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!
Wow. So tasty and fast. I served it with baked plantains
(coat 1/4″ ripe plantain slices in olive oil, arrange on a single layer in a pan on parchment paper, season with coarse salt, bake at 400F for 20 min or so) and rice. This is definitely a keeper in my repertoire.
I had chicken breast and instantly looked through your recipes for inspiration. I have made heaps of your recipes and can’t believe I hadn’t made this chicken dish before. Quick, easy and super tasty. Served with your savoury rice and a salad. Hubby couldn’t stop saying how good the chicken was.
DA BOMB! Seriously. I didn’t have honey but I’m glad maple syrup was a 2nd b’cuz it gave the chicken a different flavor. The rest of my meal consisted of cauliflower/broccoli mash, kale, and a Japanese sweet potato. Just D-LISH!
Thank u.
P.S. Saved some chicken to cook tomorrow!
This was a hit for dinner! The family and I loved it! So easy to make and so delicious! Thank you!!
Made this today. It was easy to make. It was delicious. Everyone loved it, My picky 7 year old granddaughter had two pieces.
My now ALL time go to recipe for making stir fry. So easy and so tasty. My husband says its better than shop bought asian take out. Because I am making a stir fry I follow all the steps but also add my veg to the wok and have also added ginger. It is honestly delicious!!!!!
I usually never leave reviews but this chicken was too die for. This is my new go to!! Quick, and surprisingly simple but still delicious! I’m definitely making more next time for leftovers
Another delicious meal! I keep forgetting to take a pic as I’m hypnotised by the smell
Wow! I hardly ever leave a review but this was recipe was delicious, my husband and 3.5 year old absolutely loved it. I will definitely add this to the dinner rotation. This was my first time making one of your recipes and I’m looking forward to making more of them. Thank you!
I made this using agave syrup as it was the only one I had available. Since agave is sweeter than honey, I reduced the serving to just 1/4 cup. I used white vinegar instead of apple cider also. I think the fact that it still worked so well is commendable. Dad loved it so much.
Just a question, is the calorie amount for the whole dish or is it per serving?
Thanks.
This sauce was outstanding! I did in on breast, just like the recipe called for, and it was to die for! I spooned some onto my plate to dip the bites of chicken into. SO good!
Cooked this for housemates tonight and they loved it!
It was absolutely delicious and very addictive.
Thank you for this awesome recipe.
Made this tonight with a few modifications, and it turned out fantastic! Added chopped red and green chilli’s to the sauce just after the garlic and butter (‘coz chilli right 🙂 ) and velveted the chicken before cooking. This is one of the tastiest chicken recipes I’ve tried and really easy to cook! Served over rice with the green bean and avocado dressing salad – sublime. Thank you Nagi
soooo good!! Love all your stuff Nagi!
I have made this several times now and the whole family loves it!
This is one of many of your recipes that we enjoy.
Super easy, quick and delicious!
Epic is right! Made this tonight, we loved it. Plan to make it for family night when my sons come for dinner next week. Thanks Nagi x
I made this chicken dish tonight. Both my daughter and my husband LOVED it!! Yay! Surely impress my family every time I use recipe from RecipeTinEats! Thank you so much!
made this tonight so much flavour
Made this tonight… delicious. Very easy and quick. I had all the ingredients in the house. Thanks again.