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!
Hi, just want to comment regarding making it gluten free. There are a lot of GF flours out there to use instead of cornstarch. I use Pillsberry GF flour and this recipe was amazing with it. Might want to also note that most soy sauces have wheat in it as well so make sure you get a GF sorry sauce.
Ohhh that’s a terrific tip Donna, thank you!!! N xx
Fixed this for supper tonight, everyone loved it !It’s definitely a keeper.
Could you make this with boiled chicken or does it have to be from raw?
Hi Andy! Sorry to say best made from raw meat 🙂 But you could just plonk everything else in a small saucepan to bring to a simmer then pour it over the reheated chicken! N x
This was definitely a hit tonight for dinner, everyone enjoyed it – even the very picky 11 yr old. We all enjoy lots of sauce for our rice so I’m glad that I doubled the sauce ingredients. Next time we will add an extra clove of garlic and maybe a splash of hot sauce for a little touch of heat. Awesome!
So great to hear Johanna!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
Hi Nagi,
If you oven bake the chicken, do you think you’ll get the same result? Or is searing the chicken a crucial part of the deliciousness?
Thanks in advance! 😀
Hi Chrissy! For this one it’s stove all the way, sorry! Will share a baked honey garlic chicken one day soon 🙂 N xx
This was delicious!!! I added a few dashes of siracha for some heat! Served over cauliflower rice with broccoli! Yumo!!! Thanks for sharing ☺️
Love hearing that Jessica! So pleased you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
Made this last night. Super easy and tasted great! Will make again.
So great to hear Akshelly! N x
I made this recipe last night, good thing I doubled it because my 6 year old son had 2 helpings and asked to have it again for dinner tonight! That almost never happens, thank you!!!
High praise!! 🙂 N x
Can you use white wine instead of vinegar ? I always have white wine in 😳
Hi Maggie! Splash of wine would be fab! 🙂 N x
So yummy. Quick and easy. I served with rice and corn. Will be a new family favorite.
That’s terrific to hear Mary Jane! Thanks for letting me know – N x
Can you do. Chicken thighs with this recipe
Yes yes yes! Cook on medium and do 4 minutes on each side 🙂
Yumm… even my EXTREMELY picky eater ate it. With rice and veggies that I cooked and then stir fried in left over sauce! Thank you…
Love hearing that Jessica!!!
Love the sauce! And it was so quick to make!
Yesssss! So glad you enjoyed it so much Ev! N xx
It was sooooo goooood!! It was super easy and so flavorful. I added a pinch of crushed red pepper for a little spice and it still tasted scrumptious! Definitely will make this again.
Fantastic to hear MeshaMe! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
This is really good, easy and delicious! The sauce is so yummy! I think it would be great on chicken wings too!
YES to wings!!!
Hi Nagi,
What brand of light soy sauce do you use? I’m in Sydney.
Thanks
Racquel
Hi Racquel! Me too 🙂 Lee Kum Kee or Pearl River, whatever they sell at Woolies and Coles 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi ❤️
Amazing Nagi!! I licked my plate clean – so delicious. I can’t wait to make it again! (And eat the leftovers!)
So glad it’s not just ME who licks my plate clean! 😂
This is delicious and easy! That’s the best combination!
Super good- added a tsp of Crushed Red Pepper and a tsp of grated fresh ginger. Definitely a keeper!!
So. Good. We decided next time to add some orange juice maybe, and some fresh ginger 🙂
I absolutely love hearing that Barb!! Thanks so much for letting me know – N x
Y.U.M!! Just had this for dinner. I doubled the sauce so we had extra for the rice. Delicious!