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Honey Soy Chicken – Marinade & Sauce (excellent grilled!)

By:Nagi
97 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

This is a recipe for everybody’s favourite Honey Soy chicken marinade. It does everything you expect from a marinade (tenderises, adds flavour), and gives it a lovely lacquered finish. But that’s not all! We’ve also got a glossy honey garlic sauce to smother the chicken and everything else on your plate.

This is particularly excellent grilled, but for everyday purposes just cook it on the stove!

Pour honey soy sauce over chicken

Honey Soy Chicken – marinade and sauce

This is a Honey Soy chicken marinade I’ve been using for most of my adult life which is direct copycat of the store bought bottled marinades.

Except unlike store bought where a quick inspection of the label reveals it contains a mere 0.5% of honey (I felt so indignant when I saw this!!), this is actually made with plenty of honey!!!

(In case you are wondering, most of the sweetness comes from cheap syrups like glucose or golden syrup)

This is my Rolls Royce of Honey Soy Chicken recipes. For midweek, I use my quick no-marinade stove and baked versions.

Honey soy garlic marinade and sauce

Honey soy garlic sauce and marinade

What you need for Honey Soy Chicken

Here’s what you need for this Honey Soy Chicken. I feel like there’s a good chance you already have all these ingredients!!

Honey Soy Chicken ingredients

Chinese cooking wine (“shoaxing wine”) is the secret ingredient here. Without it, you will really notice that the flavour is a bit too one dimensional, especially the sauce. Used in practically all cooked Chinese recipes – such as stir fries and noodles.

Substitutes in order of preference (best first) – dry sherry, Mirin, cooking sake. Best non alcoholic substitute is chicken stock.

Some Recipe Trivia! You don’t need cooking wine when making Honey Soy Chicken on the stove or in the oven because you cook the chicken in the sauce and this gives the sauce greater depth of flavour. But when cooking on the BBQ, we don’t have that option so both the sauce and the marinade needs an extra dash of flavour which we get from the Chinese cooking wine.

Though this recipe particularly caters to grilled chicken, it’s still excellent for stovetop cooking when you want a premium version of the stove or oven version (this has more sauce and marinating adds flavour).

How to make Honey Soy Chicken

And here’s how it’s made –

  • mix up a batch of the sauce

  • save some for basting (so it’s not tainted by uncooked chicken)

  • save some to make the sauce

  • use the rest for marinating

Do not use residual marinade to make the sauce or for basting. For basting, we need clean sauce for hygiene purposes (because we do frequent basting in this recipe). For the Sauce, if you boil the used marinade the sauce comes out murky – just not pleasant.

How to make Honey Garlic Chicken

Plate of honey soy garlic chicken with a side of pineapple fried rice

What to serve with Honey Soy Chicken

The rice you spy in the photo above is Pineapple Fried Rice! is coming on Wednesday! It’s a dead set perfect match with this chicken. 🙂

But don’t fret! This is a chicken dish that’s highly versatile – it’s semi Asian but also totally Western, so it’s the sort of dish that will go with anything from Fried Rice to Macaroni Salad, the Greek Chickpea Salad I shared a couple of weeks go, or even an Asian Vermicelli Noodle Salad.

You get the drift – it will suit many many sides! Here are some ideas:

SIDE DISH SUGGESTIONS

Close up of Marinated Grilled Vegetables
Incredible BBQ Grilled Vegetables – marinated!
Close up of Egg Fried Rice in a wok with a wooden spoon, fresh off the stove
Fried Rice
Close up of Vermicelli Noodle Salad with cabbage, carrot, beansprouts, coriander, chilli with an Asian dressing
Vermicelli Noodle Salad
Close up of spoon scooping up Mashed Potato
Creamy Buttery Mashed Potato
Fluffy coconut rice in a white bowl, ready to be served.
Coconut Rice (fluffy, not gluey!)
Close up of seasoned rice with butter, ready to be served (copycat boxed rice)
Buttery Seasoned Rice – super economical, super tasty!
Noodle Salad (Lunch Idea for Work) in a glass container
Noodle Salad with Sesame Peanut Dressing (Work lunch idea!)
Rice side dishes
Rice Side Dishes
Close up of a spoon scooping up a serving of creamy garlic parmesan Broccoli Casserole
Side Dishes

SIDE SALAD SUGGESTIONS

Asian Slaw in a salad bowl with Asian Dressing, ready to be served
Asian Slaw – healthy, crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad
Close up of Corn Salad with Avocado with a Lime dressing
Corn Salad with Avocado
Close up of juicy Coleslaw in a glass bowl
Coleslaw
Close up of a refreshing Cucumber Salad with a tasty Herb & Garlic Dressing
Cucumber Salad with Herb Garlic Vinaigrette
Pouring Garlic Ginger Oyster Sauce over steamed Chinese Broccoli
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (Gai Lan)
Chickpea salad in a bowl, ready to be eaten
Greek Marinated Chickpea Salad
A classic potato salad made epic by pouring French dressing over the potatoes while cooked so it absorbs the flavour. The BEST potato salad I've ever had! www.recipetineats.com
Potato Salad
South Western lime dressing for Cowboy Bean Salad
Cowboy Bean Salad with Lime Dressing
Close up of forkful of Green Bean Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta
Side Salads

Also, if you’re considering this recipe for a BBQ feast, you’ll find all my favourite things to grill right here in my BBQ Recipes collection.

Note: the batch depicted in the photos and video is a bit less than what the recipe calls for – I had to sacrifice some for Dozer 🐶 having forgotten to get food for HIS dinner. 😂 – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Honey Soy Chicken - Marinade and Sauce (excellent grilled!)

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
1 d
BBQ/Grilling, Mains
Asian-esque, Western
5 from 14 votes
Servings5 - 6
Tap or hover to scale
Print
Recipe video above. This is my premium recipe for Honey Soy chicken, a step up from this quick Honey Garlic Chicken and easy Baked Honey Soy Chicken, neither of which call for marinating. One mixture is used as a marinade, for basting, and also to make a fabulous glossy sauce to drizzle over the chicken and everything on your plate. It's especially good for grilling! (More BBQ recipes here) Pictured with Pineapple Fried Rice.

Ingredients

  • 1.25 - 1.5 kg/ 2.5 - 3 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs OR breast (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil , for cooking

Honey Soy Marinade Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce , all purpose or light (not dark, Note 2)
  • 2/3 cup honey (sub maple syrup)
  • 1/3 cup cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
  • 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry (key ingredient, Note 3)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil , toasted (Note 4)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp garlic , finely minced

Serving Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch

Garnishes (optional):

  • Green onion , finely sliced
  • Sesame seeds

Instructions

Marinade Sauce:

  • Place ingredients in a jug and mix well until honey is completely dissolved.
  • Reserve 1/4 cup for Basting, refrigerate. (Note 5)
  • Reserve 2/3 cup for Serving Sauce, refrigerate.
  • Marinade Chicken: Pour remaining marinade over chicken in a container. Coat chicken thoroughly. Cover, refrigerate 24 to 48 hours (minimum 3 hrs).

Serving Sauce (Makes 1 cup):

  • Place reserved sauce in a small saucepan. Mix cornflour and water, then add into saucepan.
  • Simmer over medium for 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until it thickens to a syrupy consistency. Set aside and keep warm. (If it gets too thick, just add a bit more water)

Cook:

  • Brush BBQ plate or grills with oil and heat to medium high. Or heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  • THIGHS: Place chicken on BBQ. Cook the first side for 2 minutes, then flip and dab with reserved Basting Sauce. Cook for 2 minutes, flip and baste. Then flip/baste every 1 minute for total cook time of ~ 10 minutes or until a thermometer reads 75°C/165°F.
  • BREAST: Cook first side 2 minutes, flip, baste. Cook 2 minutes, then flip and baste every 45 sec or so for total cook time of ~8 minutes (internal temp 66°C / 151°F).
  • REST: Transfer to serving plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes.
  • SERVE chicken garnished with sesame seeds and green onion, with sauce on the side so people can help themselves.

Recipe Notes:

1. Chicken - boneless thigh and breast are my favourite cuts for cooking on the BBQ. Just easier than bone in which requires more attention. For bone in chicken thighs and drumsticks, use medium heat and cook for 20 minutes with the lid down, or until internal temp is 75°C/165°F. Wins take about 12 - 15 minutes.
2. Soy sauce - light or all purpose soy works here. DO NOT use "dark soy sauce" or "sweet soy sauce" - flavour is too intense.
3. Chinese cooking wine - this is the key ingredient that really elevates this marinade and sauce. Essential for sufficient depth of flavour, especially in the sauce. Costs a few dollars for a large bottle at Asian stores, lasts for years. Best sub (in order of preference) - dry sherry, Mirin, cooking sake, chicken stock/broth (use 1/2 cup of stock). Used in practically all cooked Chinese recipes - such as stir fries and noodles.
4. Toasted sesame oil is brown, untoasted is yellow. Toasted is the standard in Australia - stronger sesame flavour.
5. Hygiene note - both the basting and sauce is made using "clean" marinade mixture ie not tainted by raw chicken. For basting, I don't do this for all BBQ recipes, only where we do frequent basting because it doesn't have sufficient time to cook out raw chicken juices (1.5 minutes on BBQ after each baste).
For sauce, you can cook out the raw chicken juices by boiling the residual marinade but it comes out murky. It's just not nice.
6. Storing - excellent recipe to marinate then pop straight into the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge during which time it will marinate. Also a good way to divide the recipe up into smaller portions ie make up a big batch in the marinade then separate into smaller portions. 
Cook chicken will keep up to 5 days in the fridge. Best reheated in the microwave. Otherwise, covered in the oven at 180C/350F for just 7 minutes (sprinkle the base of the dish with a teeny bit of water to encourage a steamy environment), just until chicken is heated through.
Once sauce is cooked, it will keep 4 to 5 days in the fridge. It will freeze fine but will probably thin out (freezing sometimes does this to sauces thickened with cornflour).
7. Nutrition per serving, assuming all sauce is consumed. I made an educated guess about how much of the marinade is absorbed into the chicken.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 353cal (18%)Carbohydrates: 16g (5%)Protein: 39g (78%)Fat: 14g (22%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Cholesterol: 190mg (63%)Sodium: 569mg (25%)Potassium: 523mg (15%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 14g (16%)Vitamin A: 48IU (1%)Vitamin C: 1mg (1%)Calcium: 22mg (2%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Keywords: Grilled chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken, honey soy chicken
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Life of Dozer

Chilly nights + useless heating = using Dozer as my hot water bottle (he is very good at it, actually).

Dozer lying on me

Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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97 Comments

  1. Jenny says

    5 stars
    Made this tonight and it was awesome. The char from the grill makes it taste like take out! I didn’t have Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry so I used a dry Chardonnay.I will be perusing Asian markets for the wine for the future 🙂

    Reply

  6. Andi says

    5 stars
    This was SO, SO GOOD! I doubled the sauce, didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup, had lots of wings and drums, marinated overnight and baked today.

    Oh boy, house smelled good, it was tasty and just marvelous! I’m so happy that after many recipes I bought Shaoxing wine because it will put your meal over the top!

    Thank you, Nagi for the great meals.

    Reply

  7. Nobby Clarke says

    5 stars
    Lovely meal as usual Nagi.

    The print instructions version gives some strange quantities though.

    All the best from the UK

    Reply

  8. Peter Jowett says

    5 stars
    Thanks Nagi! This chicken dish is so tasty. The basting makes the chicken juicy and the sauce tops it off nicely. Many thanks for all your recipes!

    Reply

  9. Jazmin says

    5 stars
    Lovely recipe. We used white vinegar in the recipe and worked out fine. Good balance of sweet and salty. Loved by both adults and kids!

    Reply

  10. Sophie says

    Hi Nagi! Could this recipe be baked as opposed to bbq’d? I need to cook quite a bit of chicken thighs and think it would be more efficient to do in the oven in a big roasting dish, if possible.
    Love all of your recipes! Thank you!

    Reply

  11. Carl Smith says

    I was looking for a marinade recipe along these lines and this is absolutely perfect! Have you ever tried it with fish, and if so how did it turn out?

    Reply
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