My Healthier Honey Garlic Chicken recipe just became a new family favourite. Golden, tender bites of chicken sticky, glossy with honey-garlic sauce. So good. No deep fry. I have never seen the kids inhale their dinners so fast.
Healthy Honey Garlic Chicken Ingredients:
Classic Honey Garlic Chicken is a mall Food Court favourite for me but I wanted to make a lighter, quicker version that was more weekday friendly. I can’t believe how yummy it turned out with such a simple line-up of ingredients:
- Chicken thighs: thighs are more forgiving than chicken breasts and stay juicy and delicious without obsessing over perfect timing.
- Cornstarch: coating the chicken pieces with cornstarch helps them to retain their moisture as well as providing a dry surface to allow them to brown and crisp beautifully without deep frying.
- Quick, 4-ingredient healthy honey garlic sauce for chicken. All pantry staples — soy sauce, chicken broth, honey and garlic. For the soy sauce and broth, be sure to use regular and not low-sodium versions or the final dish will lack seasoning. (If low salt is what you have on hand, mix 3/4 tsp of kosher salt with the cornstarch before tossing the chicken).
How to Make Honey Garlic Sauce Chicken
My version of Honey Garlic Chicken lightens up not only the final dish, but also the workload. In this recipe, I skipped the deep fry and did everything in one pan, cutting back on effort majorly. The flavour, however, remains amazing.
- Toss chicken with cornstarch and cook in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until deeply golden on the bottom. Flip and cook until golden on the other side (don’t worry about cooking it through yet).
- Cook the garlic on one side of the pan. If you just stir it in with the chicken, it will have less contact with the heat and some raw garlic flavour will remain.
- Pour in the sauce ingredients. It has a brief awkward stage where the sauce is super thin and you’ll be like — is this soup??! But be patient. The cornstarch on the chicken will thicken the sauce as it reduces, and in a few minutes of simmering you’ll have a glossy, shiny, sticky sauce.
If you have a few extra minutes, you can transfer the browned chicken to a plate before you add the garlic to the pan. Let the sauce reduce and thicken before you add the chicken and toss to coat. This will preserve the chicken’s crispy crust (but dirties another plate). Choose your own adventure.
Other Asian-Style Take-out Recipes You’ll Love
If you love quick, easy Asian takeout-inspired recipes, you must also try:
Healthier Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- ⅓ tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp avocado oil or other high smoke point oil
- 4 tbsp honey
- ⅓ cup chicken broth
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Toss chicken pieces with cornstarch and salt to evenly coat. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering hot. Add chicken in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until deeply golden on the bottom. Flip and cook another 2 minutes ((don't worry about cooking it through yet).
- Meanwhile, whisk together honey, chicken broth and soy sauce and set aside.
- Push chicken to one side of the skillet. Cook garlic in the empty part of the skillet until soft, about 2 minutes. Add honey mixture and stir through chicken to coat. Let it come to a simmer and thicken, 2-3 minutes more. Chicken should reach 165ºF inside. Top with green onions.
Notes
- For the soy sauce and broth, be sure to use regular and not low-sodium versions or the final dish will be a bit bland. (If it’s what you have on hand, mix 3/4 tsp of kosher salt with the cornstarch before tossing the chicken).
- If you have a few extra minutes, you can transfer the browned chicken to a plate before you add the garlic to the pan. Finish the sauce like this on its own (letting it reduce and thicken) before you add the chicken and toss to coat. This will preserve the chicken’s crispy crust (but dirties another plate). Choose your own adventure.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was an awesome recipe! My husband is the toughest critic and he couldn’t believe I didn’t buy this somewhere pre-prepared in some way. We will make this again.
general question if increase serving size, do need to increase cooking time?
Hi Carol, only if your pan isn’t large enough for all the chicken to touch the hot surface. I always check with a meat thermometer to be sure.
Looks delicious
I made this Honey Garlic Chicken for dinner tonight and served it with chow main and stir fried veggies. It was delicious! 😋 I’ll definitely be making this recipe again.
This meal was incredibly delicious!! I had 2lbs of thighs so I doubled the sauce. I also added some Chinese 5 Spice to the sauce. Followed the advice in the notes section to remove the chicken after browning and crisping before I cooked the garlic, then reduced the sauce before adding the chicken back in to keep them crispy and it worked fabulously. Served with Jasmine rice, steamfresh broccoli/carrot/cauliflower, and topped with sesame seeds and green onions. I will add this to my rotation! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
can i use tapioca starch instead of cornstarch and liquid aminos instead of soy sauce?
Yes, you can use tapioca starch 1:1 for cornstarch in this recipe. Liquid aminos work as a soy sauce substitute. It’s a bit sweeter and less salty, so add a pinch more salt.
I tried this recipe with salmon. It was delicious, but I don’t have the timing quite right. Any suggestions?
Hi Sue, that sounds yummy! Salmon cubes will take almost no time to cook. I’d do the salmon for 1-2 minutes on one side with the garlic, then flip and pour in the sauce to finish cooking.
This was such a tasty weeknight dinner! The honey garlic sauce is the perfect balance — sweet but not too sweet. My family went back for seconds!
Can this be made in crock pot?
You could adapt it for the crockpot, but it won’t have the same texture since the chicken won’t get that golden sear. If you want to try it, skip the cornstarch and just add all the ingredients (except green onions) to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, or until the chicken is tender. You can thicken the sauce at the end with a cornstarch slurry if needed.
I tried this with chicken tenders as I didn’t have thighs, but left them 2x longer than using thighs. They turned out tender and juicy. Great recipe!
I tried this , and the flavor was good, but for some reason it ended up like a gravy sauce. Im not sure what I missed, was I supposed to drain the fat from the chicken after it cooked in the skillet before adding the sauce mixture?
Hi Amy, did you use frozen chicken? Some brands are plumped up with a brine solution that makes more water come out in cooking. It should still thicken up as it stands for a few minutes, though! You can always whisk a tsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp cold water and then simmer that in to thicken it up more.