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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
- 1 ½ – 2 pounds (1 ⅗ kg) boneless skinless chicken thighs, (most of the fat cut and discarded)
- 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
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.
- 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.
- 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
Just put this in the oven, I can’t wait! I added a bit of rice vinegar. Don’t worry, I won’t blame you if it turns out badly ;)
Hope you enjoyed this, Katherine!
I made this last night – followed your instructions exactly and it was so delicious!
Used chicken breasts butterflied and marinated them in the sauce for about 2 hours, They were ready in a little under 30 minutes in my oven – and wow were they fantastic,delicious .. my husband kept saying that throughout the meal!
Thank you for this recipe – can’t wait to try Holy Yum Chicken.
So glad you and your family enjoyed this, Colleen!! One of my fav dishes and you’re going to love Holy Yum Chicken! A different flavor from honey soy, but I’m sure you’ll love it all the same! Do share your feedback when you try it – I’d love to hear from you! :)
As someone who cooks every day, and considers herself a “good cook”, I felt compelled to comment on this one. Yes, I did everything like the recipe said: the foil, the 8×8 pan, the temperature, etc. When I went to check on the chicken after 30 minutes, the sauce had bubbled up and burned due to the sugar content from the honey and the high temperature. We had to order pizza…
Hi Amanda, I’m sorry yours didn’t turn out! I wish there was something I could do to help; countless readers and friends have made this before and it worked out for them and it worked out for me since the photos I took for this recipe are with the recipe I posted. I’m wondering if maybe your oven racks were too high or maybe your oven is just hotter than normal. Everyone’s oven varies so that might be the culprit but I’m really not sure. Again, I’m sorry this happened.
I made the Honey Soy Chicken for dinner last night. Pretty Good!
Glad you enjoyed this, Josie!
Made this for dinner tonight. It’s a keeper! My husband and I both went back for seconds and my three year old said, “That’s good chicken!”
So glad you and your family enjoyed this, Lisa!! :)
I just made this tonight, and wow is it good!! my whole family loved it! Thank you for sharing this :)
So happy you and your family loved this!
Can you substitute the ground ginger with fresh ginger? If so, how much? Thank you
Sure, I would start with 1 tsp.
hi, I was wondering if you have ever tried this out in a crockpot? I am very interested to try it but havent been successful previously (with someone else’s not so well written recipe). Thank you!
Hi Kim, I don’t think this recipe is intended for the crockpot. I’m sure you could try, but my only worry is that you’d have to cook it for a short amount of time otherwise your liquid will just evaporate. You could probably get away with 2-3 hours.
I can not wait to make this!
This is amazing! For a quicker dinner, you can broil the chicken on high about 6in from broiler for 5min on each side. You get the same result! Amazing!