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!
Absolutely love this recipe, it’s my partner’s favourite thing for me to cook! I’ve done it with cider vinegar, white wine vinegar even once with red wine vinegar and it’s always a hit, I’ve done the honey and the maple version too depending on what’s in my cupboard at the time, always a smash! For some reason it’s really really good on mash potatoes so I always serve it with mash and steamed veggies 🙂 it’s super nice with the chicken but try it with pork chops too it’s so nummy 🙂
I didn’t have any other vinegar on hand other than sherry wine vinegar, and it worked beautifully!! Definitely doing this for Mother’s Day!
That’s good to know Tony!! N x
I only had corn syrup. It worked very well. Kids lapped it up.
That’s great MommaT! Thanks for that feedback! N x
The bomb is what this sauce is!!!! I’m licking the pan as I type lol no but this has become one of my favorites!!!!
The salmon version is really tasty too – try it! N x https://discountspot.info/honey-garlic-salmon-5-ingredients-15-minutes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Some soy sauce contain wheat so if you are new to gluten free check the ingredients! Surprised us when we found out. Recipe is awesome with cornstarch and we liked the maple version over the honey.
Thanks for that feedback J!! N x
Delicious! I added some fresh ginger to balance the sweet and it was a hit for all ages. Thank you!
Great tip M!! N x
Can this recipe be doubled! And how? I know some you can’t just double everything.
In this case you just double it and cook in two pans so it doesn’t burn the honey. Use the sliding scale on the recipe to scale it up! N x
I baked it for my family and they loved it it is really good delicious i recomen cooking it
That’s great Estera!! I’m happy you enjoyed it! N x
This was a super easy and really tasty recipe! Will definitely be adding this into our family dinner rotation!
Thanks Stacey!! I am so glad that you liked it!! N x
Hi!! I just found your page and I’m obsessed with all the recipes! Ive just started learning to cook on a daily basis and you are my go-to 🙂 i was wondering if you have a simple recipe for those fluffy Japanese cheesecakes?
This was so delicious – made it with stir fry veggies and side of rice- yummy!!
Woo hoo!! I am glad that you enjoyed it AJ! N x
Cooked this last night – can’t believe how easy and tasty it was.
Will be a regular part of my “playlist” as the kids loved it too.
I am happy that you liked it Tony! N x
This is my family’s favorite chicken dish besides roast chicken and my gravy. The sauce is awesome and I use it in some other dishes as well. I always go to your site to check out recipes. They’re all great!
How not to give this recipe 5 stars if my daughter ate it all ❤️❤️❤️
Awwww!! I love that!! N x
I rarely rate recipes but I need everyone to know how amazing this one is. I made it last week with chicken, and tonight with boneless pork chops. I’ll for sure try with tofu at some point. Everything I’ve made from Recipe Tin has been great, but this one is going to be a frequent repeat for me. Can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow!
I am happy you liked it Jessica!! N x
This was so quick to make and so yummy! My 5 year old loves chicken so I’ve been trying to find new recipes and he gave it a thumbs up!
Thanks Doni! I am happy you liked it! N x
Wow is this good…the hubby said it was exemplary…that’s really amazing coming from a man who doesn’t care for chicken…this will be made again…thanks for sharing your recipe…
I am glad that he enjoyed it Teresa! N x
Super easy, awesome flavors. Been eating a lot of chicken lately and needed something new to add to the arsenal, this is a definite winner. Thanks for sharing.
Sssssoooo freaking good! We like spicy so after taste testing the super yummy sauce we added some Sriracha for extra zing. Definitely making again and again!
I am happy that you enjoyed it Jay! N x
Omg!! This was one of the BEST chicken recipes I’ve done in a while!! I will definitely keep this in my go to chicken dishes!! No modifications at all needed, perfect instructions!!
I’m glad you liked it Shanah!! N x
I added a squeeze of orange and doubled the sauce. Mmmm
Sounds good Terri! N x
I made this for my mother who is very picky, and she loved it. We all did. And it was very quick to make