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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
- 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
- 1 ½ – 2 pounds (1 ⅗ kg) boneless skinless chicken thighs, (most of the fat cut and discarded)
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.3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 5 tablespoons honey, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground black 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.1 1/2 – 2 pounds (1 ⅗ kg) boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 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
This recipe is delicious! Definitely adding to our favorites… My man is a picky eater and loved this
Thank you super easy too
I have been making this, Love it, Hubby loves it too! and t does turn out just like the pictures. If yours doesn’t turn a perfect color and stays looking kind of not perfect doneness, i suggest going in after 35 mins of cooking and glaze the top of the chicken with honey. I swear, in 5 mins, it’ll turn out perfectly caramelized looking chicken. But I guess depending on your oven, you might want to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get burnt because it will turn dark pretty fast. just a suggestion.
This was the most thorough recipe I’ve seen!! Thanks for the tip on putting aluminum foil over the pan so it won’t burn. I was like what am I doing wrong lol ☺️
As a single guy who works a lot, I am not the best cook, by far, so, I tend to get tired of my “usuals”. I like short recipes with few ingredients/work! I think I may have overcooked the chicken, slightly, but, still, it came out pretty good and this is something I will definitely make again in the future. Thank you!
YUM! I mean – So good! Thanks for posting this and I will be checking out more recipes from you! I doubled the sauce bc I didnt have foil and it wouldn’t get so sticky – perfection. I am going to recommend to everyone. My only problem is that it almost didnt make it to the table bc I was eating it right from the pan! Thank you!
Just came here to comment that I’m making this for the second time tonight it is absolutely delicious but yes tough to clean without foil protecting your dish. I have used a larger pan and more or less chicken with the same amount ofsauce with no issues
This is an easy simple recipe that is so delicious. I brined the chicken breast for a couple of hours and then marinated the chicken in the mixture for 30-45 mins. I also added fresh ginger and some crushed red pepper to the mixture to make it spicy. My husband couldn’t stop raving about it. This recipe will be regular at our dinner table. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Julie,
IMO you weren’t rude; people seriously need to learn about accountability! Anyway, I tried the recipe ~ not a to a T. Think I had too much, and the wrong kind of oil (I had corn, sesame and olive in there), and defo added a lot more soy. But I DID double foil my (not) 8X8 baking dish. :) Chicken was scrummy and good gracious you weren’t joking about that stuff being sticky! Haha!
Anyway, was wondering if there was a specific type of honey you would recommend or recommend against. I used Greek honey.
Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t tried this with Greek honey so I’m not sure how that would taste. I would just use regular clover honey, as that’s what I used in this dish. Corn and olive oil in the dish will also make the flavors weird because they have a flavor to them. I’d recommend sticking with vegetable oil and sesame oil.
Julie, what happened? I followed your instructions to a T and I ended up with an 8×8 pan half full of liquid and it wasn’t the thick sauce I started with but instead watery. Most of the chicken was submerged in this and therefore none of the honey soy sauce stuck. When I took the chicken out, there was nothing but an almost clear, watery liquid left and I know this isn’t the sauce you said to save to pour back over the chicken. The chicken, under all that liquid barely tasted like anything. I don’t know where I went wrong.
Hi Teresa, sorry you ended up with a pan full of liquid. It might be because your chicken had more water content in it? I know when you bake/cook meats, they tend to secrete liquid/water. The sauce that you start with should’ve been liquid too, not thick. I’m not sure what could’ve happened, otherwise. The only thing I can think of is your chicken having more water content and diluting the sauce during the cooking process.
I just made this! It is amazing!! :* It was my first time cooking without my mom’s help and everyone loved it like anything!!!