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Home Chicken

Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

By:Nagi
Published:9 Feb '20Updated:19 Sep '21
1,275 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

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 in a skillet, fresh off the stove

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. 😎)

Spoon drizzling Honey Garlic Sauce over Chicken breast
Close up showing inside of juicy chicken breast with Honey Garlic Sauce

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! 😉

Ingredients for Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

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!

How to make Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

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 recipe - incredible 5 ingredient sauce for chicken

Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

Author: Nagi
Prep: 4 minutes mins
Cook: 8 minutes mins
Total: 12 minutes mins
Mains
Western
4.97 from 553 votes
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
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Recipe video above. An incredible quick and easy way to serve up chicken breast – seared then simmered in the most amazing honey garlic sauce. Don't be deceived by the short ingredient list! It's absolutely worth the extra step of dusting the chicken with flour because it creates a crust for the sauce to cling to. BONUS: See notes for how to make this with any protein – beef, pork, lamb, prawns/shrimp, tofu!

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:

1. Gluten free – use cornflour / cornstarch instead. It won’t brown quite as evenly but once covered in sauce, you won’t know the difference.
2. Soy Sauce – Light or all purpose soy sauce is suitable for this recipe. I don’t recommend using Dark Soy Sauce (flavour will dominate, bottle label will say if it is Dark Soy Sauce).
3. Other proteins: This sauce is ideal to use for any protein that is suitable for searing in a pan. Use chops, steaks, cutlets! Follow the recipe as written, including dusting the protein with flour. Just adjust the cook time – the trick is to add the garlic and other sauce ingredients before it is fully cooked through, so the meat finishes cooking as the sauce reduces down into a syrupy consistency.
Tofu – Use FIRM tofu. Cut “steaks” about 0.75cm / 1/4″ thick. Pat dry, spray or rub with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, THEN lightly coat with flour. Coat base of skillet with oil over medium high heat, then cook tofu 1 min each side until crispy, then remove onto paper towels. Then make the sauce in a small saucepan or skillet using just 2 tbsp (30g) butter (instead of 3.5 tbsp), following recipe from Step 5. Serve with crispy tofu!
Prawns/shrimp – use large prawns (thaw, drain well and pat dry if using frozen). Lightly coat prawns with flour per recipe and sear for 1 minute on the first side, then just 30 seconds on the other side before proceeding with Step 5.
Fish – cook per recipe for chicken breast. This sauce is very, very good with fish! This is a good sauce for economical fish because it’s a strong flavoured sauce. For expensive fish, I think it’s better to let the flavour of the fish come through and serve with an elegant sauce like this Lemon Butter Sauce.
4. Nutrition per serving, assuming you scrape every drop of Sauce from the pan, and why wouldn’t you? 🙂

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 166gCalories: 323cal (16%)Carbohydrates: 23g (8%)Protein: 28g (56%)Fat: 13g (20%)Saturated Fat: 7g (44%)Cholesterol: 107mg (36%)Sodium: 400mg (17%)Potassium: 486mg (14%)Sugar: 21g (23%)Vitamin A: 350IU (7%)Vitamin C: 2mg (2%)Calcium: 12mg (1%)Iron: 1mg (6%)
Keywords: Baked Chicken Breast, chicken breast recipe, honey chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken, sauce for chicken
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

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!).

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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!

Dozer the golden retriever dog fishing
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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1,275 Comments

  1. Emma says

    December 9, 2023 at 9:16 pm

    5 stars
    Quick, easy and so tasty. Toddler and fussy husband love this one.

    Reply
  2. Maz Thomson says

    December 6, 2023 at 8:12 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious- quick, simple meal. A winner – even our fussy eater cleaned the plate up.

    Reply
  3. Terri Anderson says

    December 6, 2023 at 12:33 am

    5 stars
    This is soooo good and super simple. It’s definitely going into my dinner rotation! I made it exactly as written and it was wonderful. My husband and I both loved it!

    Reply
  4. Keshieg says

    December 5, 2023 at 2:02 pm

    5 stars
    I made this and it was sooo easy and it was delicious. My husband added a tiny bit of spicy chili paste to his serving and he said it was really good with and without it.

    Reply
  5. Lydia says

    December 1, 2023 at 9:10 am

    5 stars
    Such a quick and easy weeknight meal, so delicious!

    Reply
  6. Cindy says

    November 30, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    5 stars
    Another winner. So tasty, so easy. Loved it.

    Reply
  7. Tristan Norbury says

    November 27, 2023 at 6:08 pm

    Just made this for dinner! Didn’t have enough honey, so I used 1/4 cup molasses and honey and it was soon good!

    Reply
  8. Sara says

    November 27, 2023 at 12:23 pm

    I really really really like this recipe!!!
    so simple and easy, perfected it on the first try and now adding it to me cookbook!!!

    Reply
  9. Barb says

    November 23, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    Dozer! My daughters kitty is named Dozer. I’ve had Goldens my whole adult life. Four so far. They are great dogs and obviously love the water and don’t like to “give up”. Thanks for sharing the pic and story.

    Reply
  10. Barb says

    November 23, 2023 at 1:37 pm

    YUM Honey Garlic Chicken Breast! I will be making this again!

    Reply
  11. Janis says

    November 14, 2023 at 10:03 am

    5 stars
    I just made this for supper. Very easy and absolutely delicious. Thank you very much for this tasty dish.

    Reply
  12. Caroline says

    November 13, 2023 at 12:09 am

    5 stars
    I made the video version that was sent out recently which I think is the same as this! The chicken was really good and the sauce delicious! Will be making again. 🙏

    Reply
  13. Vicki says

    October 31, 2023 at 7:03 pm

    5 stars
    Just made this for dinner, so easy and delicious. Thankyou.

    Reply
  14. Jess says

    October 23, 2023 at 4:19 pm

    1 star
    Unfortunately this is one recipe Noone in the household could eat. Followed recipe completely but those flavors just were not working. Unfortunate.

    Reply
  15. Paula says

    October 16, 2023 at 3:57 am

    Hi—could chicken thighs be used? Would this make the sauce more watery…?

    Reply
  16. Patty says

    October 5, 2023 at 8:08 am

    5 stars
    Great & extremely easy recipe if you’re pressed for time!!

    Reply
  17. Corinna Anderson says

    October 1, 2023 at 10:05 pm

    5 stars
    So easy and delicious. I made it two nights in a row. Will definitely be in the dinner rotation. Thank you

    Reply
  18. Carol says

    September 27, 2023 at 11:58 am

    Delicious. I made with a chicken breast and pork sirloin chop. Easy, quick, tasty, simple recipe. Served with a quick rice pilaf made in the oven while I prepared and cooked this recipe.

    Reply
  19. Vicki says

    September 26, 2023 at 8:28 am

    5 stars
    This is by far one of very few recipes that I’ve tried and absolutely LOVED! This could very well be a once a week dish. Thank you!

    Reply
  20. Sara says

    September 23, 2023 at 8:25 am

    5 stars
    Definitely a keeper

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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