This Honey Garlic Chicken is a popular favorite with my long-time readers. Whole chicken legs are marinated, then roasted, then slathered with a delectable aromatic sauce. The result is a tender, amazing, and flavorful entree. Golden, crispy-skinned chicken with a sweet-and-savory honey sauce – what could be better? This recipe is easy enough for a weeknight, yet special enough for a holiday.
This Honey Garlic Chicken recipe developed as I was imagining economical entrees for a Passover Seder meal. This chicken recipe has become a mainstay main dish in my home for a multitude of special occasions – Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Shabbat, or any family gathering.
Whole chicken legs are the least expensive chicken pieces to purchase. In addition, they also happen to be the most flavorful. Slow roasted dark meat chicken cooks up tender and juicy thanks to a flavorful marinade. A thick, garlicky honey sauce provides a mouthwatering flavor combination.
If you’re not a fan of dark meat chicken, bone-in breasts will work great too. Breasts take less time to cook through, so use a meat thermometer and check for doneness periodically. Don’t use boneless skinless here, the bone-in meat cooks up much more flavorful.
I like to put the chicken pieces on a platter in the center of the table, along with a gravy boat of sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley or greens for a pretty presentation.
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Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken pieces, bone in, skin on
- 1/3 cup honey, divided
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Heaping tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh Meyer lemon juice (you may substitute lime juice or regular lemon juice)
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons potato starch
- Salt and pepper
NOTES
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, 1/4 cup honey, brown sugar, garlic, lemon or lime juice, and cayenne to form a marinade.
- Spray the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish with nonstick cooking oil, or brush lightly with olive oil. Place the chicken pieces into the dish, skin side up. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper (if using kosher chicken, salt lightly).
- Pour the marinade evenly over the top of the chicken pieces, brushing them to coat. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Let the chicken marinate for 2 hours up to overnight.When ready to cook, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap from the baking dish. Spoon marinade over the top of the chicken, then cover the baking dish with foil. Pierce the edges of the foil a few times to vent.
- Roast the chicken for 1 hour, covered in foil, basting the chicken with marinade and drippings 2 or 3 times while it cooks. Remove foil and continue to roast for 20-30 more minutes until the skin becomes dark brown and crispy. It may blacken a bit in places due to the sugar content of the marinade.Transfer cooked chicken pieces to a platter. Carefully tip the baking dish so that the pan drippings and juices gather in one corner. Use a spoon to skim off the clear liquid fat from the top, separating it from the solid drippings. Discard the fat.
- Strain the remaining drippings through a mesh strainer into a small saucepan. Heat the sauce slowly over medium.
- While sauce is heating, in a small bowl stir together 2 tsp potato starch and ¼ cup cold water until dissolved. Add the starch mixture to the pan drippings, along with 1 tbsp honey and ¼ cup white wine or chicken broth. Stir the sauce over medium heat until it thickens and bubbles around the edges. If sauce is too thick, add more water or chicken broth. If the sauce is too thin, let it simmer till it thickens to desired consistency. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the chicken pieces drizzled with warm honey sauce.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Other Great Recipe Ideas
Simply Recipes – Cardamom Honey Chicken
Cookin’ Canuck – Grilled Chicken Thighs with Tamarind and Orange Glaze
This is a great recipe. Made it for this year’s Passover Seder. The sauce is so good.
I love this recipe! But this year I have a family member who is allergic to citrus. Would pineapple juice work as a substitute?
It should work fine!
I cooked this and the results were amazing! My children loved it and so do I. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi there. In the Honey Garlic recipe there is an error. Ingredients include 1/3 cup of honey. In the directions it says to add the 1/4 cup of honey. Which is correct?
Hi Lisbeth, it says 1/3 cup divided – 1/4 cup is used in the marinade, the remaining tablespoon is used in the sauce (step 8).
I want to try this with boneless skinless chicken thighs. What changes should I make to the recipe
Hi Randi, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. We do recommend bone in, skin on chicken for this recipe. If you would like to try with boneless skinless thighs, I suggest using a mallet to flatten the chicken to an even thickness, then cooking until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The results may not be as juicy as with bone-in, but it should work.
For 6 servings, the ingredients call for 1/3 Cup of honey. But in the recipe instructions, it says 1/4 Cup of honey. Can you confirm whether it is 1/4 Cup or 1/3 Cup. Thanks Tori..
The last tablespoon of honey is added when making the sauce. It is 1/3 cup total.
I make your chicken and vegetable cous cous dish regularly and everyone just loves it. I’m making your honey garlic chicken tonight which looks delicious
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes! You are my go to chef!
Just did a trial run of this recipe before Passover. My guests took seconds and couldn’t stop raving about how delicious the chicken was. I am so excited to have found a new, easy chicken dish that I can easily serve for Passover and everyday. This is a must try.
Fabulous. It is easy, isn’t it? 🙂
My daughter doesn’t eat nightshade vegetables. What should I substitute for cayenne pepper and potato starch? Also, how to cut meat for some small eaters as well as hearty eaters. Some breast, some dark meat. Need to fit in oven for 14 for Passover. Thanks.
I have an additional question. Since I will be baking/roasting chicken parts for 14 people, I will need to use 2 large pans on 2 racks in the oven, one over the other. How high or low should the racks be and how often should I alternate their position?
Place the racks as close to the center of the oven as possible while leaving room for the baking pans. Alternate their positions halfway through cook time.
You could try using a couple of tablespoons of horseradish as a substitute for the hot sauce. Corn starch can be subbed for potato starch if you are not concerned about kitniyot; otherwise, you’ll need to find some other Passover-friendly thickening starch.
Delicious
I want to make this chicken for Shabbat and don’t have potato starch. What do you recommend that I use as a substitute?
Thanks and Chag Purim Sameach!
Hi Dorit! You can use corn starch. Chag Sameach!
Just cooked this chicken dish for My Valentines night dinner…..Yum, delicious. Only change I made was that I spatchcocked the chicken
I want to make this for Rosh Hashanah and would like to use a whole chicken cut in 8ths. The cooking and temperature seem like it may be too much. Do they need to be altered? I am also concerned it is a lot of fussing with the sauce at the end when my company will be here, Thanks
Hi Nanci, the recipe is written for bone-in skin-on chicken so no worries there. The long cook time is to help the meat become very tender. The only pieces I would be concerned about are breasts, which have a tendency to dry out. You can keep an eye on those and remove them early from the dish if they seem to be cooking faster. As for the sauce, it does require a bit of extra effort at the end. While the sauce is not mandatory, it does enhance the dish. If you are looking for something you can simply serve straight from the oven with no sauce, here are some ideas:
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/date-glazed-orange-chicken/
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/farahs-roast-chicken/
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/marinated-cornish-game-hens/
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/rosemary-roasted-chicken-and-potatoes/
Absolutely delicious and easy to make! This recipe saved the day after my mother’s kosher butcher closed and we couldn’t find the Cornish hens we usually make for the first Seder. It doesn’t hurt that the mixture of honey and garlic made the kitchen smell amazing. Even my four year old loved it.
Wonderful Melissa! I like this one for Rosh Hashanah as well. 🙂
Thank you very much for this recipe 🙂 I have made it twice in the last 4-5 weeks (!!) and it’s incredible. I’m single and live alone so it’s quite a treat to have this chicken to myself… it’s embarrassingly good. It takes me 2-3 days to eat all of it and when it sits it just gets better and better. I make it with sweet potatoes and asparagus and just shove them in the oven with the chicken in the last half hour or so. I’m not Jewish but I work for an Israeli and have visited Israel many times for work… Eating this reminds me of a Pesach seder I was at once near Tel Aviv when I was visiting. A wonderful experience that I will NEVER forget. A little sweet, a little sticky, a little hot because of the cayenne, and certainly savory–really the best of all worlds 🙂 Thanks to you Tori for this…
Has anyone tried this in an instant pot? Trying to cut down on the amount of stuff in my oven, and most chicken recipes turn out good in the pot!
I just made it in my Instant pot! I marinated the chicken for about an hour. I used Flo Lum’s (youtube/blogger) equation for cook time, which is to multiply the weight of the chicken in pounds (lbs) by 5.5. My chicken was 4.3lbs, so 4.3 x 5.5= about 24min. I first browned the chicken on all sides on Saute Mode. I then added 1 cup of chicken broth and set the timer to manual for 24 min. When the chicken is done, I did a quick pressure release. At this point the chicken is fully cooked, but I wanted the skin to be crispy so I then put the chicken with all of the drippings in the oven for 10 min at 425 degrees. I poured the drippings right on the chicken, but you can easily strain the drippings and make the honey sauce on the stove while the chicken is in the oven. In all, it was fantastic and super quick!!
We always have chicken. Its delicious!
I am planning on making this with a whole 4 pound chicken. Would the cooking instructions change at all?
It will be more difficult to marinate a whole chicken evenly, so the results won’t be quite the same. Cook time will likely be longer, too. Roast until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching bone reaches 170 degrees F (165 is food safe but I always let it go to 170, I like my chicken well cooked). Also you will want to keep the chicken covered for the majority of the cooking process so it doesn’t burn.
Delicious! I just made this for 1st night of Chanukah. Made a few minor tweaks due to our dietary issues and also time saving (such as adding the wine directly to the marinade). Came out great. Kiddo liked it and husband couldn’t stop raving. Will definitely make this again.
This recipe looks amazing! I wish I came across your recipe like an hour ago. I already committed to another this time round. But I will definitely give yours a go next time.
Book marked and saved!
Jhansen