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!
Insanely good. Family gobbled it up and left nothing for the next day.
This is absolutely delicious!! My husband usually doesn’t enjoy boneless chicken breasts, so I am always trying to find a recipe that works. This one is a winner. I learned a few things……I’m not very good at slicing the chicken breast in half; need to start at the thick end!! But I adjusted the cooking time for the skinny pieces. And I used maple syrup (hey, I’m in Quebec and it is so delicious here!; also, my honey was a little solid!) and this gave me a beautiful, tasty result. Served with rice and green beans; there was just the perfect amount of sauce! Including the piece I hid in the fridge for lunch tomorrow! Thanks, Nagi, for another amazing recipe. Hugs to you and Dozer!!
Really lovely recipe! X
This was absolutely fantastic and will absolutely be put into our regular menu!
Excellent and simple. Husband loved it last week and I am making it again tonight. Substituted maple syrup for honey since that was in my cupboard.
Very yummy nyc i love itnyc
This was delicious! I reduced the honey to 1/4 cup, subbed half hot honey/half regular. I also subbed half coconut aminos/half soy sauce and served over quinoa with a side of mixed veg leftovers. Sauce drizzled over all and more on the side. Husband said to keep this on the rotation! Thank you.
So quick & easy and so yum! The sauce seeped through the rice & veggies on the place too, delicious!!
Loved it!
Wow so nice and delicious food. And your recipe was great. I will try at home.
Very interesting and also very easy to make. I love the recipe and also the food I have made. Thank you
This was a total winner! I’m wondering if it can be made ahead and kept warm in a crockpot or if you think it will hurt the texture? I’m making for a crowd, so I’ll have to batch cook the chicken.
Omg! This was DA BOMB! Def gonna make this again. Fast, simple and easy!! I added some frozen stirfry veggies and made white rice! Thank you for sharing!
Very interesting. I didn’t know chicken breast can be cooked in a different way, other than the traditional way am use too
For anyone that criticizes chicken breast, cook this and blow their minds. If you brine it for a few hours beforehand the breasts stay moist and juicy and makes it harder to overcook them. 5/5 would recommend to the chicken breast haters!
Made this last night it was great And eat to make! I doubled up the sauce just in case but I think just following the recipe it would have been enough. I’ll definitely make this again!
I’m the dedicated cook/baker in the house and I must say this recipe is definitely a keeper. Already added it in the recipe folder I have on my phone for easy access… again and again I’d say. I’m the hubby in this case by the way but the wife loves it as much as I do.
Easy to make, with absolutely delicious results!
Thank you for sharing it with us!
Amazing sauce. I also used the same sauce with thick pork chops and my goodness so freaking good.
Great weeknight meal! Fast, easy, all the ingredients I had on hand and most importantly very tasty!
bagus buat resepnya saya kan surh istri saya memasaknya di rumah
Very good recipe, I will ask my wife to try it, thank you