This honey lemon garlic chicken is succulent, sweet, and sour, and will become your new weeknight favorite.
Honey Lemon Garlic Chicken
A flavorful chicken dinner does not need to involve hours of marinating, basting, or tons of preparation. With this honey lemon garlic chicken, dinner can be ready in under an hour. Simple, fresh ingredients, easy to follow recipe, minimal cleanup, that is a solid win in my book!
My kids request this recipe often… and I am happy to make anything that they all can agree on! We serve it with Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts and Country Cornbread. You could also serve it up with a side of long grain white rice.
Tips Tricks and Variations
- I prefer to cook this in a cast iron skillet. A well-seasoned cast iron pan is naturally non-stick and holds heat better than a regular non-stick pan. I find that my cast iron cooks evenly, even if the burner is heating up a different side of the pan. My food always seems to cook just right when I use my cast iron. Will this recipe still work if you use a non-stick pan? Absolutely.
- Make this dish more “savory” by spicing it up a bit. By adding a pinch of cayenne pepper, you can bring out a bit more flavor. The cayenne pepper really balances out with the sweetness of the honey.
- Swap out the chicken thighs for chicken breasts. I prefer the taste of chicken thighs (and they are cheaper) but if you already have chicken breasts on hand, this will still work great! You could also swap out the chicken entirely and use a pork chop. You will need to adjust your cooking time slightly, but the recipe holds together otherwise.
- Make the marinade in advance for some added flavor.
HONEY LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN
Ingredients
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice or juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 8 garlic cloves 2 cloves minced and the remaining left whole and peeled
- 5 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- ½ bunch of green onions sliced
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360°F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, lemon juice, soy sauce, vinegar and minced garlic. Set aside.
- Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken on each side, just until browned. Reserve about a tablespoon of fat and juices in the pan and drain the rest.
- Pour about half of the honey mixture over the chicken. Place the remaining whole garlic cloves in between the thighs. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the chicken registers 160°F with a meat thermometer.
- While the chicken is baking, heat the remaining honey mixture in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let simmer until sauce is thickened.
- Pour the thickened sauce over the cooked chicken. Garnish with green onions and serve warm with lemon wedges.
Did you make this recipe?
You can tag me at @iamhomesteader.
Adapted from Cafe Delites. Photography by The PKP Way.
DID YOU MAKE Honey Lemon Garlic Chicken?
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Your recipes are absolutely wonderful …. thankyou for sharing them