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!
Love this recipe! It’s my go to when I don’t know what to cook, it’s a family favorite!
Thank you Nagi!!
I usually never leave comments on recipes but this is so good i have to! I’m trying to lose weight and made this to meal prep for three days and oh my it’s so tasty! Only change I made was using less butter and flour but still came out delicious! 10/10
Fabulous!!! I ate sooo much! Easy, quick, and most importantly delicious!!! Kudos!
This is sooo good we love it and so easy.
Thankyou Nagi
So simple but so amazing!
I just made this, and my mom said it was good! So you know that’s a compliment. Thank you for such a quick and simple recipe.
great result from such a simple recipe. it was my turn to cook and my wife was impressed. Thank you
Just too good! My 5 year old daughter licked the dish clean!
This was the very first recipe of yours I tried, many years ago, and it was absolutely delicious, I never change a thing and it’s always delicious, my hubby absolutely loves the sauce. If I’m looking for a recipe and see you’ve done it, I’m gonna try yours before anyone else’s
Made this recipe as posted, absolutely loved it. My daughter and I gave it 5 stars!!! Taste was flavorful and chicken was juicy. We will be checking out more of your recipes. Thank you
I never leave reviews but had to this was SO amazing! We all loved this! I added a bit more chicken and extra vinegar and soya sauce to make more sauce. Thank you!
I’ve made this so many times since I first came across it. It’s always a hit and my 15 year old requests it often!
Although mine didn’t turn out as pretty as yours, this chicken was incredibly delicious and came together so quickly! Every one of your recipes I have tried has been a 10/10. Thank you!
This was easy, quick and delicious! Thank you for this and so many of your recipes. I used chicken this time, but I think I’ll try it on tofu next time.
This is definitely a keeper. I used chicken tenders because that’s what I had on hand. I adjusted my cooking time, other than that I followed the recipe and loved it.
Hey so I hardly ever leave reviews unless the food is 10/10 .. and this glaze is! Absolutely knocks it OUT OF THE PARK! I make glazes, BBQ Sauces, and seasonings for a living and this is probably the best chicken glaze I have ever eaten in my life! I am actually working on a webapp similar to this but like social media/recipe site had a baby .. anyway, if you’re interested I would LOVE to feature you on my site as one of the firs recipe creators! Feel free to let me know.. regardless.. this stuff absolutely blew me out of the water! Thank you!
Hey so I hardly ever leave reviews unless the is 10/10 .. and this glaze is! Absolutely knocks it OUT OF THE PARK! I make glazes, BBQ Sauces, and seasonings for a living and this is probably the best chicken glaze I have ever eaten in my life! I am actually working on a webapp similar to this but like social media/recipe site had a baby .. anyway, if you’re interested I would LOVE to feature you on my site as one of the firs recipe creators! Feel free to let me know.. regardless.. this stuff absolutely blew me out of the water! Thank you!
This is it. This is THE quick and simple honey garlic chicken recipe. Kids and husband loved it. I loved making it as well as eating it. Thank you for a keeper recipe!!!
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?