So easy and super delicious!! Will definitely make again and again! Thank you!
That’s terrific to hear Cindy! Glad you enjoyed this! N x
It’s delish great recipe, didn’t have soy sauce so substituted 2tbs mollasses and used half honey half maple syrup add cooked spinach towards the end and served with wedge roasted acorn squash and brown rice. ITs amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Glad you enjoyed this one Wendy!! N x
This is a favorite in our family, we make it often 🙂
FANTASTIC!!! So glad you enjoyed this Alexis, thanks for letting me know! N x