Honey Soy Chicken Thighs – Dressed in a sweet and savory honey soy sauce, these chicken thighs are so easy to put together and taste delicious! It’s an easy one-pan dish your whole family will love.
A little sweet and a little savory come together to make this finger-licking good Honey Soy Chicken Thighs recipe. Tender chicken is marinated and baked in a well-balanced honey sauce to create a show-stopping dish that will wow your family and guests!
Just like my 30-Minute Chicken Stir Fry and Instant Pot Chili, this recipe is easy to throw together and takes almost no time to prepare. Plus, the oven does most of the work! Serve it over rice or potatoes for an epic family-friendly meal.
When YOU make this Honey Chicken Recipe, take a picture & DM me your Food Creation on Instagram @MunchkinTimeBlog & we would love to see your creation!
There’s no searing involved in this recipe. Instead, the honey soy sauce chicken is baked in its marinade and finished with a quick broil. In the end, you’ll have juicy and tender chicken thighs that are perfectly caramelized and smothered in an out-of-this-world sauce.
Ingredients for honey soy chicken
Boneless and skinless chicken thighs are marinated in a honey soy sauce that is both sweet and savory. If you can, use raw honey in the marinade for added nutrients and natural sweetness! These are the rest of the ingredients you need:
- Boneless and skinless organic chicken thighs
- Olive oil
- Fresh ginger and garlic
- Raw honey
- Soy sauce
- Salt and pepper
Combine all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl before preparing the chicken.
How to bake chicken thighs
Step 1: Place the chicken in the bowl with the marinade. Let it marinate for at least 1 hour.
Step 2: Pour the chicken and marinade into a cast iron skillet or a shallow baking dish and bake until the chicken is cooked through. Flip each piece a few times to ensure all sides turn out juicy and tender.
Step 3: To finish, broil on high for 5 minutes to achieve a beautiful crust all around the outside of the chicken.
Step 4: Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with rice or mashed potatoes. Pour some extra sauce over the plated chicken and enjoy!
Recipe tips and variations
- You can use chicken breasts instead of thighs, but they will need a little less time in the oven. Chicken breasts can dry out easily, which is why I recommend using an internal thermometer to check when they’re done.
- You can also use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to make this recipe. They’ll take about 10 or 15 minutes longer in the oven.
- Baked chicken thighs and breasts are cooked through once they reach 165ºF.
- The chicken thighs need at least 1 hour to marinate but can be left for up to 24 hours. Keep the chicken in a bowl with the marinade in the fridge until it’s time to cook.
- If you don’t have raw honey, regular honey will work just as well.
- Craving sweeter flavors? Try my Baked Pineapple Chicken Thighs instead.
Storing and reheating leftovers
Cooked chicken thighs make delicious leftovers! Make sure to store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, place the chicken in the microwave and cook on high for a few minutes.
Alternatively, bake the leftovers in a 350ºF oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until warmed through.
What to serve with honey soy chicken
The Asian-inspired flavors in this sweet and savory chicken go so well with a variety of side dishes, like:
More chicken recipes to try for dinner
These chicken thigh recipes are juicy, tender, and easy to prepare when you’re craving something delicious for dinner:
- Chicken Thighs and Rice Casserole
- Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
- BBQ Baked Chicken Thighs
- Greek Chicken Shish Kabobs
- Chicken Thigh Mushroom Casserole
Best Honey Soy Chicken Thighs Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine olive oil, ginger, honey, soy sauce, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Rinse and trim off all of the fat from the chicken, then place it in the bowl with the marinade. Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Marinade chicken for at least 1 hour. Place chicken thighs and marinade in cast iron or baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked thru, make sure to flip the chicken few times, that way the chicken will be juicy & tender without dry top. After flip the chicken on the other side and broil on high for 5 minutes or until beautiful roasted color.Garnish with chopped parsley, serve with rice or mashed potato, and make sure to pour the sauce over the chicken when serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Q. DO YOU like this Easy Chicken Recipe?
Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear from you!
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I just made it. its delicious. My kids will love it, they love sweet chicken.
Thank you, Grace! So happy your kids love it!
Excellent marinade/sauce. I didn’t bake them – didn’t want to heat the stove. Instead, I braised the chicken in the marinade/sauce in a cast iron skillet, lidded, on low simmer. The chicken reached 165 degrees fahrenheit after about 15 minutes. Removed chicken to a warmer pan and boiled the sauce down. Delicious!
Fix: Didn’t bake the chicken – didn’t want to heat oven.
Thank you, Darcie!
My husband and I found this recipe on the sweet side. I really wanted to like it more than we did because it was easy to prepare but the flavoring was not to our taste.
Thank you, Sara!
My family thought this recipe was very good, and told me to save it.
So happy to hear this, Sherrie!
This is one of our go to recipes! It is delicious and everyone that we have made it for loves! Do you think it could be made in the crock pot? Do you think that you can prep it by putting the chicken & marinade in a bag in the freezer to use another time? Thank you!
Thank you, Kayla! To be honest with you, I never made this recipe in the crock pot, not sure how it will turn out. Also I haven’t froze it too, it sounds like a great idea!
This recipe is sooo easy and YUMMY! I cook it almost weekly. Bought frozen ginger from TJs so I always have the ingredients on hand.
Thank you, Tara! I am so happy you like this honey soy chicken recipe. Frozen ginger? What a great idea! Thank you for sharing!
Frozen ginger you say?! From trader joes you say?! OMG i think an immediate impromptu TJ’s trip needs to happen immediately! Thanks for the tip
ALSO, this recipe was FIRE!!!!!!!!! I make it for meal prep and I’m picky with meal prep bc it is hard for me to find something that I won’t get sick of eating multiple days in a row.
You are very welcome! I am so happy you like this tip and the recipe! 🙂
Love this recipe I add a dash of sesame oil & I serve it with white rice and sprinkle green onion on top and a homemade coleslaw!!! Absolutely the best!!! Can’t get enough
Great flavor! But for some reason the sauce never thickened. I am no chef by far! But I’m wondering if you have any idea what might have happened?
Thank you, Brittany! As for the sauce, it shouldn’t be thick.
A staple at our house! The kids request this chicken regularly. I add paprika and we call it lava chicken .
Thank you, Rosanna! I am so happy your kids love this chicken recipe, or like you call it lava chicken! Adding paprika sounds so yummy, thank you for sharing! 😀
I was looking for a recipe to use some boneless skinless thighs and came across this one. I was skeptical because it seemed too easy. No searing, very little prep etc. Wow, was I wrong and pleasantly surprised. This will be a recipe I go to time after time. I ended up marinating for about 2 hours but if I have time will do it overnight next time as the flavors just seasoned the chicken so well. Seriously, this couldn’t be easier or tastier!
Thank you Rhonda, for your awesome recipe review! I am so happy you like this chicken thighs recipe! 😀
This is a household favorite for us! To add a little twist, I stir fry whatever veggies we have – tonight it’s peppers, onions and shredded carrots – in a few tsp of olive oil first, then add the chicken and sauce and pop it all on the oven. Veggies provide a little texture, color and substance, making this a complete meal. I spoon it over jasmine rice and even the leftovers are highly coveted. Thanks for this delicious, easy weeknight staple.
That sounds absolutely delicious, Cindy! Thank you for your awesome recipe review!
Excellent flavor. (I marinated for 24 hours). My only regret is that my chicken thighs shrunk quite a bit and I didn’t make enough! So tasty and easy!
Thank you Julie, for an awesome recipe review! 🙂
What temperature do I have the oven set at??
Hi Andrea, it’s set at 400F.
Served it with rice and steamed broccoli–delicious, quick and easy! And, best of all, my picky husband LOVED IT, so I’ll be adding it to my recipe rotation! A win-win!!
Woohoo! Thank you Kim, so happy your picky husband loved it!
This recipe was so easy and absolutely delicious. My family ate every single piece! I served it with brown rice and sautéed stir fry veggies! So good 😉
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Excellent, my boyfriend loved it. Definetely a repeat.
Thank you! So happy he loved it!
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Taste was good but our sauce never got thick. We cooked it a total of 45 min with 5 min broil.
Glad you liked the taste, the sauce is not thick in this recipe.
Anytime you want a thicker sauce- pour it into a sauce pan, add 1-3 tablespoons flour, mix it in and let it reduce u til it’s thick. This usually only takes about 5 minutes so you can do it while the chicken (or any other dish) cools.
I wouldn’t necessarily add flour. I would make a slurry of corn starch and water then add it to it. Will thicken it fast and also not leave clumps of flour in your sauce.
This may be a silly question but I am new to marinading…. can I let it sit in the marinade in the fridge for like 4-5 hours? Or do you recommend just 1?
Hi Sara! Your question is not silly at all 😀 it is best to marinate it over the night or at least 1 hour. So marinating it for 4-5 hours is really good. Hope this helps!
Made this dish tonight. Instant fam fav! Thank you so much for posting. We used bone in thighs in an iron skillet in oven 30 min per side. It came out beautiful! YUM!
So happy you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
Made this last night for dinner and the family all loved it! The marinade that the chicken cooks in made the most delicious sauce to go on top of the rice we had with it.
Thank you so much Stacie, for an amazing recipe review! So happy you liked this honey soy chicken thighs recipe.
Hi there, I don’t want to be overcooking as there are only 2 of us in the house. If I use 3 chicken thighs instead of 2.5 pounds of chicken, do I need to half all of the ingredients?
Yes, half the rest of the ingredients.
Absolutely amazing recipe. I had a honey soy chicken recipe that I thought was good but this beats it! Thank you.
OMG! Thank you so much Sue, I am so happy you like this honey soy chicken thighs recipe, it’s our favorite, too!