This honey ginger chicken has juicy chicken thigh pieces that are covered in a sweet ginger soy stir-fry sauce that tastes incredibly flavorful and delicious! Serve it over fluffy white rice with side dishes of your choice for a quick, simple, and tasty weeknight dinner.
Stir-fry dishes like my chicken yaki udon or Korean-style ground turkey are always part of my dinner rotation as they are super simple to make and incredibly delicious! This honey ginger chicken has quickly become another favorite that I love to make whenever I am craving sweet and sticky soy-glazed chicken pieces.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any leftover vegetables that may be sitting in your refrigerator to turn this honey ginger chicken into a balanced and delicious meal. It's just perfect for a quick Chinese takeout-style meal at home!
Honey Ginger Chicken Ingredients
To make this honey ginger chicken you'll need the following ingredients:
- Chicken thighs: Boneless skinless chicken thighs are perfect for stir-fry dishes as they stay juicy and delicious. If you prefer chicken breasts, you can definitely replace the chicken thighs! Just make sure that you don't overcook the chicken breast pieces as they become dry very quickly.
- Low-sodium soy sauce: You'll need low-sodium soy sauce for this recipe as regular soy sauce makes the stir-fry sauce overly salty. Alternatively, you could thin regular soy sauce with water or use light soy sauce.
- Honey: Honey is added for sweetness and makes the sauce sticky and delicious!
- Ginger: Ginger is another key ingredient for this recipe. Make sure to use freshly grated ginger so that it is as flavorful as possible.
- Garlic: Garlic is another important ingredient to add flavor to the stir-fry sauce.
- Green onion: Green onion is another flavor-boosting ingredient that is perfect as a topping.
- Chili pepper: If you love a bit of spice, I recommend using fresh chili peppers for this recipe! I love to garnish the final dish with sliced or diced fresh chili pepper. If you prefer this stir-fry mild, feel free to skip the chili pepper.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce and should definitely be part of your pantry so that you can whip up delicious stir-fry sauces at home!
How to make honey ginger chicken
Marinate the chicken. First, add all chicken thigh pieces to a bowl and add some low-sodium soy sauce, vegetable oil, and cornstarch. Toss until combined.
Prepare the stir-fry sauce. In another bowl, whisk together the low-sodium soy sauce, honey, minced garlic, and grated ginger. Set the sauce aside.
Stir-fry the chicken pieces. Preheat some vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the marinated chicken thigh pieces and stir-fry until browned.
Combine. Now add the sauce to the pan and stir-fry until the sauce thickens. Use some cornstarch slurry as needed.
Serve. Serve the honey garlic chicken over fluffy white rice and garnish with green onion, red chili pepper, and sesame seeds (optional). Enjoy!
Tips & Notes
- Feel free to use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs but make sure that you don't overcook them. I like to use chicken thighs as they aren't as lean as chicken breasts which makes them stay juicy when stir-fried. So when you use chicken breasts, make sure that your pan is hot enough so that the chicken browns nicely without overcooking.
- Add some cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. When you make stir-fries, always make sure to have some cornstarch on hand as you'll probably need it to thicken the sauce. To make the cornstarch slurry, whisk together equal parts of water and cornstarch and use as much of the slurry as you need.
How to serve this honey ginger chicken
- Prepare some white rice to turn this honey ginger chicken into a satiating meal. I recommend using short-grain or medium-grain white rice as it perfectly complements the honey ginger chicken!
- Add vegetables to this dish and stir-fry them. You can use this recipe to use any leftover vegetables that you may have in your refrigerator. Or pick up other fresh or frozen vegetables that you like. I love carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and eggplants.
- Prepare other vegetable side dishes that you like. You could make a delicious side salad using Japanese sesame dressing or prepare Korean side dishes like kongnamul muchim (Korean bean sprout side dish) or oi muchim (Korean cucumber salad). They go really well with this honey ginger chicken!
Frequently Asked Questions
It's sweet, savory, and packed with lots of flavor coming from the ginger and garlic. If you love ginger and soy-based stir-fry sauces, then this recipe is perfect for you!
No, it's a very mild dish. The only spicy ingredient is the chili pepper that is added when garnishing the final dish. Feel free to skip it if you want to keep this honey ginger chicken very mild. And if you want some extra heat, feel free to stir-fry fresh chili pepper or add red chili flakes to the stir-fry sauce.
Yes! Just make sure that you don't overcook them as they become dry very quickly.
Don't replace the low-sodium soy sauce with the same amount of regular soy sauce as the final dish will be too salty. If you want to use regular soy sauce, you need to thin it with water. I'd recommend starting with a ratio of 1:2 and then adding more soy sauce to the stir-fry if needed.
It's best to serve it over white rice and with vegetables added to the stir fry or with separate vegetable side dishes. Feel free to check out the post for more details.
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat them in a microwave or on your stove.
More simple and delicious stir-fry recipes
If you want to try some of my other stir-fry recipes, I recommend starting with the following dishes. They are all super easy to make and taste amazing!
- Honey Sesame Chicken
- Shrimp Udon Stir Fry
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Cashew Chicken
- Spicy Korean-Style Ground Turkey
Honey Ginger Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 ½ tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Honey Ginger Stir-Fry Sauce
- 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
Other Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 red chili pepper (optional) sliced or diced
- 1 green onion sliced
- sesame seeds (optional)
- cornstarch slurry equal parts of water and cornstarch whisked together, use as needed
Instructions
- First, add all chicken marinade ingredients to a bowl and toss until combined.1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, 1 ½ tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Whisk together the honey ginger stir-fry sauce in another mixing bowl.4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, 3 tablespoons honey, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- Preheat some vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat. Then add the marinated chicken and stir-fry until browned.1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces and stir-fry until the sauce thickens. Add some cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce as needed. To thin the sauce, add some water.cornstarch slurry
- Serve over rice and garnish with chili pepper slices, green onion slices, and sesame seeds. Enjoy!1 red chili pepper (optional), 1 green onion, sesame seeds (optional)
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