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!
Heavenly lunch! I made this and absolutely loved it. Already sent to friends and plan to make again! Thank you for the best recipe blog ever.
I made this tonight & served with rice & steamed carrots. It was easy & tasty but a bit too sweet for me. I think next time I will add more vinegar & soya sauce. Possibly more garlic.
Made this tonight. It was amazing. So simple to make. I followed it exactly. My husband really liked it as well. Thank you for the great recipe.
Made this for the first time tonight and it was very tasty. Didn’t have the same colour but we enjoyed very much. Served with air fryer smashed potatoes and broccoli. Will be a regular in our house.
11/10. I added a few tweaks though, I added some ginger to the sauce and it was an amazing sweet tang. I made the cucumber salad and the rice too but w/o cauliflower. So so juicy and yummy:)
This was amazing recipe even hubby loved it thank you
damn
Absolutely delicious. So easy. And voted one of the best chicken dishes we’ve had in a while. Served with kumara mash and vegetable medley.
Insane. So freaking good. A little tangy with the sweet of the honey, and so so juicy. Will be making again and again. Also… so easy!!
Amazing! The husband and 2 kids all agreed this is their new favorite chicken recipe!
Great recipe and super easy!
This came out so well. It was juicy, full of amazing flavor and actually super easy! I’m so glad I found this recipe. It will become a staple in my future meals!
I’ve just made this for my family and there were clean plates all round. The house smells delicious, even though I’ve washed up and all the plates are away! I served it with steamed asparagus and mashed potatoes. Thank you!
Delicious and so easy to make! Best part is I had all of the ingredients in my pantry just had to buy the 2 chicken breaststroke.
This is such a fabulous and easy recipe. Everyone loved it. The chicken was extremely tender and flavorful. This will be a regular meal.
Quick, easy and delicious. The chicken breast was so tender and moist. Will be added to the regular meal roster.
Really tasty! And quick.
I tried this recipe and it was delicious! My family is asking for more. Thank you so much for sharing!
Made this & loved it …definitely on my must make recipes , thanks , Nagi
Made this last night for dinner, it was good & it really did take only 12 minutes. I love your recipes!