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!
As easy and tasty as it sounds! What a great quick whip up 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it TC!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi
What would you suggest would be really nice to serve with this chicken ?
Absolutely love your recipes & expert advise 🙂
Wow. Wow. Wow. The Photo is so appealing. I’m totally drooling.
Made your honey garlic chicken for the first time. It was so easy and absolutely delightful. Family loved it. Will be a regular item in our home for sure and trying your other recipes. Thank you for making cooking fun!
I made this tonight. It’s absolutely delicious, the chicken beast were juicy and moist. Thanks Nagi. Your recipe never fails to impress x
I just made this dish tonight and me and my kids loved it!!! It was inexpensive and very easy to make. Will be saving this to my recipe box. Reminds me of honey chicken from a Chinese restaurant. Thanks a bunch.
Can you use rice vinegar? Or by cider vinegar do you mean apple cider vinegar?
Hi Rasha! I do mean apple cider vinegar but rice vinegar is fine too!
By cider vinegar do you mean apple cider vinegar??? Sorry amateur cook here.
My Family Loved this meal
That’s terrific to hear Julia! So glad you enjoyed this, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback – N x ❤️
Just made this for a quick dinner tonight…doubled the ingredients to get 6 servings (my son and his friend eats a lot!!). This was super easy, quick, and had all the ingredients in my pantry!! Very, very tasty sauce!! Thank you so much for all your delicious recipes. I think next time I’ll also add some fresh grated ginger to this. My family loves ginger and garlic.
So great to hear this was enjoyed so much!!! N x
Can I use pork shoulder, instead of chicken breast, for this recipe? Thank you.
Not for this Jeannie because shoulder needs to be slow cooked. But you can definitely make this with chops! N x
Thank you, dear Nagi, for your quick response!😘
Can I use gluten free flour for this? Will it still stick to the chicken?
Oh it stated on the Notes. Please read..
I think,you can use corn flour for gluten free version. That is what i do when i cook for my MIL which has strict no gluten diet.
I made this the other night it was a hit in my house.
Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts?
Hey! You can make it with chicken thighs, breasts are just easier to prepare if you get them boneless.
I cooked this dish for my friends – it was so simple to make and absolutely delicious!! The sauce was so sweet and complimented the chicken well. Everyone enjoyed it. Would make this dish again and again! Thank you so much.
Wow! I was skeptical but I tried it last week and have since made it three times! So easy and delicious – kids and husband never tire of it! I just don’t let them know how easy it is 😉 Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Nagi,
Is there a substitute I could use instead of the vinegar, saves me from going down to the shops 😂
So easy and super delicious!! Will definitely make again and again! Thank you!
That’s terrific to hear Cindy! Glad you enjoyed this! N x
It’s delish great recipe, didn’t have soy sauce so substituted 2tbs mollasses and used half honey half maple syrup add cooked spinach towards the end and served with wedge roasted acorn squash and brown rice. ITs amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Glad you enjoyed this one Wendy!! N x
This is a favorite in our family, we make it often 🙂
FANTASTIC!!! So glad you enjoyed this Alexis, thanks for letting me know! N x