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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
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! I want to make it for my family coming into town this weekend but I’m nervous about altering anything. I’m planning to keep the recipe exactly the same, like you said, but just make multiple dishes. Do you think it will be okay for me to cook three dishes of this at once? Or do I need to change anything to accommodate that? Thanks!!
I think cooking them in three separate dishes at the same time would work!
Hi, can I use aluminum baking pan 8×8 or should I stick with the glass/aluminum foil
Yes, you could use an aluminum baking pan!
I just have to say…this is wonderful. Very easy and a great weeknight dinner. This will be in my rotation for dinner ideas. I made 3 batches of this so we would have left overs. I added red pepper flakes in the left over sauce and it just kicked it up a notch!! Next time I make this, I would cut down the oils by 1/2. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
I made this today as a trial run before cooking it for 50 women at our church women’s Christmas party in a few weeks. It is quite tasty! Let me know if you have any hints for cooking this recipe for that many, other than follow the recipe as is.
I’m glad you enjoyed this! I would say just make sure you flip the chicken often if you plan on stacking the chicken thighs in a baking dish so that it gets cooked through.
Can you use boneless chicken beast?
Yes, you can. Please see disclaimer #4.
If I were to double the recipe would you suggest using a 9 x 9 pan instead of an 8 x 8?
Yes, that would work or even a 9×13
Yummy!!! Thank you sooooo much ?
I didn’t have fresh garlic so I used powdered garlic. Other than that, I followed the recipe and instructions exactly. It was delicious and my family loved it however it did not come out looking like your picture. The sauce, while delicious over the rice, had the consistency and color of beef broth. The chicken was moist and full of flavor but the sauce did not stick and brown on it.
Can you leave the skin on?
Sure
I made this last night and was perfect, I made as recipe stated, added more garlic and onion powder also. I served with angle hair pasta, cooked in olive oil and garlic. Everyone loved it and now its all gone:) Thanks it was EZ to make and clean up for a breeze.