Quick and Easy Honey Garlic Chicken
Quick and Easy Honey Garlic Chicken is full of sweet, salty, umami, and garlicky flavor. Bonus: it’s easy enough to make on the busiest weeknights.
My family loves honey garlic chicken, and we often add it to our order when we get Chinese food. But unfortunately, the local restaurant that we order from most often makes terrible honey garlic chicken (their other dishes are delicious). So to get our honey garlic fix, I decided to try making it myself.
I’ve made honey garlic chicken before, but I’d been underwhelmed with the results. This time I made sure to use real honey, and LOTS of garlic. This isn’t an exaggeration – this meal will take at least an entire head of garlic – twenty cloves!
This time I got it right – the sauce is so full of sweet, savory, garlicky flavor, with a thick texture that fully coats the chicken and flavors the rice that you serve it over. And as a helpful bonus, this Quick and Easy Honey Garlic Chicken comes together extremely quickly. It can be on your table in less than 30 minutes, making it the perfect dinner for even the busiest weeknights.
How to Make Honey Garlic Chicken
To make this easy, flavor-filled chicken, start by prepping the chicken. First, pat the chicken thighs dry with a clean paper towel. This helps to ensure that the cornstarch coating stays dry and doesn’t turn into a paste.
Next, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. I guess this is technically optional, but it does increase the surface area, allowing for more of the honey garlic sauce to adhere to the chicken. Now toss the chicken with a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and pepper. This should all pretty much adhere to the chicken, with no powdery leftovers left in the bowl.
Next, make the sauce. This involves simply stirring the ingredients (honey, soy sauce, sugar, and apple cider vinegar) together in a bowl or measuring cup. Note that if your honey is not in liquid form, it will be easiest to liquify it in the microwave before adding the other ingredients (it shouldn’t need any more than 10 seconds).
Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, and cook, stirring often, until browned on all sides. Push the chicken to the edges of the pan, and add the minced garlic to the center of the pan. Cook it just until it becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds, before stirring it into the chicken. Cook for another 30 seconds, then pour in the sauce.
Cook the chicken in the sauce for another few minutes until the sauce thickens into a glaze. Remove the chicken from the heat, and sprinkle with sesame seeds or sliced green onions if desired. Serve over rice or another cooked grain of your choice.
Honey Garlic Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken thighs – You will need about 5-6 thighs. Alternatively, you can use chicken breast or a lean cut of pork.
- Cornstarch – You will be tossing the chicken pieces in a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and pepper to get a bit of a crust on the chicken before coating it with the sauce.
- Kosher salt or MSG-salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Canola oil – or feel free to use any other neutral-flavored cooking oil.
- Liquid honey – note that if your honey is not in liquid form (eg. it’s crystallized, or creamed honey), simply microwave it for a few seconds (no longer than 10 should be needed) in a microwave-safe bowl to make it easier to mix into the sauce.
- Reduced-sodium soy sauce – Make sure to use a gluten-free soy sauce or tamari to make your honey garlic chicken gluten-free.
- Granulated sugar
- Apple cider vinegar – or you could use rice vinegar, but I like the slightly tangier flavor of ACV
- Garlic – You will need a lot of it. To make things easier on yourself, purchase garlic cloves that are already peeled. Avoid using pre-minced garlic (aka “jarlic”) here, or for any recipes where garlic flavor is front-and-center.
Want more weeknight chicken recipes?
Honey Garlic Chicken Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for ¼ of the recipe, and does not include rice or anything else you might serve it with.
To make your chicken gluten-free, make sure to replace the soy sauce with a gluten-free soy sauce or tamari.
Serve your chicken over rice or another cooked grain (quinoa is a good option), and serve with a green salad or cooked vegetable to make a complete meal.
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pat 1 pound (454 g) chicken thighs dry with a clean paper. Cut into bite-size (about 1-inch) pieces.
- Whisk together 2 Tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch, 1 teaspoon (1.5 g) kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon (1 g) freshly ground black pepper in a medium bowl. Add the chicken pieces and toss until all of the chicken pieces are evenly coated.
- Stir together ¼ cup (85 g) liquid honey, 2 Tablespoons (30 g) reduced-sodium soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons (24 g) granulated sugar, and 1 Tablespoons (15 g) apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside for now.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons (28 g) canola oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet. Cook, stirring often to promote even cooking, until the chicken is evenly browned on all sides, about 7-8 minutes.
- Push all of the chicken to the edges of the skillet, and add the minced garlic to the center of the skillet. Cook the garlic, stirring constantly, until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir the chicken and garlic together and continue to cook for about 30 more seconds.
- Stir in the honey mixture and stir to coat all of the chicken. Cook until the honey mixture reduces and thickens to a thick glaze-like texture, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat. Sprinkle the chicken with sesame seeds if desired. Serve immediately with rice or another cooked grain.
Nutrition
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