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Honey soy chicken and rice is a great weeknight family dinner. Chicken cooked in a sweet and sticky sauce flavored with garlic and ginger is served with rice and broccoli for a complete meal in one bowl.
You guys, it’s June!! Someone please tell me where the last 5 months have gone?
I feel like we went from wrapping Christmas gifts straight to the last day of school in the blink of an eye.
And now it’s June and I’m bracing myself for a summer of “I’m bored” comments from my school loving, social butterfly of a 5-year-old.
We’re over here trying to find the balance between dance, karate, piano and just living our best summer lives.
Hopefully the weather decides to cooperate at some point considering it’s a whopping 52 degrees in Ohio today.
Since summers can be a little unstructured around here, I’m trying to stock the freezer and fridge with ingredients for recipes that are super easy to make and that we love.
From Chicken Picatta and Instant Pot Pulled Pork to my favorite recipe for Baked Ziti, we’re pretty stocked in the grocery department.
Last week I was getting my meal plan organized and realized that even though I’ve been making this Honey Soy Chicken and Rice since I was pregnant with Elle, I’ve never shared it with you!
I’ve honestly made it countless times over the past 6 years and we never get tired of it. I typically serve my portion over caul-rice and Elle and Eric eat it over brown or white rice since they are both strongly against anything that has to do with cauliflower. Either way, it’s totally delicious and the leftovers are perfect for summer lunches on the fly!
Honey soy chicken: an easy takeout alternative
I know that picking up the phone and ordering takeout is easy, and it’s a great way to support local restaurants! And they always have amazing dishes I could never recreate at home.
But making this honey soy chicken is pretty easy, too.
Hear me out on this. Here’s how ordering takeout usually goes for us:
Spend 5-10 minutes trying to decide where to order from. Spend another 10 trying to agree on what to order. Wait at least 30 minutes, usually more, waiting for the food to be delivered. Realize we ordered way too much food.
Sound familiar to anyone else?
This honey soy chicken can be made in less than 30 minutes. Great for those nights when no one can agree on what restaurant to order from or when you’re watching your eating-out budget.
I originally found this family favorite on allrecipes. I like to serve it with cooked broccoli to make it truly a full meal in one bowl, but feel free to try it with your favorite veggie instead!
I also recommend adjusting the hot sauce based on how spicy you like your food. If you don’t like a lot of spice or are making this for your kiddos, I’d use less hot sauce. If you really love to sweat? Add more!
How to make my honey soy chicken
This recipe packs a lot of flavor into a dish that uses a handful of staple ingredients and only requires about 30 minutes of time to make.
Ingredients you’ll need
For my honey soy chicken, you will need:
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce see notes
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into ½-inch strips
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
I like to make this recipe with chicken breasts, but you could absolutely used boneless/skinless chicken thighs if that’s what you have on hand or prefer.
If you don’t typically keep fresh ginger on hand, don’t stress. You’ve got a few options!
You can often find jarred minced ginger, similar to the jarred minced garlic you can buy. You can also find ginger paste in a tube. Look for both of these in the produce section; they can be kept in your refrigerator.
If you are worried that you won’t go through a full jar of minced ginger or tube of ginger paste before the best-by date, check your store for frozen minced ginger cubes.
With those cubes, you can pop out as many cubes as you need for this recipe and keep the rest in your freezer for quite some time. They also make frozen crushed garlic cubes that you can use in the same way if you don’t go through much fresh garlic.
Making this recipe
To make this honey soy chicken, start by mixing together the brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and hot sauce.
Lightly salt and pepper the chicken. Try not to go too heavy on the salt, since the soy sauce is quite salty.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the chicken and cook until the chicken is browned on both sides. Now pour the sauce in and stir to combine.
Simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through.
And that’s it, the honey soy chicken is done! Told you that was going to be easy.
Serving suggestions
As I mentioned before, my family differs in the kind of rice we like to eat with this honey soy chicken.
I love to eat it with cauliflower rice, but my family likes it with white rice or brown rice.
We typically add in some steamed broccoli, but trimmed green beans or snap peas would be delicious, too. If you are adding a vegetable, just toss it with the chicken and sauce before serving over the rice of your choice.
Sesame seeds and sliced green onions make the perfect garnish for this meal, but it’s just as delicious if you don’t have either one available.
Looking for more homemade takeout recipes?
Given how ordering takeout tends to go, I’ve come up with a few different copycat versions of restaurant recipes to make at home.
If you like this Honey Soy Chicken and Rice, you might enjoy homemade broccoli beef, brown garlic stir-fry sauce, easy sesame chicken or teriyaki chicken and broccoli.
Of course, we don’t just love making Asian takeout recipes at home. We also love making homemade Zuppa Toscana, Jo Jo potato wedges, and Chipotle barbacoa.
And don’t forget dessert and drinks! We’re a little bit obsessed with Stoli Doli (at least, the adults are!), iced shaken espresso, homemade orange Julius, and J. Alexander’s carrot cake.
Because sometimes getting that all-in agreement on a carryout restaurant is harder than whipping up a quick meal at home.
Honey Soy Chicken and Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce see notes
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves cut into ½-inch strips
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For serving:
- Cooked rice
- Sesame seeds
- Sliced green onion
- ½ pound cooked broccoli florets optional
Instructions
- Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl.
- Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken strips; brown chicken on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir to combine. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Toss with the cooked broccoli, if desired, or serve the broccoli on the side.
- Serve over rice. Top with sesame seeds and sliced green onion.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
worked great
What is the hot sauce you use?
Rest of ingredients sound excellent. Really want to try this dish.
Hi Barbara-
I use whatever I have on hand, sometimes sriracha sometimes Frank’s. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
Made this today for the first time. Very easy and straightforward to prepare and cook – and completely yummy. Everyone loved it and I’ll definitely be sharing the recipe. The sauce bubbled and reduced for ten minutes, and I also steamed thinly sliced broccoli for just three minutes and then stirred through in the pan. I served with sticky white rice, garnished with spring onions and black sesame seeds. Big hit!