Crunchy baked chicken pieces are coated in a honey garlic sauce. A perfect weeknight meal.
I’m currently obsessed with baking chicken in panko crumbs after making my baked orange chicken. The chicken comes out so crunchy that I don’t miss the deep frying at all. My newest recipe is this honey garlic chicken and it has the same crispy coating and is coated in a delicious honey garlic sauce.
This is an easy 30-minute recipe so it’s perfect for a weeknight. We like it with some cauliflower rice and garlic green beans on the side for a complete dinner.
How to Make Crispy Breaded Chicken
The key to getting the crunchy breadcrumb coating is to use panko breadcrumbs. One thing I’ve learned is that not all panko bread crumbs are the same. I’ve been testing out various brands and I can’t believe the difference. Some brands make the crumbs way too big and they don’t coat well and don’t bake evenly, looking pale and unappetizing.
My current favorite brand is Kikkoman. The panko bread crumbs are very fine, so they cook and brown evenly.
All you do is first coat the chicken pieces in egg and then roll them in the panko. Then you just bake the chicken until it’s cooked through and the coating is browned and crispy.
Honey Garlic Sauce
While the chicken is baking you can make the sauce. All you do is combine:
- Honey
- Minced garlic
- Onion powder
- Water and cornstarch
- Low-sodium soy sauce
- Sriracha sauce
- Water
Combine all of the ingredients, except for the cornstarch and water, in a saucepan and bring it to a low boil. Add the cornstarch mixture, which will thicken the sauce.
Once the chicken is down you can pour the sauce over the top just before serving. I like to garnish the honey garlic chicken with some sesame seeds and sliced scallions.
I really love this recipe. The chicken pieces are so light and crunchy and they are so delicious with the sauce. The honey garlic sauce has the perfect balance of sweet and salty and you can really taste the garlic.
You should definitely try this honey garlic chicken recipe if you love crunchy chicken but don’t want to deep-fry. It’s definitely healthier and a lot easier, too.
More Chicken Recipes
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Healthier Honey Sesame Chicken
- Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
- Healthier Honey Sriracha Chicken
Baked Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb boneless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs (see note)
- 1 extra large egg whisked
- 1 tbsp white sesame seeds optional, for garnish
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped scallions optional, for garnish
for the sauce
- 6 tbsp honey
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 cup water + 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Dip chicken pieces in egg and then roll in bread crumbs until fully coated and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat until all chicken is coated.
- Bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken coating is a dark golden brown and is crunchy.
- While chicken is cooking, make the sauce on the stove. Add all sauce ingredients except the 1/2 tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup water. Bring to a low boil. In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in water, then add to the mixture.
- Stir until sauce boils again and cook until sauce thickens. Pour sauce on chicken right before serving. Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions if desired.
Notes
- I recommend using Kikkoman breadcrumbs as they brown evenly, even at the bottom.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I cooked this last last week and I’m doing it again tonight. As my wife says, it’s delish!
I’m so glad you and your wife enjoyed it!
This was amazing! So easy to make, slightly time consuming just breading the chicken pieces but I’m just impatient. 🙂 I made almost a pound of chicken but didn’t double the sauce. Also added a few splashes of fish sauce since I was using coconut aminos. Drizzled the sauce over the chicken and it was just enough sweetness for me. So so good! I have a few more of your recipes saved that are similar and can’t wait to try them. Thank you!!
Oh! Also used a mix of gf panko and gf plain breadcrumbs. And after 15 mins I broiled the chicken for another 5 and it became so crispy.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you!
I doubt anyone will see this but as a teenage guy who never cooks. I think it is safe to say that this recipe was fairly easy to make, delicious and satisfying. My dad bought a lot of chicken thighs from Costco and we needed to figure out a way to use them so we decided to do this recipe and I’m glad we did. Definitely will do again
I’m so happy you liked the recipe!
Loved this recipe, healthy and tasty. One thing tho bake chicken a little more and being a Trinidadian I put a little more Hot sauce.
Thanks a lot
Glad you enjoyed it!
I had to make a few changes. I am gluten free so I made my own panko breadcrumbs from the heels of my loaf of gf bread. I discovered I didn’t have any gf soy sauce, but had gf teriyaki sauce, used less. I used a smidge of chili garlic paste since I don’t have sriraccha. I also grated a little ginger. All in all I’m betting the sauce tasted close to the recipe, it was sweet and savory but not spicy. We had jasamine rice and veggies too. Thank you for the recipe, I was looking for something to do with chicken thighs that was different!
I’m glad you were able to get it work out for you! Btw, another option for baked crispy that is gluten free is coating the chicken with egg and then gf cornstarch. It develops a light crispy batter around the chicken almost like it was fried. I love it!
Made this, it was awesome. saved some to see if it had that delicious leftover chinese food essence. Great cold for breakfast!
so glad you enjoyed it!
What is the serving size for this recipe?
2
I want to try this dish soon since it looks so good. This is probably a really obvious question but does the chicken have skin on or is it skinless?
skinless
skinless!
I want you to know, Kirbie, that this dish is amazing! I’ve made it TWICE! The first time I made it for company so I was afraid to stir in the sauce since it was going to be served to kids. The second time I made it for my husband and me and stirred the sauce into the chicken. Both times were great. I made it the first time with only 1 tablespoon S’riracha sauce, and the second time with a 1/2 tablespoon (in deference to my husband!) I loved it hot and if I was making it for me, I would have used the full tablespoon and a half! I love this recipe and will be making it again. It’s so easy! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you enjoyed this dish! It’s definitely one of my favorites. And now reading your comment, I am totally craving it right now!
I just made this. I used gluten-free panko and tamari; I broiled the chicken for a moment after baking and it made it perfectly crispy. Even thrilled the chinese take-out snob in the house. Well done!
yay! thanks for commenting!
I love sriracha but I think I’d dial it back to 1 Tbsp next time. This awesome good but a touch on the hot side.
definitely adjust as needed! I tend to eat spicier so that’s why I went with my amounts.
Hey there! I’m trying out this delicious looking dish soon and I was wondering the serving size of yours. You see, I’ve got to cook for 11 people and I want to get the sauce doubling(or tripling) correct. Thanks!
This makes enough sauce to cover 1/2 lb chicken, or about 2 servings. So depending on how big you want your serving sizes, I think you can use that to determine how much you need to increase the recipe by. hope you enjoy!
hi there… just wondering if chicken breasts would work ?
yes that should work. I prefer boneless thighs because the meat tends to be a little more flavorful, but you can substitute for chicken breasts too
I just bought the Kikkoman brand of Panko today at Sprouts. Good to know that this brand browns evenly. The Fresh & Easy brand isn’t that great. I can’t wait to make this recipe this weekend.
yay! I hope you like it. yeah I really like the kikkoman brand!
A question….I’d love to try this out for my family but we’re all wimps when it comes to spice. How spicy does the sriracha make it?
I would start out with maybe 1 tsp of sriracha and taste, and move up from there to wherever your family can handle the spice. Hope you like this recipe as much as I do!
I made this last night for dinner and it was absolutely out of this world! Last night all I could do was crow about how good it was. And when I got to work this morning I just kept right on crowing. This is a perfect recipe! This one is going into my special book of go-to recipes. Well done! And thank you very much! BTW – I had Safeway Brand Panko and they worked great – at lest I liked it 🙂 Delicious!!!
i’m so glad you love it! I’m so in love with this recipe too and my husband said it was “just okay” making me think maybe I was crazy.
I use 4C Panko. It comes seasoned or unseasoned and both work beautifully. The crumbs are just the right size and they brown evenly. I’ve also used Kikkoman but I always come back to 4C.
thank you! I dont believe I’ve seen that brand before but i’m definitely going to look out for it next time
I made this for dinner tonight. I love the honey and garlic, and will definitely be coming back to this recipe. Thanks!
i’m so happy to hear that! thanks for letting me know!
I want this for dinner tonight! My kids would love it!
i hope you get to try it and i hope you like it!
Interesting – I never really thought about the difference between panko brands! I usually just buy what I find at whatever Asian market I’m in. Then again, a lot of times I’m not using it for a non-fried coating, so maybe deep frying covers up a lot on inconsistencies?
This one looks good – I’ll have to give it a try one of these nights!
that’s probably true about it not being as noticeable of a difference if you deep fry. When i was first introduced to panko, it was the Kikkoman brand years ago and I loved it. then for a long time i didn’t make anything with panko bread crumbs. I started up again a few months ago and I bought whatever was on sale. But I was so frustrated with my purchase. The crumbs were big and they didn’t bake well at all. I was sure this wasn’t how panko crumbs should be so I started doing more research. I found quite a few to be the giant lumpy ones that go from white to burnt, with no real in between color. And then I went back to Kikkoman and all was right again. Next time I’m trying progresso, which actually has the highest price.
LOVE the flavors and the crunch, perfect!!
thanks! it’s def a great flavor combination