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!
Delicious!! My 9 year old Daughter said it was the best chicken I’ve ever made-thanks for the great quick recipe and the GF tip!
That’s awesome Michelle!
Good stuff….thank you!
So frickin’ good!! And easy!! And this will be made again…oh yes. 😍
Woooooot!
I don’t happen to have apple cider vinegar but was wondering if rice vinegar would taste good as well or if it would be overwhelming with the soy sauce.
Hi Anna, rice vinegar will work fine ☺️
This was as simple and delicious as you said! It’s hard to get my family of five on the same page dinner-wise, but we all loved it!
Winning! That’s so good to hear Lori – N x
Great recipe
Thanks Claudette!
Have made this multiple times – family favourite! Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so glad you love it Wendy!
I WOULD LIKE TO SAVE THIS IN PINTEREST HOW DO I SAVE THIS
I’m just having a few issues with my social media buttons – will have it fixed soon!
Another great recipe, I did an egg wash and it helped with more breading. Will definitely make this again.
Hi Nagi, Yet another delish meal. We loved it!!
There are so many of your recipes that I plan to cook, so far have yet to try one that has not been right up there!! 😋
Just wondering how would the sauce in this recipe go as a stir fry sauce?
Thank you for sharing such amazing recipes.
Hi Kerry, great idea – it would be delicious as a stir fry!
I’ve made this 5 or 6 times. Recipe is easy to understand and follow. We usually have fried rice and egg rolls to complete the meal. This has become my go to chicken when having Asian food.
Wahoo!
Wow. I made 2 batches and I use orange blossom honey I got while on vacation in Florida. The flavor was over the top. Thanks for makings things so easy all the time. ciao ciao.
This was so easy to make and delicious! The whole family loved it. I will definitely be making this again soon.
Thank you for this awesome recipe! Quick, easy, simple ingrediants we already have on hand, and SO GOOD!!!! We made this sauce again and used it for our stir fry – also amazing.
Oh Perfect!!!!!
Hi Nagi! I just want to thank you for this awesome recipe! My family just raves about all your recipes that I make …especially this one! NIkki XX
That’s so nice to hear Nikki, thanks so much!
Easy, quick, and delicious!
Yes that’s totally what I’m going for with this recipe, glad you love it!
I only have dark soy, is there a substitute for light soy sauce you’d recommend?
Nagi…this looks so yummy and I loved it so much. Have you ever used Yemeni Sidr Honey as an ingredient? I am using it for the past 3 months and it is super amazing. I think it will improve the taste of the garlic chicken further.
Hi Anna, I haven’t heard of it but I’d love to try it!
Oh Nagi, This is such a winner! I made this tonight thinking we were going to end up eating late, as I started late. 20 minutes later we were sitting down to the most delicious chicken. Holy Moly….this stuff is great! Even my husband could make this. Easy and fast. It doesn’t get any better. Thanks for this great recipe.
It’s so quick isn’t it Christine?! I’m so happy you loved it ❤️
I messed up and made the oil and other ingredients into a sauce and poured it over the chicken as it cooked – still fantastic! I’ll definitely try it again the right way!
I’m so glad it worked for you Cara!