My simple and delicious Honey Soy Chicken is a failproof recipe that works every time. This savory and sweet dish requires minimal prep and just a few pantry ingredients for an easy weeknight dinner. Make extra and pack the leftovers in tomorrow‘s bento lunch!
On the busiest nights, we all need some reliable chicken recipes to save the day. This is my fail-proof, super easy Honey Soy Chicken that works every time.
Savory and sticky sweet, my family never seem to have enough of these chicken whenever I cook up a batch. I hope the recipe will come in handy on your busy days too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- So delicious!
- Requires minimal, pantry-friendly ingredients.
- Simple prep work.
- Highly flexible – I used drumettes for its tender dark meat and quick cooking time, but you can use any other cuts of chicken like breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or wings. If you like to fire up the grill or smoker, this recipe works great too.
3 Ingredients Marinade for Honey Soy Chicken
The tasty marinade requires only 3 ingredients:
- Soy sauce
- Sake
- Honey
The savoriness from the soy sauce and the slight sweetness from the honey not only imparts a wonderful flavor to the chicken but also a shiny golden glaze on the surface. The sake or Japanese rice wine tenderizes the meat and helps remove any odor. If you couldn’t find sake, you can substitute it with dry sherry.
All you need is to combine the mixture in a large ziplock bag. Add in the chicken, make sure each piece is well coated, and let it marinade. When ready to cook, pop them into the oven and bake for 30 minutes until golden. The results are tender, juicy drumettes that everyone will love.
Pack Your Chicken Leftovers in the Bento!
If you cook up a big batch for leftover, you can remove the meat from the wings and shred it into pieces and pack it into a bento lunch box with tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette), cherry tomatoes, sauteed cabbage, fruits, and onigiri (rice balls).
What to Serve with Honey Soy Chicken
When the chicken is baking in the oven, I would prepare steamed rice, a simple salad, and miso soup. In no time, a delicious, healthy dinner is ready for the family!
This Honey Soy Chicken makes an ideal candidate for a weeknight dinner. Because they are so fun to eat, my family also enjoys them on movie nights.
More Delicious Japanese Chicken Recipes
- Teba Shio (Salted Chicken Wings)
- Spicy Miso Chicken
- Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Baked Chicken Katsu
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Honey Soy Chicken
Ingredients
- 1½ lb chicken drumettes (12 pieces; or other chicken parts; if you use drumsticks, marinate overnight for more flavor)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Pat dry 1½ lb chicken drumettes with a paper towel to remove the moisture.
- Combine 4 Tbsp honey, 4 Tbsp soy sauce, and 2 Tbsp sake in a Ziploc bag.
- Prick the drumettes all over with a fork. Season with Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add the drumettes to the Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out, and seal the bag. Rub the drumettes through the bag to coat them with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30–60 minutes or up to overnight. If you use large chicken parts, increase the marinating time.
To Bake
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Place the drumettes in a baking pan skin side up in a single layer. Make sure the drumettes do not overlap each other. Pour the marinade liquid on top. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Baste the drumettes a couple of times during baking. If the chicken is browning too fast, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil to keep it from burning. On the other hand, if the drumettes are cooked but the top is not browned, you can switch to the broil setting for a few minutes until the top is nicely browned. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on April 9, 2013. It’s been edited and republished in May 2020.
This recipe reminds me of a similar Chinese style oven roast pork. The only difference is we heat the soy sauce with the honey and add some minced garlic first, then marinade with the cooled down marinade. Very yummy. I used thighs and @ 24 mins they were done perfectly. My daughter kept asking me what is that smell? She said it smells like a savory brownie and wants to try one! This recipe is a win!
Hi Maggie! Aww, your daughter is a foodie already! 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback.
I made the honey soy chicken with a bit of miso soup & vegetables. Accompanied with brown rice. Used the honey soy sauce to flavor the brown rice. It was very good. The timing was a bit tricky the first time.
Hi Tom! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Will definitely have to try this with boneless breast or thigh for bento. The sheen is so mouthwatering! I love cooking meat with sake, it really does remove any gamey flavor.
But the real question is, OMG what are those adorable teeny grapes in the bento photo?! So cute!
I hope you like the recipe with chicken breast! I do agree that sake in the Japanese cooking is so important. I’m glad you are using it! I don’t know the name of the grapes… but my kids love small ones. 🙂
Hi Nami. This recipe looks really good. I was wondering which soy sauce you prefer to use for cooking and why? Thank you for your response
Hi Elizabeth! Do you mean which brand of soy sauce or which kind of soy sauce… in Japan, we use different types of soy sauce based on regions: Koikuchi soy sauce (regular, and majority of areas) and Usukuchi soy sauce (mostly used in Osaka), and Amakuchi soy sauce (mostly used in Kyushu and southern prefectures).
I use regular soy sauce that I share in this post: https://www.justonecookbook.com/soy-sauce/
Hope that helps!
Have you ever tried making this in an Instant Pot? The skin wouldn’t be browned but I bet it would still taste great.
Hi Deb! Not with this recipe, but sure, you can. And you can broil in the oven for extra char as an option. 🙂
Nami-san,
I made this tonight and my husband said, “It’s yummy!”
Thank you for sharing your recipes. Love your blog.
Hi Karen! I’m so happy to hear your husband enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
What would you recommend eating with this chicken as diner?
Would love to know!
Hi Evelien! I’d suggest salad (I have lots of salad recipes) or any Japanese side dishes.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/categories/recipes/salad/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/categories/recipes/side/
Typically in Japan, we have steamed rice, miso soup, main dish (honey soy chicken), and 1-2 small sides (green vegetables, simmered food, salad, etc).
Nami, I made this recipe with chicken drumsticks and it was really amazing and so easy to prepare! I want to make this with chicken breasts next (normal size, no skin/bone), would I need to change the baking time at all? Thank you so much1
Hi Ali! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! You will definitely bake less time as it does not include bone, probably about 20-25 mins until they reach 165°F (safe internal temperature). 🙂
Tip: grease the measuring cup before adding hony and it will all pour out.
Hi Jim! Thank you for your tip! 🙂
I made this chicken recipe and it turned out perfectly. I was a bit concerned at first about the honey caramelizing and sticking to a steel/non-stick pan so I opted to use a glass pan (easier clean up!) I also baked this for 30 mins including basting at the 15 min mark.
I just love your website and all your Japanese recipes, Nami. I am trying out of them and enjoying the results! Thank you
Hi Autom! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it and thanks for the tip on cooking in the oven, too. 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy my recipes and thank you for your sweet comment and encouragement! It means a lot to me. xoxo
These are so good!!! I ended up waking early this morning, so I started marinating them at 6:30. Eleven hours later, we had some of the most delicious wings ever!
Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Hi Miki! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Hi, I’d like to try this with boneless chicken breast. Would I cut it into small pieces first? I’d appreciate any tips. Thanks so much!
Hi Gina! Japanese use chopsticks to eat a main dish, so you will see most of our meat is cut into smaller pieces or cut into thinly sliced. 🙂 It’s up to you. If you use chopsticks, then I highly recommend cutting into smaller pieces.
I’m sorry I forgot to take a photo, but I did use chicken breast and cut it up. I prepared it and marinated way ahead of time for about 7 hrs. Then I was concerned that I would overcook it if I baked such small pieces, so I did a sautee/stir-fry on the stove top with it instead, and served it over jasmine rice and topped it with chopped raw scallion. It was extremely delicious and tender and my son and husband both liked it very much. I’ll be making it again, for sure.
My mistake was to put the marinade and chicken in the pan right away, and I didn’t get any browning., Next time I might try removing the chicken from the marinade and stir fry the chicken pieces first so I might get some browning on them, and then add the marinade to cook. But even without browning, it was still a fantastic dish! Thank you again for your recipes!
Hi Gina! Thank you so much for your feedback. I agree, I would stir fry rather than baking because it’ll cook fast and you can control each piece. Also as you said, reserve the marinade and cook the chicken first to brown. You can add all marinade to reduce the sauce (or if you like the thick sauce, add a mixture of 1 Tbsp corn starch and 1-2 Tbsp water). So happy to hear your family enjoyed the dish too. Thank you again for your kind comment. 🙂
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Do you use the same amount quantity of sauce for chick breast, chick thigh,?
Hi El! Sure, that should work. 🙂
Is that 1kg chick drumsticks? I wonder if it is ok to do it on the slow cooker? Look forward to this as my kid doesn’t like spicy. Look forward to more of your sweet sauces for kids. Teriyaki and sweet soy is one of them.
Hi El! Roughly 680 g. I have never tried it with a slow cooker, but miso burns easily so be careful if you try it in the slow cooker. 🙂 We have a lot of sweeter sauce that my kids like. Miso and soy sauce are salty so we always need to counterbalance it. You can adjust according to your kids’ preference too! 🙂