Hot Honey Garlic Chicken is so mouthwatering with a caramelized outside and juicy flavourful inside. Hot honey brings a savoury sweetness and just a little bit of kick to keep things interesting. Make this recipe in the air fryer or oven.
Check out how delicious that looks... You can use chicken thighs, chicken wings, or chicken drumsticks. And it can be ready in as little as 20 minutes. No breading or overnight marinade required!
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Ingredients + Substitutions
A few notes on some of the ingredients used in this Hot Honey Garlic Chicken recipe:
Chicken: Use boneless chicken thighs, chicken drumsticks, or chicken wings for this recipe. Depends on what you’re in the mood for.
Garlic: You know the drill. Throw a whole head of minced garlic in there.
Hot Honey: This amazing condiment brings the sweet and the heat! Hot honey is actually quite mild, with just a bit of kick, so don’t worry about it being too spicy. Mike's Hot Honey is the GOAT but we've also been enjoying this Peace River Hot Honey.
Here’s a substitution if you don’t have hot honey: 3 tablespoons regular honey + ½ teaspoon cayenne powder. Add more cayenne if you want more heat.
Soy Sauce: This chicken recipe could be an honorary sixth marinade on our Top 5 Soy Sauce Chicken Marinades list. You guessed it, soy sauce is used to boost the saltiness and umami.
Mustard: It may seem weird, but mustard adds a whole heap of flavour and somehow, once it’s cooked, it pairs so well with the hot honey and garlic flavours. Dijon mustard is best, but yellow mustard does a good job too!
See recipe card for quantities.
Directions
Step 1. Preheat your air fryer to 400 °F or your oven to 425 °F. This recipe can be made in the air fryer or in a regular oven.
Step 2. In a mixing bowl or ziploc bag, mix together the hot honey marinade. Add the chicken and mix well until thoroughly coated.
Air Frying Directions: Add the marinated chicken to the preheated air fryer tray in a single layer—make sure the pieces aren’t touching. Air fry for 16 minutes (boneless chicken thighs), or 19 minutes (bone-in chicken wings), or 22 minutes (chicken drumsticks), flipping halfway through.
Oven Roasting Directions: Line a large baking sheet with foil and add the marinated chicken. Spread them apart so that none of the pieces are touching. Roast for 20 minutes (for boneless chicken thighs), or 40 minutes (for chicken wings or drumsticks), flipping halfway through.
Tip: You can cook the chicken right away or marinate it for up to two days in the fridge. See Storage Tips section for more details.
You can serve these chicken thighs either whole or sliced up! Hot honey garlic chicken goes amazing over Roasted Garlic Rice, or served with a simple Spinach in Chicken Broth side dish.
Storage Tips
Fridge: Refrigerate leftover hot honey chicken for up to four days. Raw chicken in its marinade can be kept in the fridge for up to two days before cooking.
Freezer: Cooked chicken can be frozen for up to two months (it will be safe indefinitely, but the flavour is best if eaten within two months).
Prep Ahead: This hot honey garlic chicken recipe is perfect for making ahead or freezing! Simply put the chicken in its marinade in a ziploc freezer bag, press any air out, and freeze it a flat sheet. It will be good for up to nine months. Move the bag to the fridge the day before cooking, so it has time to defrost. Then simply cook as normal.
Don’t have time to defrost? You can cook hot honey garlic chicken directly from frozen too. We recommend lowering the temperature by 15 °F and increasing the cook time until the inside reaches 165 °F.
More Chicken Recipes
Want more garlicky recipes for chicken? Try these:
What to Serve with Hot Honey Garlic Chicken
Hot honey garlic chicken goes hard with just about any rice or veggie side dish. A few of our favourites:
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating or comment below to give me feedback and help out other readers.
Recipe Card
Hot Honey Garlic Chicken
Equipment
- Oven or air fryer
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, wings, or drumsticks see Note 1
- 1 head garlic 10 to 12 cloves
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 tablespoons hot honey see Note 2 for substitution
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 °F or your oven to 425 °F.
- In a mixing bowl or ziploc bag, mix together the hot honey marinade (1 head garlic, 1 tablespoon mustard, 2 tablespoons hot honey, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper).
- Add the 2 pounds chicken thighs, wings, or drumsticks and mix well until all chicken pieces are thoroughly coated. You can cook the chicken right away or marinate it for up to two days in the fridge.
- Air Frying Directions: Add the chicken to the preheated air fryer tray in a single layer—make sure the pieces aren’t touching. Air fry for 16 minutes (boneless chicken thighs), or 19 minutes (bone-in chicken wings), or 22 minutes (chicken drumsticks), flipping halfway through.
- Oven Roasting Directions: Line a large baking sheet with foil and add the chicken. Spread them apart so that none of the pieces are touching. Roast for 20 minutes (for boneless chicken thighs), or 40 minutes (for chicken wings or drumsticks), flipping halfway through.
- Top with fresh herbs of your choice (we like scallions and cilantro) if you’d like!
Notes
- Chicken: You can use chicken thighs, wings, or drumsticks for this recipe. We don’t recommend chicken breast, as it can easily get tough and dry.
- Hot Honey: If you don’t have hot honey, you can substitute with 3 tablespoons regular honey + ½ teaspoon cayenne powder (or more, if you like more heat). We usually end up adding a whole teaspoon of cayenne on top of using hot honey because we love our chicken spicy!
Aileen says
I used chicken thighs, which turned out great. Perfect combo of sweet and spicy.
Gwen says
What are the temperatures for air fry or roasting?
Kelly Zhang says
Hi Gwen, it's noted in the first step of the recipe card - 400 °F for air fry or 425 °F for oven roasting.