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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
I accidentally bought bone-in skin-on thighs. Oops! I’ll definitely get the right kind next time but for now, how do you think I could change the cooking instructions accordingly?
Yes, you can use those types of thighs. I wouldn’t change the cooking time or instructions.
I would suggest sticking fork in a piece after cooking boneless cooking time. If fork goes to the bone, chicken is done if there’s still resistence add time or 5-6 minutes at a time and retest.
Yummy, moist chicken. Thanks for easy clean up by using foil. Made this just about as suggested. I only had 3 T honey so I added brown sugar. No ginger powder so I used diced candied ginger. I used a suggestion from another review and made a pan gravy using the pan juices. Looking forward to trying the mustard chicken recipe. Thank you!
Just made this and the entire family loved it! Two kids (one with Celiac) and two adults. I doubled everything in the marinade and had plenty to cover the noodles. It was delicious!
I made this for supper w/ Rice & mixed veggies, This is a keeper. Thanks!
Is there something else I can substitute for ginger? I don’t have any right now! :(
You can just omit it
Someone may have already asked this, but if I wanted to use fresh ginger instead of ground, how much would you suggest using? This looks fantastic. My family loves anything with soy sauce. Can’t wait to try this for them!
I would suggest about the same amount! :)
Found this recipe after looking at my frig and finding 1.5 pounds of chicken defrosted going on Day 2. The response from my partner was, “This is great! You really put yourself out with this.” Actually, this recipe was so easy to prepare. I ‘thank you’ for making my usual boring dinner memorable. The recipe came out perfect and moist!
This was delicious. I cooked it for my family of 5 (3 middle schoolers) and decided I needed to double it. After reading all your instructions I knew to make two 8″ square pans of chicken. It turned out fabulous. It was moist & flavorful. Everyone gave it two thumbs up! I thank you for your detailed instructions and tips that made this an effortless success. I will definitely be making this again.
I followed your directions and it turned out fabulous! I used the chicken thighs and they were very juicy and full of flavor! No dryness or anything of the sort. My kids and husband gave it two thumbs up! Thanks for sharing! :)
I plan to try this tonight but I just want to say I LOVE your instructions!!! haha I love that you have the courage to say what you said about not following directions! I get so frustrated at people saying the recipe is horrible but also claiming to have modified the recipe. When cooking there are certain ways you MUST do things even if they seem strange. Even some recipes you have to add certain ingredients at certain times in a certain order or the recipe will be a disaster. So I understand completely! I love to cook and am pretty good I think and I have learned all by trial and error. No schooling. So things you just have to learn by experience. I will let you know how mine turns out. :)