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!
Chicken was so tender. I held back a little with the honey only because I’m not a honey fan but it was a very nice dish and I would have it again . Love tineats (just saying)
I just made this, it’s delicious. Thanks for another amazing recipe!
You’re so welcome Heidi!
Hi Nagi. Was thinking of making this for a dinner party. Would I be able to make this ahead then reheat ?
Yes definitely Marjorie – reheat slowly in the microwave (covered) as you don’t want it to dry out – N x
Simple, fast and CRaZy good! So tasty for such a simple dish. Thank you, Nagi, I love your recipes. They always turn out so fantastic, you make me look good! 🙂
This is easy to cook and very tasty. First time tried it and my family loves it. I used avocado oil and 2tbs of butter . I did not use flour, i used cornstarch for gluten free. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe.
Perfect Gracel!
Can balsamic vinegar be substituted for ACV?
Was wondering which brand honey or maple syrup do you use for this recipe?
Hi El, honestly any brand is fine used here! N x
I have made countless honey garlic chicken recipes in search of the one that makes my family cry, “Delicious!” And…THIS IS IT!!! The flavors are perfectly balanced and it’s such an easy recipe. The second time I made it, my husband asked me to double the recipe so we could have leftovers for his lunch. I highly suggest using a raw, top quality honey which makes all the difference in the world.
Perfect Maggie!!
This was damn delicious!
WOOT!
Great recipe thanks but just to say that to make it GF you also need to substitute the soy sauce which it made with wheat. Tamari would be great, Its the Japanese version of soy but wheat free.
La Choy makes gluten free soy sauce
Yes – Tamari is the best substitute 🙂
This was super easy to make! I doubled the sauce ingredients because I like my stuff saucy! I also sprinkled a little mozzarella cheese on top of it and let it melt, and it turned out beautifully! Thank you! 💜 I’ll be tagging you on IG! 😉
That’s great to hear Jessica, and cheese always makes things better 😉
Oh my!
Even better than I thought it would be.
So easy and chicken so tender
I really liked your Video.
Thank you
I’m so glad you loved it Bobby!!
How many servlngs?
Hi Kay, This serves 4 – N x
Thank you for the recipe. Very tasty will definitely make it again.
That’s great to hear Ahmed!
Made this for my parents the other day, my mom said it was pretty good while I freaking loved it. Today she asked me to make it again. So yeah, she loved it too, she just doesn’t like to admit she loves my cooking.
Great recipe, yummy yummy, recipe saved.
Oh that’s great Melissa!!
Quick, simple and easy to make. Was finger licking good. Enjoyed by all 6 of us. I served it with rice and home grown freshly picked broccoli. 😋
I’m so jealous over the home grown broccoli Lisa, sounds like you made a wonderful dinner! – N x
Hi Nagi! It always stuns me how, whenever I think of a yummy food and want to make it at home, then google its name, your blog is always the first place to pop up with a recipe! I’m so excited to see I can make this recipe with things I already have at home! What side dishes would you recommend serving with this chicken?
Hi Emily, anything would go great here; Mash, a simple side salad, rice, baked potatoes, green bean salad… the possibilities are endless!
Haha same here, nagi’s name always comes up first on the list of best recipes 😀
Didn’t have much luck making this dish first time around, but this time…Wow! However I made some changes as follows:
1: Caramelised an onion with garlic and some salt.
2: Added 2 Tbs of soy sauce, 2 Tbs of apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbs of Hot Chilli sauce (Fountain), and 1 1/2 Tbs of honey.
3: Waited till it started bubbling then added chicken.
I am in 7th Heaven. Did I say Wow? I meant WOW!!!
Almost committed the ultimate bad manners sin – I was thisclose to licking my plate clean.
I’m so glad you got it to work for you Liz! Winner winner chicken dinner – N x
I make this regularly for my family and they love it as a regular! I omit the soy sauce and it’s still delicious.
Delicious!!! Thank you for such a great recipe!!
You’re so welcome Heather!
Hi! I’m allergic to soy, so the soy sauce is out. Can I substitute successfully with coconut aminos? I generally use the Big Tree Farms Organic Coco Aminos when substituting soy sauce. Just wondering if it will work!
I’ve used it without soy sauce and its still great.
Hi Jennifer, I haven’t tried to be honest but would love to know if it works!