Honey Butter Chicken

Honey butter chicken is a 30-minute, easy weeknight dinner featuring juicy, tender chicken thighs and tangy, savory honey butter sauce with a hint of soy sauce and vinegar.

The combination of honey, butter, vinegar, and soy sauce acts like a quick marinade and gives us a perfect balance of sweet and savory in this flavorful meal with satisfying texture. With just a handful of simple ingredients, honey butter chicken thighs will be ready in no time.

My tip to achieve the best texture is to use cornstarch. It is gluten-free, so more versatile than a regular flour mixture, and makes the signature crispy exterior we crave in fried chicken.

Love effortless chicken recipes? Make this buttermilk fried chicken, Marry Me Chicken, or Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs for your next easy weeknight meal.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Perfect chicken recipe for meal prep. The leftovers of this cooked chicken are great in any dish or casserole.
• Budget-friendly: Uses affordable ingredients you probably already have at home.
• Easy honey butter chicken recipe is very beginner-friendly and can easily be your very first attempt to make fried chicken (and you won’t fail!).
• Delicious meal for busy nights when paired with noodles, white rice, buttermilk biscuits, or mashed potatoes. Chicken always goes well with sides like broccoli, green beans, and roasted air fryer carrots.
• Healthier. This chicken is not double-fried (I am not a big fan) and uses less oil than many recipes.

Ingredients Notes

You can find the exact quantities and nutritional information on the printable recipe card (scroll to the bottom of this page).

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts 
• Cornstarch or potato starch for getting that crispy texture just right.
• Vegetable oil. Canola or avocado oil are great, but olive oil works too.
• Honey for natural sweetness and the effect of a sticky glaze that tightly coats chicken pieces. I don’t use refined sugar in this recipe.
• Unsalted butter – the key to the buttery goodness in this recipe. Get good-quality butter as it can really make or break this dish.
• Minced garlic. Fresh garlic is best to use, but you can use garlic paste in a pinch. I don’t use garlic powder in this recipe.
• Soy sauce. Regular soy sauce is fine or low-sodium soy sauce. I’ve seen people also adding oyster sauce and calling this recipe Korean honey butter chicken. I don’t know about Korean, but it tastes good!
• Apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar. Vinegar always helps tenderize meat and adds a very light, tangy flavor.
• Kosher salt and black pepper

Kitchen Equipment

• Mixing bowl
• Large cast-iron skillet
• Plate lined with paper towels

How To Make Honey Butter Chicken

Cook The Chicken

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the cornstarch and toss to coat evenly.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coated chicken in a single layer and cook for 4–5 minutes per side in hot oil or until golden brown and cooked through.
3. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess cooking oil.

Prepare The Honey Butter Sauce

1. Using the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium, add butter, and let it melt.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. 
3. Add soy sauce, honey, and vinegar. Simmer for 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened.

Combine

Add the chicken back to the pan and toss to coat in the sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes to glaze before serving.

Storage

Store the remaining chicken airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave.

You can also freeze honey butter chicken for up to 3 months, but thawing and reheating will slightly change the texture.

Substitutions & Variations

• Chicken. You can keep the skin on; it will be super crunchy!
• Garnish. You can use chopped green onions, parsley, toasted sesame seeds, or sprinkle some pumpkin seeds.
• Honey can be replaced with agave, maple syrup, homemade smoked honey, or hot honey.
• You can make proper breading for chicken pieces by mixing cornstarch with egg and some flour.
• Add spices like red pepper flakes, white pepper, or cayenne pepper to make it spicy.
• Use an air fryer to avoid a messy kitchen and use even less oil. Combine chicken with sauce ingredients and then cook at 425°F for 6-7 minutes on each side. Serve with more butter and honey sauce.

Expert Tips To Make The Best Honey Butter Fried Chicken

• To let all the flavors meld even more, you can let the chicken rest for just 1-2 minutes.
• Don’t overcrowd the pan, and use a large pan so chicken pieces have enough space between them to cook through.
• Ain for bite-sized pieces of even thickness when cutting chicken pieces to make sure they will all cook at the same speed.
• If unsure about the doneness of the chicken, use an instant-read thermometer. The internal temperature should be around 165°F. It is especially important to do this if using frozen chicken breasts or thighs.
• I don’t double-fry chicken in this recipe, but the double-frying method is quite common. What you do is you follow step 1 exactly as it is (frying chicken pieces coated in cornstarch or all-purpose flour), but then you remove them from the oil when they are halfway done, let them rest, and do the second fry.
• If you like a golden crust, let the chicken fry on each side without flipping it too often.

Popular Questions

What Are The Ingredients In Honey Butter Chicken?

Honey buttery chicken is made with chicken thighs (chicken wings or breasts) lightly coated in cornstarch, fried in oil, then glazed in a rich sauce of butter, honey, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and simple seasonings, depending on how mild or spicy you want your chicken dish to be.

What Is Honey Butter Sauce Made Of?

Butter and honey chicken sauce ingredients are very simple. The sauce combines melted unsalted butter, honey, minced garlic, soy sauce for umami depth, and a splash of vinegar to brighten and balance the sweetness of the honey.

Can I Use Honey In Butter Chicken?

You can add honey to Indian-style butter chicken, but it won’t taste like classic Indian butter chicken — traditional recipes don’t include honey, and it creates a very different flavor profile.

If you love this skillet dinner recipe, you’re going to love these other skillet recipes, too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Honey Chicken Recipes

Garlic Honey Chicken

Hot Honey Chicken Wings

Baked Honey Garlic Chicken

---

---