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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
We have bone in thighs and legs, do you think it would work for those? We just bought them (they’re cheaper) and vacuum sealed them last night. This sounds delicious!!
Yup, they’d be great!
I loved this recipe, was very tasty. Will definitely be making it again. Thank you! :)
We also had seafood and BBQ during the week, but hubby said this was his favorite! I don’t have an 8×8 so I had to use (2) 6-cup pyrex containers that worked fine. The chicken was very moist and flavorful. Loved it and loved that I didn’t have to go out for any ingredients!! I will definitely be making this again!
I made this tonight. It was pretty good. The only thing I used differently was coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. If I was to make this again, I would cut back on the honey. This dish was extremely sweet. Thanks for the recipe
I tried this recipe its soooooo good m whole family lovedddddd it..
Thanksss
Hi! So I made these two times now and I have some thoughts/questions.
1. I read the disclaimers etc & The first time I used BS Chicken Breast from Costco and a Low sugar Honey substitute (was all I had!) and it came out like the person who said it was a watery mess and had to throw away.
2. I just tried this again tonight with Chicken thighs from Target, REGULAR honey and did it for 55 minutes (since my chicken was stacked on top of one another inside the dish). After I defrosted them, I used a paper towel to suck up all the water & even blotted moisture from the chicken. It was good but it wasn’t what I expecting ;) I was assuming that with the disclaimer of it being STICKY, that it would create a glazey chicken of some kind. When all was said and done, it was an oily sauce – not really sticky. I’m wondering if the vegetable oil is too much at 3tbsp if it’s meant to be a glaze?
Even after out of the oven, it never “glazed” up or got sticky like people have mentioned :)
Thanks so much!
When I say ‘sticky,’ the sauce that is up on the edges of the pan/foil, since it’s a thin layer on those edges, it can result in it getting sticky because it essentially gets caramelized on the edges. The sauce itself is not sticky and not like a glaze. If you take a look at the photos above, you’ll see the sauce on the pan. It’s more of a liquid consistency and definitely not like a glaze. Hope that helps you!
This recipe is also amazing with Pork chops.
I just made this tonight and there is no thick sauce, was a little disappointed. It was ok, I think next time I will use less oil and maybe try teriyaki sauce instead of all soy sauce and see how that tastes.
Hi Darcy, I’m so glad you made this! I made no claims above that this sauce was supposed to be thick. I did mention in the comment above that it’s supposed to be more of a liquidy consistency, as seen in the photos. I’m sorry you were disappointed by this but I do hope you try it again with your modifications and hope you enjoy!
Made it with chicken breasts only as I’m trying to avoid dark meat lately, but the sauce is excellent, and the chicken turned out great. Making it again!
I make this recipe several times a month. My husband isn’t a huge chicken person, especially thighs but with this recipe he loves it and insists I make it every time I make chicken thighs. The chicken is so perfectly moist, which surprised since it is cooked at such a high temptress for so long. Thank you so much for sharing. I love this recipe.
I absolutely love this recipe! I didn’t print it the first time I made it and I’ve been searching for days, thank god I found it!! Going to make it again now. Thank you very very very much! I cook thighs upside down when they are skinless, it helps the tops not dry out too much since the bottom is fattier and traps more sauce. Thanks again!
I followed your recipe to the measurement. I found the chicken to be incredibly dry. I feel that 40 min is entirely way to long for chicken if you’re baking it at such a high temp. Sauce was great though. Will make it again.