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!
Quick, easy and ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!
I think this dish will become one of my ‘go to’ favourites.
Excellent! This is now a go to in our house- delicious and simple enough for a mid-week meal. I serve with rice and steamed broccoli. I use Miyokos Vegan Butter and pure maple syrup- even add some sriracha for a sweet and spicy kick.
Just made this for dinner! It was super simple and super delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you for such a great recipe!
This was delicious . Even my picky eaters enjoyed it!
Hi Nagi,
Found your recipe on Google and it turned out perfectly! Thank you so much for such a simple meal that turned out amazingly <3 I also added a bit of salt and pepper to flour, it came out perfectly
Quick, easy and delicious. Made it gluten free with coconut amino n gf flour. Thank you Nagi.
Delicious flavorful meal, Nagi! Thank you so much. We were treated to restaurant-quality food with this recipe. It really went together easily and quickly, just as you described. Great!
Can the honey garlic chicken be made in the oven? I have never had any luck cooking chicken on the stove. Always turns out tough.
Just an amazing,,,,, for ranch BBQ wings ❤️❤️❤️
This was so delicious and super easy to make!
I took the chicken out towards the end and let the sauce reduce a little further.
I will absolutely make this again! I’m going to leave off the flour so the chicken will brown more.
Tip: partially freeze the chicken to make it easier to cut.
Thank you for a great recipe!
I just made this chicken for the 2nd time. It is so delicious, has so much flavor and is not difficult to make. I made about 3 lbs. of chicken (big eaters in my house!) and doubled the sauce. Served with the cucumbers that were suggested, they were awesome!
Made this for the first time tonight. It was awesome. Didn’t have apple cider vinegar so I used white vinegar and some apple juice. I also added a little extra garlic. Will definitely be making this again!
This is the best and I mean the best chicken recipe I`ve ever tasted! It comes together very fast, so have your sides ready! I served with creamy mashed potatoes and drizzled the tasty sauce over them. Garden fresh peas.
I`ve shared so others can taste the love. 🙂
DELICIOUS! Substituted Coconut aminos for the Soy sauce and used gluten free flour and served over brown rice! Quick and easy – will be a go-to recipe in my house!
Cooked this tonight. Really enjoyed it. Gave me some other ideas to use the same sauce with. Yumm!
What’s the best flour to use on the chicken ? Self raising or plain ?
Easy to make, simple ingredients, AND super delicious!! Just made it for the second time and will make it again soon!
Definitely a go-to recipe for this household in Michigan!!
Was a huge family hit! A great recipe with pantry staples, thank you! Just an FYI for cooks – If you are cooking more that 4 servings, you likely will need 2 frying pans to cook the chicken and then combine chicken in the pan with the sauce.
Can this be made in the crock pot?