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!
Looks delicious!!! I will be making this tonight so I really hope you get a chance to respond to this in time,
Would this sauce be good over mashed potatoes, or is rice preferred?
I’m missing vinegar of any kind, can I make this without the vinegar?
Tried this recipe today. It was yummy yummy yummy. Will definitely make this a regular.
This recipe is so easy and my whole family loves it which is very hard to get everyone to like a meal. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Hi can I use skinless and boneless chicken thighs with this? If so , how long shall I cook the chicken for ? Please help, thank you 🙂
Sure can Luy, I would pound them thin so they cook as per the recipe 🙂
Nagi, you have done it again! I love your website, and I love this recipe. Another delicious dish, that is very easy to make. Thank you!
This was sooooo good! It was fun to make this recipe, too. And I didn’t mess up the kitchen with tons of dirty dishes. 😂 My husband loves the recipe, too. It is definitely going in our rotation! Thanks for sharing!
Super simple and so yummy! Great way to make chicken breast juicy and tasty. Sauce was perfect over brown/white rice combo and boiled veg. Def going to make again soon!
The perfect combo Rita, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
I love your all your foods they appetiser me prize can you send me the recipe book
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you’re enjoying them! Which recipe book are you after sorry? N x
This is the second time I’ve made this recipe and it’s definitely a keeper. Easy to make and there’s so much flavor! I appreciate that the sodium is fairly low for a dish with an Asian flare.
I’m so glad you love it Christine! N x
I found this recipe right before dinner and was able to whip it up so fast and my husband thought I used some sort of magic because it was so good!
An absolutely delicious and simple meal that I am saving to make over and over again!
YESSSS!!! Perfect Sierra! N x
Delicious!! I’m not the best cook in the house but this recipe is so easy and takes barely any time. A+ with my housemates
You’ve nailed it!! 🙌 N x
Amazing !!! Hubby made this tonight and we just raved about it in between bites. Delish!!!
That’s great to hear Linda! N x
Excellent recipe. Added some Veggie broth to extend the sauce and it was perfect.
I made this sauce with chicken drumsticks. It was really great, I will definitely make this sauce again. Thanks!
For someone who doesn’t have much sugar, this was extremely sweet and made my tongue go weird. I think it’s best to be sightly generous with the salt and maybe use white pepper instead of black, would have been good if amounts were stated. I think the chicken tasted really plain, could have been marinated? But apart from that I’m glad it was juicy despite being chicken breast. And it tasted a bit like Chinese. Thanks for sharing the recipe it was fun to try
I made this, and now it’s a family favorite! I make it when guests come over and they always complement how yummy it is! My picky little brother even gobbles it down!
Absolutely wonderful. Truly easy & delicious. Thank you! First review. Had to tell folks.
Nagi, i am losing my mind. Just last week i made an awesome Chicken thigh dish – one pot with a bunch of asian ingredients – mirin, oyster sauce, sesami, soy, etc and it was lip smacking good but for the life of me i cannot find it. Help!! i need to make it again! thank you 🙂
Delicious as always, from Ireland!!
NGL this was soooo good… I’m 15 and I always make desserts this was my first time making a savoury dish. I had ups and downs but I loved how it turned out.