This is a recipe for everybody’s favourite Honey Soy chicken marinade for boneless chicken thighs and breast. It does everything you expect from a marinade (tenderises, adds flavour), and gives it a lovely lacquered finish. But that’s not all! We’ve also got a glossy honey garlic sauce to smother the chicken and everything else on your plate.
For chicken wings, use the Honey Soy Wings recipe. For drumsticks and bone-in thighs, use the Honey Soy Baked Chicken recipe.
Honey Soy Chicken – marinade and sauce
This is a Honey Soy chicken marinade I’ve been using for most of my adult life which is direct copycat of the store bought bottled marinades.
Except unlike store bought where a quick inspection of the label reveals it contains a mere 0.5% of honey (I felt so indignant when I saw this!!), this is actually made with plenty of honey!!!
(In case you are wondering, most of the sweetness comes from cheap syrups like glucose or golden syrup)
This is my Rolls Royce of Honey Soy Chicken recipes. For midweek, I use my quick no-marinade stove and baked versions.
What you need for Honey Soy Chicken
Here’s what you need for this Honey Soy Chicken. I feel like there’s a good chance you already have all these ingredients!!
Chinese cooking wine (“shoaxing wine”) is the secret ingredient here. Without it, you will really notice that the flavour is a bit too one dimensional, especially the sauce. Used in practically all cooked Chinese recipes – such as stir fries and noodles.
Substitutes in order of preference (best first) – dry sherry, Mirin, cooking sake. Best non alcoholic substitute is chicken stock.
Some Recipe Trivia! You don’t need cooking wine when making Honey Soy Chicken on the stove or in the oven because you cook the chicken in the sauce and this gives the sauce greater depth of flavour. But when cooking on the BBQ, we don’t have that option so both the sauce and the marinade needs an extra dash of flavour which we get from the Chinese cooking wine.
Though this recipe particularly caters to grilled chicken, it’s still excellent for stovetop cooking when you want a premium version of the stove or oven version (this has more sauce and marinating adds flavour).
How to make Honey Soy Chicken
And here’s how it’s made –
mix up a batch of the sauce
save some for basting (so it’s not tainted by uncooked chicken)
save some to make the sauce
use the rest for marinating
Do not use residual marinade to make the sauce or for basting. For basting, we need clean sauce for hygiene purposes (because we do frequent basting in this recipe). For the Sauce, if you boil the used marinade the sauce comes out murky – just not pleasant.
What to serve with Honey Soy Chicken
The rice you spy in the photo above is Pineapple Fried Rice! is coming on Wednesday! It’s a dead set perfect match with this chicken. 🙂
But don’t fret! This is a chicken dish that’s highly versatile – it’s semi Asian but also totally Western, so it’s the sort of dish that will go with anything from Fried Rice to Macaroni Salad, the Greek Chickpea Salad I shared a couple of weeks go, or even an Asian Vermicelli Noodle Salad.
You get the drift – it will suit many many sides! Here are some ideas:
SIDE DISH SUGGESTIONS
SIDE SALAD SUGGESTIONS
Also, if you’re considering this recipe for a BBQ feast, you’ll find all my favourite things to grill right here in my BBQ Recipes collection.
Note: the batch depicted in the photos and video is a bit less than what the recipe calls for – I had to sacrifice some for Dozer 🐶 having forgotten to get food for HIS dinner. 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Honey Soy Chicken – Marinade and Sauce (excellent grilled!)
Ingredients
- 1.25 – 1.5 kg/ 2.5 – 3 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs OR breast (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil , for cooking
Honey Soy Marinade Sauce:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce , all purpose or light (not dark, Note 2)
- 2/3 cup honey (sub maple syrup)
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry (key ingredient, Note 3)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil , toasted (Note 4)
- 1 1/2 tbsp garlic , finely minced
Serving Sauce:
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
Garnishes (optional):
- Green onion , finely sliced
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
Marinade Sauce:
- Place ingredients in a jug and mix well until honey is completely dissolved.
- Reserve 1/4 cup for Basting, refrigerate. (Note 5)
- Reserve 2/3 cup for Serving Sauce, refrigerate.
- Marinade Chicken: Pour remaining marinade over chicken in a container. Coat chicken thoroughly. Cover, refrigerate 24 to 48 hours (minimum 3 hrs).
Serving Sauce (Makes 1 cup):
- Place reserved sauce in a small saucepan. Mix cornflour and water, then add into saucepan.
- Simmer over medium for 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until it thickens to a syrupy consistency. Set aside and keep warm. (If it gets too thick, just add a bit more water)
Cook:
- Brush BBQ plate or grills with oil and heat to medium high. Or heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- THIGHS: Place chicken on BBQ. Cook the first side for 2 minutes, then flip and dab with reserved Basting Sauce. Cook for 2 minutes, flip and baste. Then flip/baste every 1 minute for total cook time of ~ 10 minutes or until a thermometer reads 75°C/165°F.
- BREAST: Cook first side 2 minutes, flip, baste. Cook 2 minutes, then flip and baste every 45 sec or so for total cook time of ~8 minutes (internal temp 66°C / 151°F).
- REST: Transfer to serving plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes.
- SERVE chicken garnished with sesame seeds and green onion, with sauce on the side so people can help themselves.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Chilly nights + useless heating = using Dozer as my hot water bottle (he is very good at it, actually).
Everything you post looks so good! I am totally going to make this marinade – it looks like it would be sooo good on salmon, as well as chicken, with a side of herbed rice.
Yes definitely Laura!! N x
I am diabetic, can I use sugar free syrup instead of the honey?
Judy, I’m diabetic also. If under control this recipe will not raise glucose level much more than than other foods. BTW, I use Trulicity Pen 1 x a week + 15 units of Levemir daily. Enjoy Life & Nagi’s wonderful recipes.
Hi Judy, I haven’t tried to be honest – the flavour profile wont be quite the same and I’m not sure if your sugar syrup caramelises like honey – would love to know if you try though! N x
Nagi, how old is Dozer now? Every time I see a picture of him I want another golden.
Sheila
Hi Sheila, he’s 8 🙂 N x
Thank you, Nagi.
Just imagining the taste of honey soy marinade sauce combining with chickens really make my mouth watering xD Looks so good!
It’s super tasty Luna!! N x
Nagi, this looks delish. However, if I am not grilling it, how do you adjust the amount of sauce to make without the amount to baste? thanks!
How do you think this would work with a pork tenderloin?
Hi Marie, I’d still save some sauce to baste whilst cooking 🙂 N x
Since I went nuts over Charlie Sauce I can imagine how wildly in love I’ll be over this one. And this one seems a bit more gentle and refined with the honey. I think I’ll call it Charlene Sauce. Chicken a la Charlene this week. YES!!!!
Indigent = lazy
Indignant?
BA HA! Yes 😂
Hi Nagi
I love all your recipes i have cooked so many of them and never have they gone wrong … Could you please let me know what rice dish you have with this recipe it looks delicious X
Hi Michelle, pineapple fried rice – recipe will be out this week! N x
what is the rice dish shown on the video of honey soy chicken
marinade and sauce.
Hi Nagi, love the look of this recipe. What is that rice recipe with pineapple, it looks like a great combo. We’ll be trying it out asap.
Pineapple fried rice – the recipe will be release this week Jeff! N x
Your Dozer is beautiful & the older he gets the lovelier he is!
May I recommend grating 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger to the marinade, which I find gives the marinade an added ‘zing’?
Your recipes are absolutely the mainstay of our diet!
The recipe looks fantastic as always. I love your recipes. However so does the rice and pineapple dish, is there a recipe for that too?
Can we use maple syrup instead of honey to make it FODMAP friendly? Thanks!
YES! it is so so good with maple syrup. Only reason I don’t is because it’s expensive!!! N xx
Great…can’t wait to try. Love your work!
I like the suggestion of Maggi Original Seasoning–I’ll have to look for it at my market. Nagi, I’m wondering how much salt you would add if you used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce (which isn’t as salty and is kind of sweet)? Thanks!
Hi Traci, to be honest I haven’t tried with coconut aminos, but I’d love to know if you try it! N x
Thats a particularly lovely pic of Dozer
Thanks so much Liz 🙂 N x
Have just finished this for supper ! No, not planned as per your recipe . . . but, the same – it is a classic one cannot surpass ! So, so good ! Wish I had that big body as a hot water bottle . . . methinks it is going to be a wee bit cold here . . . hope Geoff can manage . . . . . .
Great minds Eha! I wish my hot water bottle didn’t shed so much 😂
Love this recipe!
Another sub for Soy is Maggi Original Seasoning. Usually sits near the soy sauce in the supermarket
My daughter has a soy allergy, so this works great
Oh that’s great to know Nicole – I just assumed it had soy in it! N x
Yet another hit, now it’s a toss up between Charlie sauce and this one…just mixed the sauce it smells really good. Will be on the BBQ tomorrow night.
Wahoo! Enjoy Tony! N x
Just a question – would the marinade keep? there are only 2 of us but I hate halving recipes. Thanks.
Hi Sue – as it has garlic in it, I would only store for 3-4 days in the fridge. N x
I suggest that you pop the other half of the sauce in a ziploc bag and freeze the sucker. Try that….