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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!
Kids loved it and were asking for 3rds
So quick. So easy. So delicious! I mix some stir fry veggies in and have a 1 skillet meal. My kiddo loves it. She loves the leftovers for lunch too! Great recipe!
Made this with maple syrup and cut back on the quantities cos we neither like overly sweet…. very very good. Will come back to this cos it’s so quick. Thanks nagi!
This was amazing. 5/5 will make it regularly. Thanks.
This was really good. Made it as written. Just added more garlic. Will definitely be a repeat in my house. Thanks for a great recipe.
Delicious!! Everyone in the family loved it! We served with rice. I doubled the sauce so we would have extra to soak into the rice. Will definitely be making this again..and again..and again!
This was delicious! I doubled the sauce ingredients and added a few shakes of crushed red pepper. Husband loved it!
this is an absolutely outstanding recipe. My husband loves it so much I make it once a week – with different sides. The flavor combo is so delicious! I pound the chicken breasts so they are really tender, rather than cut them in half. I need to look through your recipes to find another option to add to the weekly menu! thank you for sharing this one. We LOVE it
I now work as a personal chef for a Vegan and this glaze gose well with grilled vegetables and tofu/ Tempeh and soforth. The simplicity is great 👌
What the heck. YouTube Shorts and Insta Reels have nothing on you. This is *truly* incredibly easy and delicious. Your recipes never, ever disappoint.
I was about to head to bed but told myself I needed to use the chicken breasts in the fridge and ideally have a lunch prepped for me and my toddler tomorrow. Found your recipe and 20 minutes later….Viola! I’m eating half a chicken breast that was supposed to be used for meal planning.
Very flavorful and tender. I used maple syrup in place of honey. My family loved it! Thank you.
My husband rated this dish 10 out of 10 for taste/flavor. Although I’m a vegetarian, I rated it 10 out of 10 for ease/simplicity of preparing. We were both winners tonight. Thanks for the great recipe.
This was a great recipe for the chicken. My husband don’t really like chicken but he came back for more. Because he even loved it. Thank u i will be making it again
This is one of my favorite chicken breast recipes. I would like to make it for guests and wondered if it would work in a crockpot?
Wishing I could post a photo for you to see, but I loved the recipe! I made it for my fiance and parents, it was a huge hit! The flavor was just right, it was restaurant quality at home! Thank you! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes in soon!
There will be no leftovers tonight. 10/10
I increased the recipe and fed 3 familys. All of them, myself included, thought this was one of the best chicken recipes ever. The flavor was outstanding! The only change I made was replacing apple cider vinegar with rice wine vinegar because that is what I had in the house.
This is fantastic and easy to make. Everyone in my family loves it.
Just unbelievably excellent…a requested dinner at least once a week by my picky son! You make me look like a STAR to my family! Thank YOU NAGI
10/10 no alterations. Sooo good!