Chicken With Soy Sauce And Honey is a savory dish. It uses chicken as a primary ingredient which means it has high protein content and a variety of health benefits. Soy sauce and honey is the sweet components in this dish that gives just the right amount of tangy sweetness to chicken.
Honey & soy chicken with sesame broccoli
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:10 mins
- Cook:45 mins
- Easy
- Serves 4
Enjoy these sticky honey and soy chicken thighs as part of an easy midweek meal. This budget-friendly dinner is sure to be a family favourite
| Nutrient | Unit |
|---|---|
| kcal | 401 |
| fat | 22g |
| saturates | 5g |
| carbs | 17g |
| sugars | 15g |
| fibre | 6g |
| protein | 30g |
| salt | 1.7g |
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp garlic & ginger paste
- 8 skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 large head broccoli , cut into florets
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- rice , to serve (optional)
Method
- STEP 1Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mix the soy, honey, 1 tbsp of the oil and ½ tbsp garlic & ginger paste in a bowl. Pour over the chicken thighs and leave to marinate if you have time, but don’t worry if not – they will be delicious either way. Tip the chicken with all the marinade into a roasting tin, skin-side up. Cook for 45 mins until sticky and the skin is crispy.
- STEP 2When the chicken has 15 mins left, start cooking the rice following pack instructions, if using, and heat the remaining oil in a frying pan. Add the remaining garlic & ginger paste, sizzle for 1 min, then tip in the broccoli along with a splash of water. Cover and cook for 10 mins until tender, then take the lid off, tip the sesame seeds into the pan and give everything a good toss around. Season. Serve with the chicken, and all the caramelised bits from the bottom of the tin.
Honey Soy Chicken (2 Ingredient Marinade)
Honey Soy Chicken = Honey + Soya Sauce
I mean it’s honey soy chicken right? I don’t think it could be simpler. This recipe is by far the most fuss free dish I’ve made. It’s the perfect dinner on a weeknight when you are tired. There is no chopping vegetables, no long duration marinade process or complex cooking. It’s about 15 minutes in and out. Serve it with steam rice or vegetables and you’re good to go.
So I hope you will try this epic recipe.
Chicken Breast? It can be done!
Most people prefer to buy chicken breast. I’ll never understand why but they do. So if you want to make this which chicken breast you can but you need to cook it properly. Here the catch, chicken breast cooks very fast. We want the marinade to cook and reduce down to a sticky glaze without overcooking the chicken. So here is what you need to do. Start in a slightly hotter pan than I do in the video and furiously toss the chicken so that nothing sticks to the pan or burns. Do this till the chicken releases it’s liquid and once it’s swimming in that liquid remove the chicken. Now let that liquid reduce. This should take a minute or two.
At this point pour in any resting juices from the chicken breast and continue reducing the sauce. Once it’s a sticky glaze coating the back of the spoon throw the chicken back in and cook it till it’s all well coated in that glaze. Now this is a lot of cooking by feel and intuition that’s why I prefer if you’re a novice you use chicken thigh meat. It’s relatively impossible to overcook. So give it a try and trust me once you start eating the dark meat you’ll forget the lean boring chicken breast.
Make it Keto (though it already is)
At 6g net carbs a serving, this is Keto. But if you’re someone who is more concerned with using honey than the carbs then just replace the honey with a sugar free/Keto friendly maple syrup or a tsp of erythritol. The idea is to give a bet of sweetness in there. Now honestly I will still tell you that it’s 1tbsp of honey over 3 servings. Also if you are going to bring up blood sugar and GI of food etc. You aren’t eating the honey straight from the jar, you are eating it along with the chicken which makes a big difference.
If you are Keto don’t forget to serve this with cauliflower rice or just eat it as it is, like an appetizer. I recommend making my Miso butter vegetables on the side of this. Either way I hope you enjoy!
Spice it up
Now if you got time or are feeling fancy, there is a lot you can do with this recipe. Throw in some chilies or garlic to amp up the flavours. You can also add a bit of chicken stock and make it more like gravy dish if you don’t want it dry. Throw in some day old rice and you got fried rice. There are many ways to create epic dishes from this simple chicken dish.
Sticky Honey Soy Baked Chicken
Honey Soy Baked Chicken is a good one for busy weeknights and lazy Sundays. Just mix up a simple honey-soy-garlic sauce, pour it over chicken and bake in the oven. Out comes a sweet, salty, sticky chicken dinner – just the sort of flavours everybody loves!
Quick-to-prepare baked chicken recipes like Balsamic Chicken, Honey Mustard Chicken and this sticky soy chicken are great back pocket recipes because they’re just made with pantry staples. Finger licking good!
Easy Baked Honey Soy Chicken
The best way to make Honey Soy Chicken is to marinate it for 24 – 48 hours, followed by constant basting while cooking on the stove or BBQ and serving it with a glossy honey soy garlic sauce. And here’s the recipe for how to make it that way – if you have the time!
This recipe is the baked version that’s effortless, with completely hands-off cooking. It’s ever-so slightly adapted from this Baked Sticky Honey Soy Sesame Chicken by Claire from Sprinkles and Sprouts, a fellow Australian food blogger.
The glaze is perfect. Strong in flavour, but there’s not an overwhelming amount of it – just enough to coat the chicken which is all you need. And it’s because the glaze has such great flavour that you don’t even need to marinate the chicken.
Just throw a handful of ingredients in a pan, bake it, and this is what you get:
What you need to make Baked Honey Soy Chicken
Here’s what you need to make this dish:
- Chicken thighs – This recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on thighs so they can be in the oven for the 50 to 60 minutes required for the sauce to reduce down and caramelise.It can also be made with drumsticks and chicken marylands without altering the recipe.For boneless thighs and breasts, the chicken will be in the oven for substantially less time so I’d give the sauce a head start in the oven first to start reducing before adding the chicken.
- Red onion – This is cut into wedges and used as the bed on which the chicken is baked. The onion adds an extra element of flavour into the sauce, much like the way so many savoury recipes start by sautéing onion.
- Garlic – Flavour! We are a huge fan of garlic in (almost!) everything savoury!
- Honey – This is the sweetness in the sauce which makes it a glaze that coats the chicken.
- Soy sauce – This is the salt in the sauce. The recipe calls for all purpose soy sauce, but light soy sauce can be used too. DO NOT use dark soy sauce (flavour is far too intense) or sweet soy sauce like kecap manis (too sweet and too strong). See here for more on different soy sauces, and when you can interchange.
- Cider vinegar – Essential to balance out the sweet and savoury.
- Sesame oil – I adore sesame oil for the flavour it adds to anything it’s used in, whether a dressing (like this Asian Sesame Dressing) or into soups (like Hot & Sour Soup).
How to make Honey Soy Baked Chicken
Mix the sauce > pour over chicken > bake.
Anything else you need to know?? (Just joking!!)
- Sauce – Mix the honey, soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil and pepper.
- Line pan – Line a pan with both foil AND baking paper (parchment paper). This is a jammy glaze we have here, and if you just use baking paper, you’ll be suffering through a serious scrubbing session like I did!Then spread the onion out in the pan.
- Pour sauce over chicken – Top with chicken upside down (ie skin side down) and pour the sauce over. We start with the skin side down to get a bit of colour on the underside (because colour = flavour) otherwise the underside is just stewing in the sauce the whole time.
- Bake 25 minutes – Bake the chicken for 25 minutes at 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
- Turn and baste – Turn the chicken and spoon the pan juices over the chicken.
- Bake 25 – 35 minutes – Bake for a further 25 to 35 minutes until the chicken is nicely browned. Hopefully, the sauce will be reduced down to a syrup and require no adjustment, but sometimes it will still be too thin. If it’s too thin, it’s an easy fix: remove chicken to a plate, pop pan back into oven. It will thicken quite quickly.The reason it’s hard to say whether your sauce will be perfectly syrupy straight of the the oven is due to varying factors such as pan size (more space around chicken = faster reduction), juiciness of chicken (juicier = leaches more water = thins sauce more), if the chicken was frozen (tends to drop more water) and how evenly head circulates in the oven.
- Squidge! Turn the chicken over and squidge the chicken skin into the syrupy sauce. And yes, “squidge” is a real word. See?
- Baste – Spoon the sauce over the chicken to coat it more. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and something green if you want to pretty it up a touch (coriander/cilantro leaves, green onion, parsley, chives). And serve!
What to serve with Baked Honey Soy Chicken
In the photo above, the chicken is pictured with plain rice. Even though there’s not a ton of sauce, what you do have has a fairly intense flavour so a little goes a long way when mixed through rice.
Choose from: white rice, jasmine, basmati, brown rice or (just in case you’re doing the low carb thing) try cauliflower rice. Actually, this is a good one for cauliflower rice because the sauce flavour is quite strong so it will disguise any remnant of cauliflower flavour!
If you want to raise the bar, try it with a side of flavoured rice! Here are some options:
Sticky Honey Soy Chicken – baked
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 50 mins
Total: 55 mins
Chicken, Dinner
Asian influence
4.94 from 46 votes
Servings5 – 6 people
Tap or hover to scale
Recipe video above. This is still the best, EASIEST sticky honey soy chicken recipe I have come across. And I’ve tried many over the years!
Please do not double the recipe or sauce, this will prevent the sauce from reducing down to the sticky glaze you see pictured.
Ingredients
- ▢1.2kg / 2.4lb bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs OR drumsticks (5 – 6 pieces) (Note 1)
- ▢1 red onion , peeled, cut into wedges
GLAZE
- ▢3 cloves garlic , minced
- ▢3 tbsp honey
- ▢3 tbsp soy sauce (Note 2)
- ▢1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or ordinary white vinegar
- ▢1 tsp sesame oil
- ▢1/2 tsp black pepper
GARNISH (OPTIONAL)
- ▢Sesame seeds
- ▢Fresh coriander/cilantro leaves (or other green things like green onion, parsley, chives)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
- Line pan: Line a baking dish with foil then baking paper. The baking tray should fit the chicken comfortably, not too spaced apart (glaze will dry out), not too snug (glaze won’t thicken enough). (Note 3)
- Glaze: Mix the Glaze ingredients together.
- Pour glaze over chicken: Place onion and chicken in the baking dish skin side down, then pour the Glaze over.
- Bake 50 – 60 minutes: Bake for 25 minutes, then turn and bake for a further 25 to 35 minutes, until the chicken is browned and the glaze is sticky. If the glaze is not syrupy, remove the chicken to a plate and put the pan back in for a few minutes (it will reduce quickly).
- Squidge/coat chicken – Turn chicken and squidge in the glaze, then also spoon it over.
- Serve! Serve with rice and steamed greens, sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh cilantro/coriander leaves.
Recipe Notes:
1. Chicken – Bone in, skin on thighs work best because the sauce should reduce down to a syrup in the same time it takes for the chicken to cook. Drumsticks also work, without any alteration to the recipe.
Boneless skinless thighs and breast – Pour sauce over onion, bake 15 to 20 minutes until syrupy. Place boneless thighs in, turn to coat. Bake at 220°C/425°F for 20 minutes, basting once or twice, until chicken is cooked through. Caramelisation won’t be as good as pictured (need skin).
2. Soy sauce – Use ordinary, all purpose soy sauce. Sub light soy sauce (though sauce colour will be slightly paler).
Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce.
3. Sauce thickness – Factors such as pan size, space around chicken, how much juice the chicken leaches in the oven (sometimes chicken is injected with brine, frozen is more watery etc), how evenly you oven circulates heat will all affect exactly how thick the sauce is at the end of the bake time.
However, it’s an easy fix – just take the chicken out then return the pan into the oven. It reduces really quickly.
This recipe doesn’t make a lot of sauce, which is the way it is supposed to be because it is quite strong in flavour. It reduce to a jammy sticky glaze, enough to coat the chicken. That’s all you need!
4. Nutrition per chicken, assuming all sauce is consumed.
NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Serving: 207gCalories: 492cal (25%)Carbohydrates: 12g (4%)Protein: 34g (68%)Fat: 34g (52%)Saturated Fat: 9g (56%)Trans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 196mg (65%)Sodium: 658mg (29%)Potassium: 471mg (13%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 10g (11%)Vitamin A: 157IU (3%)Vitamin C: 2mg (2%)Calcium: 26mg (3%)Iron: 2mg (11%)