Recently I was at a fine dining restaurant enjoying a dish of crispy and perfectly pan-fried jidori (free-range) chicken with a honey balsamic reduction and I was instantly hooked.
I wished I could eat that dish every day, except that lunch was $40! I decided to take matters into my own hands and made this honey balsamic chicken.
I got some chicken thighs and seasoned them with some salt and black pepper. Then I slowly pan-fry the chicken on a skillet until both sides of the chicken are gorgeously browned, with a crackly crispy skin and the meat part is nice and crunchy.
Then I added the honey, balsamic vinegar, reduce and simmer the chicken until the sauce becomes sticky. Voila, it was so good!
As the name suggests, it’s honey balsamic chicken, so you certainly don’t want to skim on the honey. Honey makes everything better, just like butter.
So I used both honey, butter and a good bottle of balsamic vinegar to make this easy recipe. Enjoy!
Serve Honey Balsamic Chicken with:
For a wholesome dinner, make the following dishes.
This Recipe Goes Well with:
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Honey Balsamic Chicken Recipe
Honey Balsamic Chicken – the easiest skillet chicken with sweet and savory honey balsamic sauce. Homemade chicken dinner is so good with this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 dashes ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- chopped parsley for garnishing
Instructions
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Season the chicken with the salt and ground black pepper.
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Heat up a skillet on medium heat and slowly pan-fry the chicken, skin side down first, until both sides of the chicken become nicely browned and crispy. Remove the chicken and discard the chicken fat.
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Add the olive oil and butter to the skillet, saute the garlic until slightly browned, follow by the honey, balsamic vinegar and water. Add the chicken back into the skillet, lower the heat to simmer and reduce the sauce until slightly thickened and that the chicken is completely cooked, about 2 minutes.
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Remove from heat, garnish with the parsley and serve immediately.
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Carrie
I just stumbled upon this, trying to mix up my regular chicken rotation. It was delicious! My kids (even my picky 6 year old) loved it. The only complaint was that there were no leftovers. 😊
Ekta
Hi, according to Ayurveda, honey should not be heated because it releases toxins. Can I sub honey here with something else? Would you please try and let me know what could be the best sub here?
Rasa Malaysia
Maple syrup.
Barb
Just made this for dinner and quadrupled the sauce since reading other reviews….DELICIOUS!! Made pasta and then added it to pan to marry the everything together. Hubby said it’s a keeper! Thankyou, will be putting this is my rotation and making it whenever we have guests for dinner.
Christine
I saw a similar recipe that allowed use of the Instant Pot (I have a Mini). Can this be done in an Instant Pot?
Rasa Malaysia
I am sure you can! I will have to make an IP version of this Honey Balsamic Chicken.
Kelly
This was super easy and very good. I used chicken breasts and ate with fresh spinach, tomatoes and pasta.
Rasa Malaysia
Yum, thanks for trying my recipe.
Pauline Chan
Hi Bee,
Appreciate if you can tell me where I can buy refreigerated biscuit dough in Malaysia as I want to make herbs cheese bombs, tks.
Rasa Malaysia
I am not sure if you can buy in Malaysia.
Mvie
What do you mean by ” simmer, then reduce sauce?”
Mvie
What do you mean by reduce sauce when simmering?
Lynn
When do you add the butter and water it is not clear.
Rasa Malaysia
Here is in the method: Add the olive oil and butter to the skillet, saute the garlic until slightly browned, follow by the honey, balsamic vinegar and water.
Sharon
Big fan of your recipe site! I was following this honey balsamic chicken recipe and I have just one question – how do you cook through the chicken thigh with frying pan? I made some cut on the thickness part of each chicken thighs before cooking them, but the meat inside where’s close to the bones are still pink.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Sharon, it depends on the size of the chicken thighs. I buy all organic chicken thighs and they are much smaller than regular size. Heat up your oven to 375F and bake for 5 minutes or so to cook it through if the inside is still pink.
Tiffany
Your directions aren’t clear on cooking time. Please clarify.
Rasa Malaysia
I have updated the method, basically when the chicken is cooked and the sauce thickens, you are done.
Melissa
Hi Bee, I’m planning to try your recipe out this week. Do you think I could try and bake it, similar to your beautiful ginger garlic baked chicken recipe? https://rasamalaysia.com/ginger-garlic-baked-chicken/2/ Or do you recommend following your method as stated in the recipe? If so, do you first pan-fry the chicken until it’s fully cooked, or do you rely on the simmering with sauce to fully cook the thighs through? Does the simmering require a lid over the skillet? Roughly how long do you normally cook the chicken for, once you’ve added it back to the skillet? Thanks for your help, sorry for all the questions, I’m not experienced with cooking meat dishes!
Rasa Malaysia
Just follow the recipe precisely for best results.
Tammy
Wow! I have been looking for this recipe!! It was amazing! I only had boneless skinless chicken breast and I doubled the sauce portion and cooked pasta and served the sauce over the pasta. My family loved it! I didn’t have enough. Lol Next time I will triple or quadruple the sauce portion. Thank you so much!! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Tammy, thanks for trying my honey balsamic chicken. Yes, sounds like a good idea to double and triple the sauce, especially with pasta!
Julie
How many pieces per portion please?
Julie
How many pieces are you using a portion?
Rasa Malaysia
2.
LaShelle Bain
OMG!!! I made this for supper tonight for a couple of my cousins that were visiting me. They LOVED it!!! I will definitely be making this again. I thought one of my cousins was going to lick the pot. YES!! It was that good!
Rasa Malaysia
That’s great to know please try more recipes. :)
Lysse
Made this recipe today for my family and they loved it! Thank you for this recipe as I’m going to be making them again tomorrow with more pieces of chicken as today’s were little and they all demanded for more haha.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Lysse, thanks so much for trying my honey balsamic chicken.
Wendy
Looks delicious! When you pan fried, did you use any oil?
Rasa Malaysia
I used an All Clad pan. You don’t really need to use oil if you cook the chicken skin side down.
Kristin Knudsen
Thank you for the yummy-sounding recipes and tempting photographs. I need to know whether you specify BONELESS thighs for this recipe, as you do in the Honey-Turmeric recipe. Thank you again! It’s early morning, but I’m tempted to cook this right now!
Rasa Malaysia
I used bone-in thighs for this recipe, you can try.
Haley Cook
This looks SO delicious!! Would it matter if I did chicken breats instead?
Liz
Thank you Bee for the nice recipe
Esther Kan
Such colourful and tempting dishes of irrestible touches that melt my mouth and comfort my urge! All I can say is a simple word” Yummy, yummy, I LOVE YOU”.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Esther thanks for your sweet note. Yes I love this honey balsamic chicken, super yummy!