Honey Butter Chicken (Easy Skillet Meal Idea)
Need a quick meal the whole family will love?
Try this savory and sweet tasting Honey Butter Chicken! It’s an easy skillet meal idea the entire family will LOVE! We ate every last bite, and the caramelized buttery texture on this chicken is FANTASTIC. I love the buttery honey “sauce” it creates. You’ll be adding this tasty idea to the meal rotation for sure!
Easy method & easy ingredients
All we’re doing for this simple dish is cutting and sauteing the chicken! You can use chicken breast meat, but the thigh meat I used was super tender, moist, and yummy for this idea. The fresh minced garlic and apple cider vinegar add a delicious, savory flavor, and the honey makes the chicken taste sweetened and caramelizes nicely. I added a little chili oil for extra flavor, but of course, it can be omitted or adjusted to taste.
Hip Tip: Use your largest skillet for this idea. If you’re looking for a great suggestion, I personally still LOVE my 11 inch Copper Chef frying pan!
Honey Butter Chicken (Easy Skillet Meal)
yield: 4 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 20 MINUTES
total time: 30 MINUTES
This savory and sweet chicken is an easy-to-make family favorite!
Ingredients
- 1.25 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thigh meat, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon chili oil
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- rice, for serving
- broccoli, for serving
Directions
1
Heat up a large skillet on the stove to med/high heat with olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
2
Add the cut up pieces of chicken to skillet once butter is melted. Season chicken generously with salt & pepper. Let chicken cook until it starts turning white.
3
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, minced garlic, vinegar, chili oil, and honey. Stir well to coat chicken.
4
The sauce will start simmering. Keep cooking and turning chicken to caramelize the outside.
5
Once chicken is fully cooked and caramelized, pour chicken pieces over rice, and serve with a veggie such as broccoli as desired.
Additional Notes
Recipe adapted from RealHouseMoms.com
Honey butter garlic heaven!
My kids went nuts for this meal, and they can be a super picky crowd! LOL I served this chicken on top of brown rice and some steamed broccoli on the side, and there were no leftovers! I loved the amazing texture and everything about this Honey Butter Chicken. Next time I may add some cashews or peanuts for a crunch! Easy no-fuss meals like this one make me so happy, and this one is for sure worth trying. Enjoy!
Written by Lina for Hip2Save. Lina is a proud mom of 2 kids who loves photography, all holidays, cooking, thrift store makeovers, bargain shopping, and DIY makeovers. Her goal is to create a beautiful life and stylish home on a dime! To see all of Lina’s DIY/Crafts created just for Hip2Save, click here.
This sounds awesome, I will be making this real soon. Thanks
Thanks so much! Enjoy! : )
Since I don’t have any Chili Oil, I found an easy recipe for homemade Chili Oil on the Food Network (just olive oil and dried crushed red pepper flakes). I know, I know, I should just pick up some at my local Asian Market, but that’s an extra stop. 🙂
Thank you.
Oh! That’s awesome! Saves me a purchase for something I won’t use often!
Thanks for the tip, won’t have to buy something extra, love those homemade ideas.
That’s what I always do…why buy something that you can easily make yourself? I use corn oil instead though, since it doesn’t have a strong flavor and aroma like olive oil.
Such an awesome tip! 🙌
I’m definitely going to try this and serve it over riced cauliflower with broccoli. Sounds delicious AND I have everything at home; WIN!
Fantastic my family loved it thank you for the push to make dinner and save some money 😉 10,000 times better than any take out 😉 I love you ALL at hip2save…..follower for like 9 years omg!!! Thank you!!
Yep, the title of this dish got me. Buttery honey..What could be better!?! Yum, will try soon, thanks!
Yeah, finally a meal that doesn’t involve an instant pot or air fryer. Sorry I just prefer stovetop/skillet cooking.
Hmm, the chili oil……………seems like a good use for those free packets at pizza hut!
I’m assuming the blue thing is a salt container? Wheres it from?
Yes my salt crock is by Le Creuset 🙂 —> https://amzn.to/2DaLfpZ
This looks delicious I can’t wait to try this. I have just decided that this will be one of my side dishes for Christmas dinner when I go home. Going try this with spaghetti noodles and do a stir fry. Love simple recipes that can easily be adapted many ways. Also thanks for the chili oils recipe my bottle apparently turned rancid ugh. Thanks for a stove top skillet meal that I will be sharing with family and friends.
That sounds awesome with the noodles! Yummy.
Making several meals today for my son and his wife who are expecting (my first grandchild!) Sitting down for a minute and came across this recipe. I’m going to make this as soon as my sorry old bones get up!
That blue salt container sells on amazon for $8.56 Stoneware-Keeper has a lid also.
Sorry I meant to say serving spoon not lid…
Sounds delicious! We will definitely be trying this recipe, thank you!
Made this tonight and it was a huge hit with the whole family; even my picky kiddos. Thank you very much! This recipe will be going on the regular rotation for sure!
I am so happy! Thanks for sharing!
Mine came out very watery and wasn’t carmelizing. I made a double batch and rechecked measurements, but not sure why. Maybe I should have drained it after I browned it and before I added the last ingredients?
I initially had the same problem but turned up the heat and that was the key for me to get the carmelizing.
Mine too, I’m glad I’m not the only one, it still tasted good but had to soak up a bunch of oil first. I thought I followed the steps too, next time will drain chicken first.
what if i did not have the chile oil? Can I use olive oil or regular oil ?
oh sure – just omit or maybe throw in a few chili flakes 🙂
Whenever I need a good sear or carmalize, I start my chicken in my cast iron pan. then I remove it and use my copper pan for the rest of the recipe!
This sounds so yummy! Can’t wait to try it. Do you know about how many this would serve? I’m thinking 4?
Yep! Oh thanks so much for stopping by. You’ll love this.
I recently made this chicken recipe. It was very delicious, cooked as written, with the thigh pieces. We also added slightly more chili oil (found in Wal-Mart) for a little pop. Super yummy, easy to make and kids + adults can enjoy the flavor.
Thanks Brittany! I’m so glad you enjoyed – this is a yummy meal 🤗
I’ve tried this twice. The first time didn’t get it to caramelize but tonight it was perfect. I varied the ingredients a little bit but it was still quite tasty.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Oh good! Glad you could adapt to your own ❤️ yum!
Sounds kind of like chicken adobo! Will definitely try this, with chicken thighs and I am also going to add veggies to make it a meal — trying to be more low carb.
Thank you!
Perfect – sounds yum!
Ugh, tried this recipe twice and couldn’t get it to carmelize either time! What am I doing wrong?
Oh darn! Sorry this didn’t work out- I know that’s frustrating…hmm – wonder if there was more water in your chicken, or pan not hot enough maybe? 😔
Thanks so much for this recipe! I just made this for the 3rd time. Everyone loves it! It’s so easy to make and goes great over mashed potatoes.
Made for first time. Served it over Trader Joe’s Jasmine Rice and it was very good. My only issue is that, in trying to get better caramelization, I overlooked the chicken (breast meat—we don’t like dark meat) and it was a little dry. I’ll know for next time.
Thanks for sharing Sharon! ❤️
I don’t even know how i came upon this recipe but i am so glad i did. I made this tonight for dinner and it was amazing. i used chicken breast instead and i didn’t have chili oil or crushed red pepper flakes to omit but it was still very yummy. Will be looking for the chili oil to keep on hand as i see this being a staple recipe. Thank you Hip2save
That’s so great to hear Tracey! So glad you enjoyed ❤️
Made this tonight it was delicious served over rice. I used chicken breasts and I didn’t use Chile oil. I am going to get Chile oil for my next time I make the recipe. Thank you
oh thanks for sharing Sharon!
I made this tonight and I some how completely failed 🙁 I used chicken breast and it was more watery than anything, it was good but I wished it looked like the picture lol!
Does the chili oil make it at all spicy? I am very sensitive to even mild levels of spiciness. Any substitutes for the chili oil I could try? Otherwise sounds awesome!
I tried this recipe tonight but doubled it and it never caramelized 😕
Mmmmm…sorry to hear that, Candice. I’ve had issues with carmelizing certain foods and always had success the next time when I turned up the heat to a hotter temperature. Hope that’s helpful.
I made this tonight for supper. I doubled the recipe but didnt get the carmelize glaze. Not sure what i did wrong. It was still good over rice but didn’t get any sauce.
Mine looks nothing like this. No sauce.
Cooking this right now and mine is not caramelizing. It’s looks so pale. Not sure where I went wrong .
Hmm maybe try to turn up the heat a little?