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This honey soy chicken is as equally flavorful as its sister, holy yum chicken, but just a different flavor profile! Asian and saucy!
I came up with honey soy chicken because of the overwhelming response to my holy yum chicken.
Quick and easy chicken dinners that can be made in one casserole dish seems to be the way to your hearts!
I know it is for me because when you’re tired after a long day, the last thing you want to do is make an elaborate dinner.
Have no fear that just because this is an easy chicken recipe that it is lacking in flavor.
It is just the opposite!
Honey soy chicken has so much flavor!
The ingredients in honey soy chicken give it a lot of flavor. Here’s the run down of the ingredient list:
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Garlic
- Ginger
How do you get it all nicely browned on top?
I stick the entire casserole dish under the broiler to get the nice golden brown color you see in the photos.
This step is absolutely optional and you don’t have to. I obviously did it because I think it looks better and I love a crispy caramelized edge on my chicken thighs.
Can you use chicken breasts?
You can but I love using dark meat/chicken thighs.
They are foolproof and don’t dry out like chicken breasts do.
They also tend to take less time to cook.
Is the sauce supposed to be thick?
No. I keep getting comments from people saying their sauce is runny.
It’s supposed to be runny like you can see in the photos.
There’s nothing in the ingredients that would make the sauce thick.
I did mention that soy sauce and honey are both sticky ingredients when cooked at high heat but that doesn’t mean the sauce is going to be thick.
I’m saying that the excess sauce that may be on the sides of your baking dish or foil will be sticky/crusty. Hope that clarifies things!
Can you make this in the slow cooker?
I mean, I guess you could but it already whips up so fast in the oven that I feel putting it in the slow cooker would be a bit of an overkill.
Here are some tips to help you make this honey soy chicken recipe a success!
- If you don’t follow directions and want to improvise, that is definitely ok! But please do not come back to yell at me for a failed dish. The instructions are laid out completely above because I have tested it myself and it works the way it’s written above.
- If you do not use the right equipment it will likely not turn out either. 8×8″ pan means 8×8″ pan. 2 layers of foil means 2 layers of foil. Why? 8×8″ pan will keep the sauce together and compact and won’t cause it to spread out over a large surface area. If you put it in a larger pan, it will spread, therefore, causing the sauce to get cooked off and you’ll end up with dry chicken and little to no sauce. Double layering the foil insulates the sauces and the chicken, it’ll keep the sauce from burning on the scalding hot pan.
- Yes, it really is cooked at 425 degrees. I’m not going to lie to you. Yes, it’s high but it also works (proof: above pictures!)
- If you’re using (thin cut) chicken breasts, reduce cooking time by 10-15 minutes or you’ll end up with dry chicken.
More chicken recipe ideas:
- Holy yum chicken
- Roasted chicken with olives and tomatoes
- Fig and rosemary glazed skillet chicken
- Coconut harissa curry braised chicken
- Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic
Honey Soy Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ – 2 pounds (1 ⅗ kg) boneless skinless chicken thighs, (most of the fat cut and discarded)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 5 tablespoons honey
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 °F (218 °C). Line a 8×8" oven-proof pan with 2 layers of tin foil. I HIGHLY advise using foil in this dish because soy sauce & honey are STICKY and tend to adhere heavily on glass dishes when cooked at high temperatures. Unless you want to be scrubbing forever, use the foil!
- In small bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ground ginger, and pepper.
- Place the chicken thighs in the foil layered pan then pour the mixture on top of it. Turn the chicken around in the sauce to make sure it gets all coated.
- Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the tops are not browning too quickly. If they are, cover with foil and resume baking until chicken is done.
- Remove from oven and let chicken sit for 5 minutes then transfer to a plate. Do NOT discard the liquid.
- Immediately after plating chicken, pour sauce over top of chicken. It’s delicious so you want all the sauce you can get!
- Serve with white or brown rice and some steamed veggies.
Notes
Nutrition
Photography by Ari Laing
We love chicken especially grilled so I have always added soy sauce(light)and garlic to my chicken before grilling and we like it that way but yours sounds extra good so will try it soon.CLinOregon
Oh my goodness! This was AMAZING! My whole family loved it!!! The taste was wonderful! Definitely will be making this again!
Julie, I like the pictures . how do I print them. I like to save with the recipe so I can remember what the dish is suppose to look like. when I print off the recipe the pictures never come with it
how is everyone else doing it
Marty
Hi Marty. Print friendly versions are basically printer friendly in that they don’t have images so it doesn’t waste a lot of ink – that’s why my print versions are just text. If you want to print it off with the picture, I suggest you just go to file > print from your web browser and print the entire post. Hope that helps.
Oh yum! You’ve inspired me to make this… now only if I had a kitchen. ;-)
I became a fan of yours at the Holy Yum Chicken recipe. Yes, the recipe is as good as you promised! And even though looking at the ingredients, I thought nope, not gonna like that, it was your passion in the writing that convinced me to try it. It has now become part of the regular rotation in our dinner choices. As a fellow blogger (but not about food) I salute you!
which part of the chicken is tender, breast part or thigh ?
Thigh.
Mmmmmm! Such delicious looking chicken :)
I wanted to make the Holy Yum chicken, but I wasn’t sure with the mustard since I’m not a big fan, but this is a version I know I can get on top of! Love all the flavors!
I will have to make this recipe this week! On the menu!
Oh, goodness! This was delicious! My husband and I made this tonight for dinner…so fabulous! Love your blog!
Congratulations on your wedding!