This skillet honey garlic chicken thighs recipe is the perfect weeknight meal and so simple to make!
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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 one-pan recipes ideas, check these awesome lazy Sunday dinner ideas!
👍 Why We Love Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
Honey! We love cooking with honey, which is thick, gooey and delicious! On another note, studies have demonstrated high quality honey contains many important antioxidants which may help lower blood pressure and thus reduce one's risk of heart disease.
One Pan-These honey garlic chicken thighs can be made in four simple steps and with ONE pan or skillet. Easy cleanup!
Quick! Like all of our recipes, this chicken dish can be made in 28 minutes or less. Even better, these honey garlic chicken thighs require pantry staples that you likely already have on hand!
🤔 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
Step 1: Season both sides of chicken.
Step 2: Cook the chicken for several minutes on both sides until nice and brown (and cooked through).
Step 3: Add the sauce. Mix together honey garlic sauce ingredients, add to pan, cover and cook sauce down.
Step 4: Garnish! Top honey garlic chicken thighs with a pinch of sesame seeds and fresh parsley.
🥄 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 chicken 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 garlic chicken 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
👧🏽 Tips for Picky Eaters
🍅Sauce on the side. If your kids don't trust sauces (lol), consider setting aside a cooked chicken thigh before adding sauce to the pan.
🍅Kids pick the grain. Rice is just one option for accompanying the chicken. Let your kids pick their favorite. Good options are: a grooved pasta like this whole wheat rotini, quinoa, garlic bread, & couscous. You could even serve the chicken over instant mashed potatoes.
🍅Kids pick the veggie. Our kids picked broccoli but the possibilities are endless! Try a frozen veggie mix (super easy) or simple sliced veggies, like carrots, cucumbers or celery
🧊 Storage
This skillet honey garlic chicken dish is 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
Yes, bone-in thighs can be used instead of boneless chicken thighs. Just keep in mind that bone-in thighs will require a little extra cooking time.
Chicken is fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
Yes, most of the ingredients in our skillet honey garlic chicken thigh recipe are gluten-free with the exception of soy sauce. Some brands of soy sauce contain wheat, but nowadays you can find gluten-free soy sauce at the market. The product I always see is San-J's Tamari Gluten Free Soy Sauce. Kikkoman also now makes a gluten-free soy sauce.
It's best to serve these chicken thighs right away while the meat is tender and juicy. However, this dish can be rewarmed in an oven or toaster oven at 300F until warmed through.
If you don't have honey, you can use equal parts maple syrup in this dish. Just be sure to use 100% real maple syrup and not a brand of syrup with added flavors. For more ideas on substitutions for honey, check out Bake It With Love's list of best honey substitutes
🐝 Make Cork Honeybees!
Your kids can make this adorable DIY Cork Honeybee craft while you prepare our Honey Garlic Chicken dish! I gotta say, these cork honeybees are pretty adorable! You can even make a mobile with them!
🍽 More Chicken Recipes
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Skillet Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4-6 chicken thighs (boneless & skinless)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1-2 Tablespoon olive oil
Honey Garlic Sauce
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- sesame seeds (as garnish)
- parsley (as garnish)
Instructions
- Sprinkle both sides of chicken thighs with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Sear chicken for 6-8 minutes on each side and until cooked through.
- Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over chicken, cover pan, and cook on low for 3-5 minutes or until sauce thickens.
- Top chicken with a pinch of sesame seeds and parsley.
Notes
- To plate...serve chicken with rice, pasta and/or a veggie of choice!
- Chicken thighs are more flavorful and cook faster, but you can also use chicken breasts.
- When measuring out the honey, 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.
- 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, stirring until thickened enough.
- Consider serving your chicken over rice. Ben's Original Ready Rice is the best, and only takes 90 seconds in the microwave.
Nutrition
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. While we are not certified nutritionists, we work with a Wordpress-integrated nutrition API to calculate our recipes' ingredient values.
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Made this meal for my family tonight. Absolutely delicious and easy to make! Served with broccoli and rice pilaf
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!