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!
loving all your recipes. You are my go to for anything new I want to cook. We had the garlic chicken last night what a lovely change and so easy quick to prepare and cook…very yummy….
Amazing! So easy, delicious and a real crowd pleaser. I’m excited to try it with different proteins….. I’m thinking chicken drumsticks? Would that work?
Cook this one last night , very yummy, definitely a good one to keep 5 star dinner 👍🏻👍🏻
WOAH. This dinner is absolutely insane. I steamed some broccoli and tossed it in the sauce and it might be the best broccoli I’ve ever had. I cannot recommend making this enough, it’s getting made at least 3 times a month here. Thank you so much!!
Oh wow Nagi this is sensational that sauce is delicious all so easy i even added a bit of naughty chilli oil on top everytime I make your recipe yummy Thank You
this was phenomenal!!!!!!!!! I devoured it!!!!!!
This was unreal Nagi, restaurant quality. Definitely going into weekly rotation, we had it with mash and greens. 10/10
It was great we loved the sauce. I made extra sauce because my family loves sauce.
This is so fantastic. Finding a chicken recipe that involves chicken breasts and doesn’t come out drier than dry is so hard but this one is perfect. I followed the recipe to the letter and ALL 4 of my family members LOVED it! The chicken is so moist and delicious. I served it over fried rice. The only thing I will do differently is make more sauce next time! It’s amazing!
The kid asked for it !? It’s a definite winner & so simple to make. Thank you for sharing.
Just excellent and so easy. Used GF flour and it worked perfectly. Thank you!!
I typically don’t leave recipe reviews unless they are bad but at this point I feel it’s deserved.
I have made this recipe every week for the last 3 months and it’s delicious every time! Everyone I serve it to loves it and it’s one of my favorite recipes to make. I’d give it an extra star if I could! This recipe works with rice flour or all purpose flour which I think is great. If you’re on the fence, jump over it because you need to try this!
Excellent! So tasty and super easy. I used gluten free flour and it worked beautifully. It’s a keeper, thank you!!
Fabulous recipe thank you Nagi and Dozer!!!
This was excellent. I made it one night and my 10 year old great niece made it a week later and it as even better!!
The family absolutely loved this recipe, and it doubled easily.
Insanely good. Family gobbled it up and left nothing for the next day.
This is absolutely delicious!! My husband usually doesn’t enjoy boneless chicken breasts, so I am always trying to find a recipe that works. This one is a winner. I learned a few things……I’m not very good at slicing the chicken breast in half; need to start at the thick end!! But I adjusted the cooking time for the skinny pieces. And I used maple syrup (hey, I’m in Quebec and it is so delicious here!; also, my honey was a little solid!) and this gave me a beautiful, tasty result. Served with rice and green beans; there was just the perfect amount of sauce! Including the piece I hid in the fridge for lunch tomorrow! Thanks, Nagi, for another amazing recipe. Hugs to you and Dozer!!
Good tip about how to slice the chicken! Thanks 🙂
Fantastic! As described, simple, delish perfect weeknight, back-pocket recipe! We (myself, husband and late-teen daughter) all enjoyed fir dinner this evening. Perfect with jasmine rice and steamed veggies. Already shared tgis recipe with others! Thank you!
Holy forking shirtballs, Nagi.
This sauce is so good that I want to make it again almost immediately to try it with other sides or vegetables. It’s so easy and cheap and is definitely going on rotation in my household!