Name: Honey Garlic Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 28 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 800 g; ¾ tsp fine sea salt; ½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 4 tbsp honey; 3 tbsp light soy sauce; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; ½ tsp chilli flakes, optional; 2 spring onions, sliced; 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Honey Garlic Chicken

Chicken thighs seared hard and glazed in a four-ingredient sauce that reduces to a lacquer in the time it takes to cook rice. Under half an hour, one pan, and nothing exotic.

28 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Don't Make These Mistakes

Chop the garlic before you start searing. Once the sauce goes in you have ninety seconds of attention to spare, and not more.

If the glaze goes past thick to sticky, a tablespoon of water brings it back.

Thighs, not breasts. Breasts overcook before the glaze reduces.

Making Honey Garlic Chicken

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Pat the thighs dry and season with the salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the thighs in smooth side down and leave them alone for 5 minutes — moving them early tears the crust off.
Turn and cook 4 minutes more, until the thickest part reads 74°C / 165°F. Lift onto a plate.
Drop the heat to medium, add the garlic to the pan and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant and pale gold. Do not let it brown.
Pour in the honey, soy sauce, vinegar and chilli flakes and bring to a hard bubble, scraping the base.
Boil 2 to 3 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and leave a clear trail when you drag a spatula through.
Return the chicken and any juices, turn it in the glaze for a minute until lacquered, and scatter with spring onions and sesame seeds.

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Why It Works

Honey burns at a lower temperature than it caramelises well at, so it goes into the pan at the end rather than as a marinade. By then the chicken has browned properly on its own and the sauce only needs a minute of hard reduction: the water boils off, the sugars concentrate, and the soy sauce contributes both salt and the amino acids that make the glaze taste savoury rather than merely sweet. Thighs rather than breasts, because the extra fat and collagen survive the high heat this needs.

After You've Cooked It

Refrigerated for 3 days; the glaze sets solid when cold and loosens on reheating. Freezes for 2 months.

If You're Missing Something

Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve Alongside

Steamed rice and pak choi
Cucumber salad
Cold beer

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Coleslaw, Philadelphia Soft Pretzels, Boston Baked Beans.