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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 was delicious! Super easy and quick for a weeknight dinner. Thanks for sharing your recipe :)
This was so good! I wanted something simple to make since I’m under the weather today and this did it. Served it with frozen vegetable gyoza and a spicy dipping sauce. Thank you for sharing.
First time to your site via this recipe! This is SO going to be dinner tonight, with cilantro lime rice! Thanks so much. Have a good day!?
Made this tonight with chow mein. I added some toasted sesame seeds on top. My husband loved it, and when he uses that word, you know he means it! We liked it better than its mustard counterpart. Thank you for such a simple but delicious recipe. <3
This looks incredible! I unfortunately don’t have any honey on hand, and I’d like to avoid going to the store for just one item if I could. Do you think it’d be okay to substitute brown sugar? If so, should I still use 5Tbsp or should I lessen it? Thank you!
I think brown sugar would work but I would taste the sauce prior to putting it on the chicken to make sure it is the taste you want. I would start with 1 tbsp. of brown sugar and slowly increase as you taste.
I made this delicious recipe this evening. WOW! What a great recipe.
Thanks for sharing. This is our new favorite chicken recipe!
Om nom nom nom nom!
So, I didn’t listen, and only single-layered my foil. Some deliciousness snuck through, but the clean up wasn’t so bad. I’ll use two next time.
This was so easy to make, didn’t leave me with a sink full of dishes, and was absolutely delicious. Thank you so very much for this post and recipe! Found a new favorite and will be making it often.
Just cooked this tonight! I used a 13×9 pan instead of an 8×8, but oh man, this came out fantastic! My baby brothers loved it, and they’re normally really picky eaters. And I love that it was such a snap to prepare, especially after a long day of work. Definitely will be adding this to the family dinner plans more often.
Honey Soy Chicken has become a favorite recipe of mine It’s usually on the menu once a week! Lively flavors and step by step perfect instructions make this dish a real pleaser for the chef and his husband! Your web site is a real motivator to cook and you make it such fun that cooking is becoming a passion of mind (which in my sixty odd years I never expected to happen!) Thanks for the inspiration and all the great recipes!
Thanks for the feedback, Robert! So glad I could give new inspiration!
Just made this for dinner and it was delicious! I followed the instructions exactly. This recipe is a keeper for sure!!