These Honey Soy Garlic Chicken bowls are on the table in 15 minutes with 7 basic ingredients. With sweet, salty and savoury flavours making up the sauce, and diced chicken breast that is moist on the inside and a crispy on the outside.
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Recipe Highlights
- Quick and easy mid week meal in 15 minutes
- Perfect for making a big batch and meal prepping like this Chinese Mongolian Chicken
- Perfect with rice or add in your favourite veggies
- Spice it up with chili flakes, fresh chili to serve or a dash of sriracha
- Its simple and uncomplicated with just a few ingredients
- The sauce coats the chicken all over so its sticky and glossy
- Love garlic? Add an extra teaspoon of crushed garlic for a flavour boost
- Coating the chicken in flour makes it nice and crispy
This soy garlic chicken recipe is a perfect recipe for lunches and dinners, along with these Chicken Broccoli and mushroom bowls with Brown Sauce, and this Chicken Cashew Nut.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Chicken: I used skinless chicken breast diced into small chunks, but skinless chicken thigh will also work, however may take slightly longer to cook.
Flour: Lightly coating the chicken pieces in flour prior to cooking helps dry out the surface of the chicken so when it is cooked the outside will be crispy and the inside will be moist and tender. Plain or all purpose flour is best.
Oil: Olive oil helps sear the chicken. Feel free to use vegetable oil as an alternative. Adding a dash of sesame oil will also add some extra flavour, but its optional.
Garlic: As garlic is one of the primary flavours, make sure to mince the garlic well. I recommend buying minced garlic in a jar, or using a garlic press for fresh minced garlic. If chopping fresh garlic, make sure to dice superfine.
Honey: Honey adds sweetness and stickiness to the sauce. I recommend a good quality local honey if you have one.
Soy Sauce: Soy sauce adds a bit of salty savouriness to the chicken and balances out the garlic and honey.
Water: Water helps thin the sauce so it isn't too thick. Feel free to add as much or as little as you like to achieve your desired consistency.
Instead of having rice with this dish, why not try these Spicy Peanut Noodles, or Cauliflower Fried Rice.
How To Make
- Coat chicken in flour: Place the cubed chicken breast and flour in a large bowl (or bag) and toss until the chicken is fully coated with flour.
- Heat Oil: Add the olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken in a single layer.
- Cook Chicken: Cook the chicken for 6-8 minutes, turning occasionally. When the chicken is cooked through, add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add Combined Sauce Ingredients: Next whisk together the honey, water, and soy sauce. Add the sauce to the pan and stir to coat the chicken.
- Thicken Sauce and coat Chicken: Bring the sauce to a boil and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until it is bubbling and thick.
- Serve: Serve with your favourite rice, vegetables and garnishes.
Recipe Tips
Soy garlic chicken with the sweetness of honey is seriously one of the easiest midweek dishes to make. Many of these flavors are also in my Healthy Orange Chinese Chicken recipe too!
- Don't skip flouring the chicken: the flour is what removes excess moisture from the outside of the chicken which is essential to achieving that nice crispy golden outside.
- Chop chicken before cooking: this speeds up the cooking time and its easier to cut the chicken first before cooking.
- Chop the chicken into evenly sized pieces: this ensures that they will cook evenly.
- Get the Sauce Ingredient Ratio right: Whilst it's flavour base is very simple with just garlic, soy and honey, the secret lies in the ratio of how much to use for each. Too much soy and it will be way to salty, too much honey and it will be way to sweet and too much garlic and you won't taste anything else. For this reason, I recommend measuring these ingredients out.
- Sauce to Thick: add a little water to thin it out
- Sauce to Thin: make a cornflour/cornstarch slurry of 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon cornflour mixed together and pour into the pan on high heat, stir through and it will thicken quickly.
- Taste Test: Once you have the chicken bites slathered in honey garlic and soy, dip a finger in to taste and adjust if you want more saltiness, more sweetness, or more garlic
Add Ins
- Veg: add diced broccoli pieces and or sliced green beans for extra fibre
- Heat: ½ or ¼ teaspoon of red chilli flakes to the sauce, fresh chilli garnish on top to serve, or a little chilli paste stirred into the sauce
- Spice: Adding a teaspoon of Chinese five spice to the flour mix adds a subtle boost to the chicken. Or adding a sprinkle of black pepper into the sauce
- Citrus: for a hit of freshness, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, or a some lemon zest sprinkled over to serve
- Zing: Add a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger to the sauce, or minced ginger from a jar
- Nuts: lightly toasted unsalted cashew nuts go so well with this flavour combination and provide a toasty crunch
- Sesame Seeds: sprinkle on top t0 serve or stir through at the last minute before serving
This crispy honey garlic chicken is quicker to make than getting takeout and you can customise it to your exact preferences with basic add ins if you want to.
Because it's a super basic recipe, its perfect for meal prepping as a base and then adding different vegetables or sides so you have something special for each meal.
More 15 Minute Dinners
Honey Soy Garlic Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 500 grams /1 pound Boneless skinless chicken breast - cut into ¾" pieces
- ¼ cup Plain Flour/All purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Garlic (minced) - about 3 medium cloves
- ⅓ cup Honey
- 2 tablespoons Water
- 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
To Serve
- Cooked rice (2 cups) sliced green onion/shallot, thai basil leaves, and/or sesame seeds
Instructions
- Add cubed chicken breast and flour into a large bowl (or bag) and toss until chicken is fully coated with flour. In a jug or bowl, whisk together the honey, water, and soy sauce and set aside.
- Add olive oil to a large skillet/pan set over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add the chicken to skillet/pan in a single layer.
- Cook the chicken for 6-8 minutes, turning occasionally. When the chicken is cooked through, add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Whisk honey, soy sauce and water again and pour into pan, stirring to coat chicken.
- Heat sauce for a minute or two or until it is bubbling and thick, then remove from heat
- Serve immediately with your choice of sides and garnishes.
- Store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Notes
- Veg: add diced broccoli pieces and or sliced green beans for extra fibre
- Heat: ½ or ¼ teaspoon of red chilli flakes to the sauce, fresh chilli garnish on top to serve, or a little chilli paste stirred into the sauce
- Spice: Adding a teaspoon of Chinese five spice to the flour mix adds a subtle boost to the chicken. Or adding a sprinkle of black pepper into the sauce
- Citrus: for a hit of freshness, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, or a some lemon zest sprinkled over to serve
- Zing: Add a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger to the sauce, or minced ginger from a jar
- Nuts: lightly toasted unsalted cashew nuts go so well with this flavour combination and provide a toasty crunch
- Sesame Seeds: sprinkle on top t0 serve or stir through at the last minute before serving
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.
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