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This 20-minute honey lime chicken is baked in a mixture of honey, soy sauce, and fresh lime juice. It's the BEST chicken dish you can make for the entire family!
Honey Lime Chicken
Honey and lime chicken thighs are a staple in our home. We probably have it at least once a week, along with other chicken recipes. We can’t get enough of that sweet, tangy, savory marinade and how it caramelizes in the oven to coat every bite.
This honey lime chicken is inspired by a recipe on Eating Well, but I simplified my recipe to make it easier for you. It only takes 20 minutes to make and most of it is hands-off!
While the honey lime chicken marinade is LOADED with flavor, it still goes well with a lot of side dishes. It’s amazing on top of Cilantro Lime Rice or just plain rice if you prefer. For a lighter meal, serve it with Roasted Spring Vegetables or in a fresh salad tossed with your favorite vinaigrette.
Save some of that honey and try my Honey Balsamic Chicken or Honey Sriracha Chicken next!
Do Lime And Honey Go Together
This honey lime chicken recipe turned out to be a perfect 10! It’s moist, juicy, tender, and utterly delicious—something you’d expect from a restaurant.
The honey and lime combo has a bright, citrusy flavor that tastes amazing with the chicken. If you’ve never tried it before, it works surprisingly well together. Try this recipe now!
Bone-In Vs. Boneless Chicken
As usual, my favorite is boneless chicken thighs (check out my video on how to debone chicken thighs).
You have the glossy, perfectly charred, and baked chicken skin, with the meat bursting with the chicken juices. You can also make the dish with bone-in chicken thighs.
Whichever part of chicken you use, you can make this dish all year long: bake in the oven, outdoor on the grill, or just cook on a skillet or cast-iron pan.
Skillet Or Oven-Baked
This recipe is absolutely versatile; you can choose to bake the chicken in the oven, or you can just cook it on the stove top. I personally love oven-baked because I love crispy and charred skin, like the pictures here.
However, skillet is an easy way to cook and you don’t want to wait that long to savor this delicious chicken!
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs – I use boneless thigh fillets because we’re skipping the traditional marinating and baking the chicken in the marinade instead. You can turn this into honey lime chicken breasts if you prefer white meat.
- Lime juice – always use freshly squeezed lime juice! It cuts through the sweetness of the honey and also helps tenderize the chicken.
- Honey – rounds out the tangy, savory marinade with a subtle sweetness. The natural sugars also caramelize during baking, creating a sticky, flavorful glaze that clings to the chicken.
- Soy sauce – gives the marinade a boost of umami.
- Garlic – no such thing as too much garlic! You can rub it into the fillets and infuse the marinade with even more flavor.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make This Recipe
This honey lime chicken recipe comes together so fast as the baking also doubles as the marinating time. The sauce gets reduced during baking and turns into an intensely flavorful glaze. I usually double the marinade because it’s so delicious when drizzled over rice or vegetables!
Broiling the chicken is an optional step, but I highly recommend it. It makes the chicken skin irresistibly crispy! I also love a bit of heat in my honey lime chicken, and you can add more chili flakes if you want it spicy or leave it out altogether.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400°F (207°C). Rub the minced garlic on the chicken thighs with your hands. Add honey, soy sauce, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and salt to the chicken. Stir to combine well. Transfer the chicken and the honey mixture to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil to prevent burning.
Pro tip: Double the marinade if you want it to be more “saucy.”
Step 2: Bake the chicken for 20 minutes, or until cooked. If the sauce pools at the bottom of the foil, spoon and brush the sauce over the chicken. Broil the chicken for 1 minute or until the chicken skin is charred. Remove from heat, garnish with parsley. Squeeze the lime wedges over the chicken before serving.
Helpful Tips For Home Cooks
- If time allows, marinate the chicken in the sauce for around 30 minutes for deeper flavor.
- If using boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, keep in mind that they won’t brown as deeply as skin-on thighs. Skip the broiling step, as it won’t add any char and may dry out the meat.
- You can also make this recipe in a pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Be sure to turn the chicken frequently to prevent the honey in the marinade from burning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some good substitutes for lime juice are lemon, pineapple-lemon, and orange-lemon mix.
Absolutely! Grilled honey lime chicken is one of my favorite versions of this recipe.
Thirty minutes to 2 hours is ideal. Marinating longer can make the chicken soft and mushy as the acids from the lime break down the proteins in the meat.
Yes, the acidity of lime juice can help tenderize chicken, although chicken is already tender on its own.
Yes, you can use the honey and lime chicken marinade as a sauce. Make sure to bring it to a boil to kill any bacteria that might have transferred from the raw chicken.
This honey and lime chicken recipe has only 360 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Lime Chicken
For a wholesome meal and an easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes:
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Honey Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb (500g) chicken thighs, deboned, skin-on
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1.5 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 dashes cayenne pepper
- 1 big pinch salt
- parsley, chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (207°C). Rub the minced garlic on the chicken thighs with your hands. Add honey, soy sauce, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and salt to the chicken. Stir to combine well. Transfer the chicken and the honey mixture to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil to prevent burning.Pro tip: Double the marinade if you want it to be more “saucy.”
- Bake the chicken for 20 minutes, or until cooked. If the sauce pools at the bottom of the foil, spoon and brush the sauce over the chicken. Broil the chicken for 1 minute or until the chicken skin is charred. Remove from heat, garnish with parsley. Squeeze the lime wedges over the chicken before serving.
Video
Notes
- If time allows, marinate the chicken in the sauce for around 30 minutes for deeper flavor.
- If using boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, keep in mind that they won’t brown as deeply as skin-on thighs. Skip the broiling step, as it won’t add any char and may dry out the meat.
- You can also make this recipe in a pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Be sure to turn the chicken frequently to prevent the honey in the marinade from burning.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Would it work if I cooked the chicken first (not all the way) then put the sauce on it? So it doesn’t burn?
Sure, you can do that. Or reduce the amount of honey.
Very easy to cook and it’s really lovely. the flavours compliment each other perfectly and the recipe was easy to follow.
thank you so much,
Paige
Thanks for trying this Honey Lime Chicken recipe. :)
This was delicious! I see what other people commented about when they said it came out burned. I put aluminum foil down and it totally burned the juice and I chose to turn the chicken twice to make sure it cooked fully and evenly without burning. My chicken was BEAUTIFUL and juicy but the oven was super smokey. I’d suggest putting foil down for sure to make sure your pan isn’t ruined and to turn the chicken to make both sides golden. Super tasty and will make it again! Thanks!
Thanks Jenny for trying out my honey lime chicken recipe.
Is this spicy with the cayenne pepper?
If you are using chicken breast how long would you cook it?
echancock13@yahoo.com
I made this last weekend. I had enough marinade for 8 boneless/skinless thighs and two breasts (each cut in half). This was, without a doubt, THE BEST chicken I have ever eaten. My 11-year-old son doesn’t like chicken, but even he liked it, AND he was excited about leftovers the next day because he thought the chicken was so delicious. As I plan this week’s meals, this honey lime chicken is DEFINITELY added to the menu!
Hi Lynette, awww, thanks so much for trying my honey lime chicken and the rave reviews. I have a ton of great chicken recipes here: https://rasamalaysia.com/tag/chicken/
can i just grilled the skin for one minute instead of broil as my oven does not have the broil function.
Yes just grill to char the skin. :)
I made this tonight and after 20 minutes the sauce just burned and the chi ken was under cooked. Still waiting to see how it tastes but not sure I’ll use this recipe again….
I am sorry to hear that Stephanie. The picture is exactly the chicken I made with the recipe you are using. Other readers have tried with success. Did you measure the honey? Did you put the chicken on the top rack? In any case, I updated the recipe a bit to prevent this situation, by covering the chicken with the aluminum foil.
When roasting or BBQ using honey or sugar, it’s best to add some acidic juices to the honey or sugar to prevent it from burning, as sugar is a compound of carbon.
I followed the recipe as well and mine did not come out like this at all. In fact mine became more watery. What did I do wrong? I have not eaten it yet, hopefully it tastes great?.
Hi V, hmm, did you pat dry the chicken? Which part of the chicken did you use? If it’s watery, you probably need to bake it a little longer so the juice and marinades dry up a bit.
Some chicken pieces sold in big stores are injected with water to make the pieces look bigger. For example, I used to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts from Walmart (they were so affordable!) but found they let off so much water in the pan and the pieces themselves were much smaller when cooked. Now I pay a little more but get them from a butcher. Maybe that’s the source of the wateriness?
Same. The sauce just slid off the chicken and onto the foil and burned there. I’m positive the proportions were correct. Why would this have happened?
Cover the chicken with foil before baking.
I followed your recipe but it did not work. I believe your picture is a breast, not a thigh, right? Your cooking method is not right. Mine did not become sticky. Also, you state in your recipe to line the pan with either foil or parchment paper. I used parchment paper. Wrong thing to suggest. As a caution to your readers..DO NOT broil using parchment paper. It caught on fire! All in all, the flavors was good but the cooking method Needs some changes. I would suggest grilling, not baking to get that stickiness you say should happen.
Hi Theresa, sorry to heat about your problem. I used chicken thighs with the skin on, I deboned the chicken thighs. Sorry about the parchment paper incident. I didn’t have that issue as I have a smaller countertop broiler. I have updated the recipe. In regards to the cooking method, please check the Cook’s Note as I also recommend skillet cooking and grilling.
Great dish, everyone loved it. I am thinking about subbing fish sauce for the salt next time, any thoughts?
Totally, it will only make the honey lime chicken better. :)
What kind of fish sauce?
Red Boat Fish Sauce.
Another nice and easy recipe, Bee with few ingredients. Love it. Thank you
Yes, very few ingredients and slightly different cooking method, and another new flavor in this honey lime chicken.
Hi there, can I substitute the lime for lemon? Kinda lazy to go out and get the lime as I have every other ingredients already :D
Yes you can!
what can side dish can you use for this?
I am making cilantro lime rice and broccoli to go with it. I also made extra for a salad topping.
Yummy!