My mother-in-law has the best recipe for honey garlic chicken. This is not the honey garlic chicken that is little bits and pieces and you serve over rice. This recipe uses full pieces of chicken, which can be chicken thigh or chicken breast, and it cooks up in a skillet so fast and easy that it will soon become your new favorite!

You can also try some honey garlic slow cooker chicken thighs if you want to leave something cooking all day!

Six pieces of honey garlic chicken in a cast iron skillet

How to Make Easy Honey Garlic Chicken

Honey garlic chicken doesn’t get easier than this!

Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl large enough to hold the chicken as well. Reserve some of the sauce for later.
Place chicken into the sauce and cover. Marinate.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Preheat an oven-safe skillet with olive oil in it.
Fry the chicken until the skin starts to crisp up.
Pour the remaining sauce on top of the chicken.
Place the skillet into the oven and bake until the thighs reach an internal temperature of 185 degrees F.

Close up of honey garlic chicken in a cast iron skillet — Close-up of chicken in a cast iron skillet

How This Recipe Came About

I was lazing around one Sunday when a message from a reader asked me for a really good honey garlic chicken recipe. I scratched my head a bit and realized that I don’t actually make honey garlic chicken on a regular basis. Yes, I make my Uncle Bob’s Japanese Chicken Wings, but I don’t make honey garlic chicken.

And presto, I was craving honey garlic chicken yesterday, just like that. I became a wee bit obsessed with the thought of honey garlic chicken for dinner and mentioned it to Mike as I was taking chicken thighs out of the freezer that someone had asked me if I knew a honey garlic chicken recipe, and now I was CRAVING IT.

He looked up from his laptop and excitedly said, ” Oh man, my mom has the BEST honey garlic chicken recipe ever! Let me ask her for it!” Now listen, Mr Magpie doesn’t really get excited about food like that, so I was totally game. Don’t tell him this, but he was right. This is seriously the best recipe ever.

Honey Garlic Sauce Ingredients

The reason that this is THE BEST honey garlic chicken recipe is the sauce, of course! Mike’s Mom puts in some easy and amazing ingredients but not necessarily authentic. The ketchup, of course, isn’t authentic, but let me tell you, ALL other sauces pale in comparison to this recipe, trust me!

skin-on chicken thighs or breasts
soy sauce
liquid honey
ketchup
powdered ginger
garlic powder

Mom's Easy Honey Garlic Chicken sizzling in a pan — Chicken sizzling in a pan

Honey Garlic Chicken Tips and Tricks

You can use chicken thighs or breasts, but I highly recommend using the skin for the best honey-garlic chicken. When cooked, the skin becomes crispy, sticky, and utterly delicious!
Cook the chicken thighs to 185 °F for the best texture. While you can cook them to 165 °F for safety’s sake, you want to cook the thigh meat to a higher temperature to break it down better. It is tough meat at 165 ° and like butter when you reach 185 °F. This is a trick I learned from some chef friends, and it will make you a chicken thigh addict!
Cook the chicken breast to 165 °F and no more.
The sauce is beyond amazing. Make sure to reserve some sauce before you marinate the chicken. I like to use fresh sauce later on instead of the marinade.

More Chicken Recipes For You To Try

This Sweet Honey Curry Chicken is a reader favorite- and a surprise hit with most people!
This creamy chicken Florentine is so easy!
My crispy oven-baked chicken thighs are a copycat recipe of Shake and Bake!

This chicken is ooey, gooey, sweet, and garlicky, and I was sad that I only made six chicken thighs! Karlynn, you fool! What were you thinking?

You can make as much sauce as you want with it—we reserved 1/2 cup to the side to add to the chicken later after you crisp it in the pan—and just pour that all over the rice after the chicken is cooked. It makes a great sauce. Not only that, but this recipe is so easy—the sauce has only five ingredients! It’s crazy easy!

Happy cooking, you guys!

Love,

Karlynn