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!
Can I use almond flour, cassava flour or coconut flour instead of regular flour or cornstarch?
Finally got around to trying this recipe. It is easy and delicious. Served it with smashed potatoes, parmesan roasted green beans and corn. The kids thought it was all very fancy (except the corn, which didn’t come from your website!) Thanks for another winner, Nagi!
Nagi, another superb meal !!! So very tasty thankyou
Delicious and simple & quick to prepare. The only issue I had in preparing it had less to do with the recipe and more to do with the absolutely huge chicken breasts I’d bought. They weighed in at 400 grams a piece, I still only cut them in half but it took longer to cook. I wonder if it’s preferable to pound each piece to flatten out more or to cut each breast into 3 layers. Any ideas?
Hi Elizabeth, yes you can pound them thin rather than cutting into 3 – I would slice in half then bash them out (it will be easier than cutting) N x
Can I use salted butter I read of unsalted? Thank you!
Cate, I made this recipe about 3 hours ago and used salted butter. I simply skipped adding the salt when seasoning the chicken prior to dusting in flour. Still tasted good. You can always cut back on the soy sauce a little too,
I found this recipe a while back and finally got around to making it. It is amazing. I will definitely be making it again very, very soon. Thank you for this recipe.
I was skeptical but it was delicious! My husband devoured it.
Tried this today. I am not someone who loves to cook and yummmmm. Was so easy and quick, even with my chicken breasts being a little frozen. I thought the soya and vinegar would overdo the sweet, but it didn’t. The chicken is nice and tender too!
Can i use balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar instead?
Red wine vinegar would be ok here, it will just alter the flavour slightly but will still be delicious! N x
I’ve made this three times since last week when I found the recipe. It is absolutely delicious.
So delicious, simple on-hand ingredients, and so easy to make. Served it up with Smashed potatoes. Thanks for a great recipe.
I made the Honey Garlic Chicken recipe and it was absolutely delicious ❤❤. I didn’t have apple cider vinegar so I put in hoisin sauce instead. It has a sooo much flavor. Love all your recipes and of course Dozer!
Nagi is a Godsend woman. I’m in heaven right now- this was SOO **** GOOD!!! This is my first review for any recipe ever!
I have been following your site for a few weeks now and have decided recipetineats will be my go to from now on. Everything that I have made from this website has been absolutely DELICIOUS!
And I love the easy to follow, fun, and flexibility built in every recipe. Even more, I love Nagi’s philosophy of wonderful yumminess “with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious” ! <3
– Loyal fan
Did this with Basa fillets, was excellent
I never leave reviews. This was so easy and so delicious. Literally took me 30 minutes
Made this once again & it was absolutely lovely!! I added a tablespoon of lemon juice & a teaspoon of cumin, just to change it up a bit – which was lovely, but it was better when I stuck to your recipe Nagi
Easy peasy and so delish! Will definitely make again.
Hi this looks really delicious! Can I substitute flour with almond flour? I don’t have regular flour
I figured I might as well leave a review, seeing as I’ve made this recipe almost weekly for the past year! I triple all of the ingredients for the sauce because it’s just so good.
Changed this into a low point WW recipe by replacing butter with olive oil spray and replacing honey with Swerve brown sugar and a bit of water. Turned out absolutely great!!!