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!
It was very tasty and so easy to make! Love your recipes!
Super simple and DeLiCious!
My husband said was great, make sure you keep the recipe,, can we have more now ,,,,,
Hi! Can I slow cook this?
Hi Ariel, this one is so quick to make, you really don’t need to slow cook it! You also want to sear the chicken to get that beautiful colour and simmer the sauce so it reduces and thickens. N x
I made that recipe tonight and it came out great. I’m surprised how easy it was and I’m not a great cook.
I also make your roasted asparagus to go with it (and some roasted potatoes)
Delicious.
Was a decent dish .. easy to make. I felt it could have done with more garlic , I put 2.5 cloves but could have done with more. Overall great dish can easily adjust to your own tastes.
Lovely. Cooked it this way which was fine. Next time I added a teaspoon of ginger paste which lifted it no end
Another amazingly easy but totally delicious dish! Only happy campers at the dinner table with this. My 14 year old son gave it a 10. Served with rice and spicy fried green beans.
This was so easy! I think I measured the soy sauce wrong, since it didn’t quite taste salty enough for me, but it came together so easily that I’m definitely going to make it again.
Made this for dinner last night. It was spectacular! We like sauces in this house so I doubled the sauce. I thought I’d like some heat to the sauce so next time will make either with hot honey or some red pepper flakes. Love, love, love your recipes!!
WOW! I am amazed at the simplicity of this recipe which packs a flavour punch! Always looking for quick chicken breast recipes and this one was up there with the best! Personally I seasoned the flour rather than the chicken and let it ‘sit’ for 5 mins before searing, and didn’t measure the wet ingredients – mixed them all together and adjusted to personal taste. Served with rice and kale. Delicious!!
I am always skeptical of recipes that have a bit of an Asian style to them because they are never good but this one is amazing!!! I was also skeptical of the vinegar so I only added 1 Tbps instead of 1.5.
i feel there is some type of flavor missing from it but it is still super tasty & easy to make!! I flipped the chicken as soon it got a small bit golden and wished I had let it cook just a few minutes longer so it was more golden/crispy. All and all and amazing recipe!
Love love love this recipe. I did not change a thing recipe to a T it’s absolutely perfect for tender no knife needed. My new favorite go to chicken recipe. Served with wild rice and roasted asparagus mushrooms garlic baby tomatoes and zucchini
love your recipes simple and easy for follow.
My husband loved this and so did I. Such a fast and delicious dinner with a side salad. I bet it would be great with rice as well, but watching the waistline 😊 Thanks Nagi!
The honey garlic soy baked chicken breasts were fabulous! I left out the vinegar and put in fresh ginger and lemon juice instead of lime because I had no vinegar and no limes. And I dredged the breasts in a flour, paprika, powdered garlic coating and did not sear it first. The pieces went right into a cast iron pan that had 3 tablespoons melted butter.
I haven’t made this yet ( i plan to this evening). I just wanted to note: under the notes where you share how to make this gluten free, you should also add that they need to sub out the soy sauce for a gluten free soy sauce or Tamari. Normal soy sauce DOES contain gluten.
Made this for dinner tonight with chicken tenders and it is delicious. Nagi has done it again!
Made this last night & it was delicious! I’m going to try with Pork Tenderloin later on this week. I did reduce the garlic to 1 clove as I usually use half of what recipes call for with garlic & ginger. I think I will double the sauce next time for my rice.
I am teaching my 11 year old grandson to cook and he made this last night. So easy and he was so delighted that it turned out so tasty. Chef Liam gives it 5 thumbs up.