Baked Honey Garlic Chicken

written by Ashley Fehr

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4.89 from 43 votes

Prep Time 10

Total Time 30

Servings 4 servings

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Last updated on March 1, 2024

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These Baked Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts are sweet and savory with a bit of kick! They come together with a few minutes prep and one pan!

See the step by step recipe video down in the recipe card.

overhead image of honey garlic chicken breasts in baking dish

How to make Baked Honey Garlic Chicken:
Ingredients and Substitutions:
How to prep this recipe ahead:
How to store leftover honey garlic chicken breasts:
What to serve with this Honey Garlic Chicken:
Baked Honey Garlic Chicken Recipe

Honey garlic is one of our favorite sauces for pouring over chicken!

That sweet, savory, tangy combination is just so good, and I love how easy it is to make from scratch. (We use the same sauce in this Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken, this Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes, and these Sheet Pan Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs!)

With April being all about these perfect Baked Chicken Breasts, I wanted to come up with a few ways to take our 6 Ingredient Staple to the next level.

First up were these Tuscan Chicken Breasts — rich and creamy and perfect over pasta!

Naturally, a honey garlic version had to happen next 😉

This Honey Garlic Chicken is made with just a few ingredients and takes only a few minutes to prep! Plus, since it’s baked instead of pan-fried, there’s no babysitting, which is maybe my favorite part.

Even though this recipe is simple, I wanted to share a few tips and tricks to make sure your chicken is perfectly cooked and flavorful!

How to make Baked Honey Garlic Chicken:

Flatten your chicken breasts slightly so they are roughly the same size: this will ensure they cook evenly and that one side doesn’t end up completely dried out! Simply cover in plastic wrap and use a rolling pin or a small frying pan to flatten the thick end slightly. If you skip this step, you may require a longer cook time.
Dry your chicken with paper towels. Drying them will make sure there isn’t excess moisture in the pan, which prevents browning.
Drizzle and rub: rub your chicken all over with canola oil and then sprinkle on the seasoning. I like to give it a chance to cook and brown slightly on the outside before adding my sauce.
While your chicken is cooking, stir together the sauce. Because there’s a good amount of sugar in the sauce, I like to add it to the chicken just for the last half of the cook time so that it doesn’t burn.
Finish cooking: your chicken breasts are done when the thickest part of the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Do not cut them open to check for doneness — if you don’t have a meat thermometer, get on over to Amazon and buy one. It’s the only way to really know when it’s cooked and protect against overcooking!
Rest: Cover and let your chicken rest for at least 10 minutes or up to 20. This ensures the juices stay inside the chicken and don’t leak out when you slice them.

raw chicken breasts on cutting board with plastic wrap on top — Flatten raw chicken breasts so they are an even thickness

uncooked chicken breasts in baking dish with salt and pepper — Flatten raw chicken breasts so they are an even thickness

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Chicken breasts: you could swap these for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and the cook time will remain the same. You can double the amount of thighs or use the same total weight.
Seasoning: I kept the seasoning simple so that it wouldn’t overpower the sauce. You can always adjust slightly if desired, just don’t go too crazy here!
Honey: you want plain, clear, liquid honey here and not flavored or creamed. For sweetness! Since this is honey garlic chicken, you probably shouldn’t swap for another sweetener 😉
Garlic: I usually have a big jar of minced garlic stashed in my fridge, but finely chopped or even sliced works great! If you like the flavor but not the chunks, then opt for sliced garlic and you can pull it out later.
Soy sauce: I always, always use low sodium soy sauce. If you’re using regular soy sauce, you may want to adjust the amount of salt in the seasoning or swap some of the soy sauce with water to reduce the saltiness.
Apple cider vinegar: for a punch of flavor! You can use regular white vinegar if you must, but I really like using apple cider vinegar in this recipe.

Want to make this recipe your own? Add some heat! A pinch or two of red pepper flakes goes a long way in the sauce if you like things spicy.

close up image of sliced honey garlic chicken breast

How to prep this recipe ahead:

You can flatten your chicken breasts and store them in your baking dish until you’re ready to bake.
Stir together your seasoning (and you can always make a jumbo batch and store it in your spice cupboard!) and store for a day or for several months
Whisk together your sauce and refrigerate it up to 1 week before using — just be sure to give it a good whisk before you pour it on the chicken

How to store leftover honey garlic chicken breasts:

Got leftover Honey Garlic Chicken? Lucky you!

It doesn’t happen often around here, but I love how versatile this recipe is and we love the leftovers.

You can store any leftover chicken in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

You can also place in a freezer safe container or zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

sliced honey garlic chicken on plate with rice

What to serve with this Honey Garlic Chicken:

We absolutely love serving this chicken over rice to soak up all of that delicious sauce!

This Instant Pot Brown Rice is our go-to (it could not be easier!), but any rice will do.

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