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30 Minute Honey Garlic Chicken, a new go-to sheet pan meal. Easy, homemade crispy chicken tossed in a spicy-sweet honey garlic sauce. Serve this dish with asparagus, broccoli, or a combination of the two, cooked up right alongside the chicken. It’s the easiest sheet pan dinner. Add a side of rice for a main, or serve it on its own as an appetizer. This fun take-out-style dinner is great any night of the week!
Some of my favorite types of dinners to create and share with my family are fun takeout-inspired dinners made at home. Well, tacos are probably my favorite, but takeout at home is a close second. My younger sister, Asher, adores any dish with a hit of soy sauce (I use tamari) and served over rice. Just like my mom, Asher adores rice.
I often make dishes like today’s recipe for them, but I love sharing new sauces and flavors! I always have fun creating these recipes.
I shared my recipe for chili ginger orange chicken just after the holidays. Since then, I’ve made it multiple times. The chili orange sauce is so delicious!
I felt like it was time to shake things up, so instead of the classic orange sauce, today I’m sharing a honey garlic sauce made with lemon! This sauce is so simple, but wow, the flavors really are delicious.
Honey, garlic, and lemon, all mixed with salty tamari – such an addicting sauce!
Ingredients
- Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts or thighs, cut into cubes
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper and Chile flakes
- Flour or gluten free flour
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Broccoli florets or chopped asparagus
- Sesame seeds
Honey Garlic Sauce
- Tamari or soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Honey
- Garlic
- Chili paste
- Chopped green onion
- Toasted sesame oil
These are the details
Step 1: start with the chicken
I like to use cubed raw chicken—breasts or thighs, or a mix of the two. Toss the cubed chicken with garlic powder, black pepper, and chile flakes. I love to use Korean chile flakes. You can find them online, at Whole Foods, and in most major grocery stores in the Asian aisle.
Now add some flour. The flour allows the chicken to get crispy in the oven. It’s a small amount, so just a very light coating. It’s not a breaded chicken but it has just enough of a coating to ensure the sauce can stick nicely to the chicken.
Bake the chicken with a side of asparagus or broccoli. Depending on the size of your chicken pieces, this should take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook.
Step 2: the honey garlic sauce
This really is the heart of the recipe. The sauce brings all the flavor.
Mix the tamari (or soy sauce), with lemon juice and honey. The honey not only adds flavor but creates a sticky sauce that will adhere nicely to the chicken.
Then, fresh garlic, chili paste, green onions, and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. If you don’t have toasted sesame, you can easily just omit it from the sauce. I do love the flavor, but it is not a must.
Like most of my Asian-inspired dishes, I love to use chili paste. More often than not I use gochujang, a Korean chili paste. This really provides that extra flavor. The Mother in Law’s brand is my favorite, I get the original flavor from Whole Foods or order on Amazon.
Step 3: toss the chicken and the sauce
Pour the sauce over the baked crispy chicken and cook the chicken in the sauce over medium-high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon. The coating soaks up all the sauce – yum!
Step 4: serve with rice
You can easily serve this as is, but we love this chicken best served over rice and topped with lots of toasted sesame seeds.
It’s so delish!
Looking for other busy weeknight-night recipes? Try these!
One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake
Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema
Sheet Pan Honey Mustard Salmon with Caesar Roasted Potatoes
One Skillet Cheesy Green Chile Chicken
Lastly, if you make this 30 Minute Honey Garlic Chicken, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
20 Minute Honey Garlic Chicken
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 585 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts or thighs, cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- black pepper and chile flakes
- 1/4 cup flour or gluten-free flour
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups broccoli florets or chopped asparagus
- sesame seeds, for serving
Honey Garlic Sauce
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 6 cloves garlic, grated
- 3-4 tablespoons chili paste (gochjang) (gochujang)
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or rub with oil.2. On the sheet pan, mix the chicken, garlic powder, pepper, and chile flakes. Add the flour and toss again. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, tossing to coat. Arrange the chicken to one side of the baking sheet. Add the broccoli/asparagus to the other side. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.3. Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a bowl or glass jar, combine all ingredients.4. Remove the vegetables from the sheet pan. Then pour the honey garlic sauce over the chicken and toss the chicken up in the sauce. Bake for another 5 minutes, until the sauce is baked onto the chicken.5. Serve the chicken, vegetables, and honey garlic sauce with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. I love this over rice, but it's also great as an appetizer too!
This post was originally published on April 10, 2024
This recipe is not good. The chicken does not get crispy at all, the sauce does not thicken in the oven and its way too spicy.
I ended up throwing my chicken in the air fryer after to try and save it but I would not recommend. Cooking on the stove top would be much better for this.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Lauren. So sorry to hear this recipe was not enjoyed!
I made this tonight and it was quick and easy. I added the olive oil and seasonings in a zip lock bag with the chicken and shook them to coat evenly and then added the flour and shook it again. I only added 2 tbsp of chili paste and it still turned out quite spicy but the sauce has good flavor and stuck to the chicken nicely. The chicken did not turn out crispy but it was delicious all the same.
Hey Christina,
Happy Wednesday! Thanks for trying this recipe and letting me know it went well!
Made this its pretty good, but holy holy is it really spicy. I would maybe recommend using like half as much of the chile flakes for the recipe to anyone that does try it as well as maybe a bit less gochujang. My spice tolerance is quite high, but the recipe as is I don’t think I’d be able to make for than just myself.
Hi Rafael,
So sorry to hear this! Thanks for making this recipe and sharing your feedback!
We love this, even my picky eater! I did add a cornstarch slurry to the recipe to help it thicken up but besides that, followed it exactly. So delicious, thank you!
Hi Sarah! So happy to hear you’re enjoying this chicken! Thank you for giving it a try! xT
Loved it, loved it!!!
Thank you so much Samantha!! Love to hear that you enjoyed this garlic chicken! Have a great day! 🙂 xT
I thought it was really nice! It turned out good for a first attempt. However, I will definitely use far less chilli paste and less chilli flakes as my mouth is on fire. Really good though!
Hey Darion! Thank you so much for trying out the recipe! I appreciate the feedback about the spiciness, I’ll take that into consideration! Have a great week! 🙂 xT
I wish I had read the reviews instead of going off the overall rating. The chicken cannot get crispy, and the sauce cannot caramelize like the photo shows, from the method as written – the broccoli creates too much steam, and the sauce is too thin and won’t condense during 5 minutes in the oven. The flavor is fine, but it’s just soft (almost boiled) chicken in a runny sauce. Next time I would do this in a wok on the stove to achieve the meal I thought I was cooking.
Hi Sarah! Thanks so much for sharing your experience! That steam from the broccoli can definitely keep the chicken from crisping up like in the photo. Cooking it in a wok sounds like a smart fix to get that nice sear and thicker sauce. If you want, I can help adjust the method for stovetop cooking next time to get that texture you’re aiming for! xT
Delicious recipe but you left out the oven temp. I winged it but it still came out wonderful. I used 350 degree oven but turned it up to 375. It still wasn’t browning so I put it under the broiler.
Hi there! The oven temp is listed in step one of the recipe! So sorry for any confusion! xT
Directions weren’t clear with the black pepper and chili flakes. Chicken was not crispy and super spicy. I liked the idea of cooking in the oven though. I usually cook the chicken in a pan with oil in similar recipes. Four of the five of us couldn’t finish. If I made it again, I would adjust but I think I’ll pass on this recipe. The pictures looked so good.
Hi Sonja,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed!
We loved this dish ! Chicken was so soft and delicious.
The flavors are amazing.
I pan fried the chicken.then added the sauce it was great. I also added some ginger and used some hot honey. If you like spicy this is it!
Put it over jasmine rice and a side of Trader Joe’s birds nets perfect dinner!
Hey Carol,
Happy Tuesday!! I’m so glad to hear this recipe turned out nicely for you, thanks a lot for making it!
The order of application of ingredients is critical for crispy breaded chicken. The order you have of applying the flour then the oil results in the oil washing off the flour. I suggest you apply the oil to the cut up chicken, then your salt, pepper, red pepper flakes toss to coat, then the flour. This way the flour will stay on the outside and crisp up nicely.
The chicken was very soggy and the sauce lacked flavor. I baked it for way longer than the recipe says and it still never got crispy. At least the broccoli was good, but it’s just basic roasted veg with salt & pepper so you can’t really go wrong there.
Hi Macie,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed!
Didn’t come out crispy 🙁
Sorry to hear this, Harriette. Was there anything you adjusted in the recipe? For a more crispy result, next time, you can pop the broiler on at the end. I hope this helps! xx
Love this recipe. Perfect punch of spicy.
Thank you!
Thanks so much, Tonya!! So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for making it!
I was not sure to do 1 tbsp of black pepper 1 tabs of chili flakes and 1 tbsp of garlic powder? It came out way too spicy. Am I just supposed to do 1 tbsp of the garlic powder and a pinch of the rest??
Hi Lisa,
Yes, those are 2 different lines of ingredients and measurements. It’s 1 tablespoon of garlic powder and then black pepper and chile flakes to taste. I hope this helps! xx
The chicken came out soggy, rather than crispy and the sauce just didn’t do it for me. The only good part was the broccoli, but that’s just a simple roasted veggie.
Hi Marie,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xx
This was so good. Regarding the comments on it being too spicy, I thought it had a good level of heat, I used 3 tbsp of the gochujang and my kids could eat it (though they did go through plenty of water. 😂)
Also, a tip for the sauce for those saying it was runny: after the initial cook time, turn on broil and watch it for about 3 minutes. Made the sauce perfectly sticky. 🤌
Thanks for sharing your notes, Holly! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it!