Skillet Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

This skillet honey garlic chicken thighs recipe is the perfect weeknight meal and so simple to make! This dish offers the ideal balance of sweet and savory, ultimately satisfying the whole household! BONUS: These honey thighs can be made in 28 minutes or less!

Note: If you love chicken dishes, be sure to also checkout our delicious Creamy Chicken Pea Skillet with Rice, Chicken Pomodoro and Chicken Marsala recipes! Or for other sweet and savory recipe ideas, consider our Teriyaki Beef Bowl or Chicken Lettuce Wraps!

🤔 Chicken Thighs or Breasts?

We wanted a more tender and flavorful piece of chicken for this dish, so we opted for boneless and skinless chicken thighs. Note: You can use bone-in thighs for this dish, but they will require a little extra cooking time.

Chicken breasts will also work with this dish, but we prefer chicken thighs due to their moist texture and juicy flavor.

🛒 Ingredients

Notes on Ingredients:

Chicken thighs– Chicken thighs are more flavorful and cook faster, but you can also use chicken breasts. Note: We used boneless and skinless chicken thighs.

Seasoning– Salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to flavor the chicken.

Chicken broth– The forms the base of the chicken’s sauce.

Honey– To give the sauce it’s sweet flavor and sticky texture!

Soy Sauce– For the sauce’s salty flavor.

Lemon Juice– For any added, citrusy twist.

Brown sugar– To thicken the sauce and add more sweetness!

Garlic– Freshly minced garlic cloves is best, but jarred, minced garlic also works.

Sesame Seeds & Parsley– For garnish!

Note: It’s important to choose your honey carefully. Many honey products out there don’t contain the purest forms of honey and may include added ingredients, like high fructose syrup. This article from NDTV Food is pretty informative: How to Check if Your Honey is Pure or Adulterated.  

👩‍🍳 Instructions

🥄 Kids Steps: Let kids help out by measuring out seasoning and sauce ingredients. You can also show kids how to use a splatter guard while the chicken cooks.

✏️ Expert Tips and Tricks

• If you have extra time, feel free to let chicken sit in honey garlic marinade for an extra 5 minutes before heating together.
• If your sauce needs thickening, whisk together 1 T cornstarch and 1 T cold water in a small bowl. Then slowly pour it into your sauce. Note: The thickness of your sauce may vary based on the type of honey you use and the amount of time you cook the sauce.
• Coat the measuring cup with a tiny bit of oil before adding the honey. This helps the honey to slide out of the cup more easily when pouring.
• Chicken is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. We love the Thermapen® by Thermoworks for checking meat temps.
• Let honey thighs sit for a few minutes before serving to make sure chicken thighs are extra juicy and succulent!
• To make spicy honey garlic chicken thighs, consider adding a pinch of red pepper flakes to each chicken thigh.

🥗 Side Suggestions 

We served this skillet chicken dish with rice. After all, we couldn’t possibly let all that extra sauce go to waste! And the sauce-soaked rice truly was delicious. Since our kids are broccoli lovers, we added some fresh, steamed broccoli to our plates. However, many other sides would work well with this dish, like:   

• Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Lemon
• Lemony Garlic Pasta
• Creamy Vegetable Pasta
• Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese
• Baked Potato
• Sliced veggies, like carrots, cucumbers or celery

🧊 Storage

These honey thighs are best served right away while the meat is tender and juicy. However, it can be rewarmed in an oven or toaster oven at 300F until warmed through in order to keep its crispy texture. You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

❓FAQ