Hot Honey Chicken
Table of Contents
Hot Honey Chicken
Hot honey chicken is the newest recipe in my dinner rotation. Nathan found it on social media because a friend had posted it.
I looked up recipes for it and developed what I think is the perfect version myself. It is now a favorite in my house after trying several versions. Every time the topic of chicken comes up lately, Nathan will ask if I want to make this.
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Have you tried making this hot honey chicken recipe? Come on in and let me teach you how!
Hot Honey Chicken Ingredients
Chicken
Hot sauce (¼ cup) I used Tapatio because that is my preference, but any kind works.
Honey (½ cup)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
Eggs (2)
Hot Honey Chicken Directions
I always start with setting up the dredging. Beat two eggs in a bowl with a whisk until well-combined together. The yolk and the white should be mixed together and the clear not visible. A somewhat pale yellow color is what you want.
If using regular corn flakes, put them in a food processor to grind to a fine bread crumb-like texture. I used a boxed version this time that was pre-ground up. But either way works just fine. Set them aside in another bowl.
In a third bowl, mix together the flour and cornstarch. I aim for a 50/50 mix of the two because I like the consistency and texture it helps create in the dredge. The cornstarch also helps the dredge stick to the chicken far better than flour alone. Measuring isn’t required since it is for dredging and coating the chicken. I always eyeball it and add more if needed as I go.
At this point you should have three bowls set up. One with the eggs, one with the breadcrumbs, and one with the flour and cornstarch.
Dredge the chicken in the flour/cornstarch mixture to start with. Then dip into the eggs and then the cornflake mixture to create a crust on the chicken. Flour sticks to the chicken, egg sticks to the flour, cornflakes stick to the egg. That is how a great crispy crust is formed.
I have also used this basic dredge recipe for simply frying chicken, and it turns out to be amazing. Just omit the sauce, serve, and use any kind of dipping sauce you want. My habanero peach barbecue sauce is a great one for this!
Pan fry in vegetable oil just long enough to crisp up the outside and turn the corn flake crust a nice golden brown. The chicken will not be cooked on the inside, and that is just fine. In this step, I’m going for creating that beautiful crust on the outside. It will continue cooking in the oven.
I like chicken tender size pieces because they are easy to cook and don’t take long in the pan or the oven. Smaller is easier to work with for me. If using full size breast pieces, I recommend cutting them into several smaller pieces.
If you’re cutting up large chicken pieces, the key is making sure all pieces are the same size. This ensures even cooking. There is nothing worse than some being overdone and some under or raw. Nobody wants dry or raw chicken. Neither is a good thing.
Once fried, place in a baking dish, pour the sauce over the chicken and cook at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The time to cook will depend on the size of the chicken pieces. I always use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees and is no longer pink in the middle.
Once the chicken is served, the cooked sauce can be poured over the chicken or put on the side for dipping. You can also garnish with some extra red pepper flakes if you want a little more heat than everyone else.
Hot Honey Chicken Sauce
Mix the hot sauce, honey, and red pepper flakes into a bowl. Mix with a whisk until well combined. This will take a few minutes because the hot sauce is thin and the honey is so much thicker. Just keep stirring.
I let Nathan do this because I get impatient. With the red pepper flakes, it is all a matter of preference. I prefer my chicken to be a bit on the hotter side. But these can be omitted or use more/less, depending on what you prefer.
Recipe Notes
The amount of sauce needed can easily be edited, depending on how much chicken is being made. The key is 1 part hot sauce to 2 parts honey.
Tonight I made this with oven roasted carrots and salt crusted potatoes. But it is amazing with parmesan roasted cauliflower and parmesan roasted red potatoes. The side dishes to balance out the meal are endless.
Why I Love This Recipe
I love this recipe because it is an excellent mixture of sweet and spicy. When I take a bite, it starts sweet and ends with a little kick. It is just enough to counter the sweetness at the end and cut through that. But it isn’t hot in the sense that it is burning hot. It is just a nice bite to know there is some spicy and not just completely sweet.
As I said earlier, this hot honey chicken is Nathan’s new favorite recipe. I have a feeling it will be frequently requested! He’s really excited about this one because it was his idea after seeing a friend post about it and asked if we could try it out.
Nathan loves the opportunity to toot his own horn when he comes up with a good idea, especially when it relates to my blog. He says, “yay, I helped!” It is really cute how much he likes to assist me with my blog in terms of recipes and ideas. That is the fun part about being married.
Discussion
Have you made this hot honey chicken recipe yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! I love hearing how my recipes turn out for others.
Need other chicken recipes? I’ve got you covered! Have a look around and find your own new family favorite.
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33 Comments
Sarah
This sounds insanely delicious? I love hot sauce and I love honey, so that combination sounds like heaven. I absolutely shall be trying this out! Thanks for sharing, I’ve got dinner planned now lol xx
Nero
That sounds delicious. I can’t wait to try it!
Melody
This sounds simply wonderful. i think I have a new recipe to try out. Thanks for the prepping and cooking tips also. i hadn’t thought about cutting my chicken into smaller pieces to speed cooking. And yet I do that with other things. LOL
KeshiaRichmond
I love your dishes! We have a set. Will try the hot honey chicken with a few variations on hot sauce and red peppers. Yummy!
Scott J DeNicola
Holy YES! Love HOT and this sounds crunchy as well which is doubly good. Weave bacon in here somehow and perfection. 🙂 . Now I want chicken. Your posts make me hungry.
Despite Pain
Oh, Erica, it’s eleven o’clock in the morning and I am drooling over this! It looks delicious. Kellogs cornflake crumbs in a box – we don’t get them here. I know they’re simple to make, but I always enjoy learning about products that are available on your side of the pond.
The Prepping Wife
I found the corn flake crumbs on accident! I had to laugh about that one, actually. My husband and I were in the store and planning to buy a full size box of the cereal and put it in the food processor. Then in, I think it was the baking aisle, we found the crumbs already ground up. My thought was, score! I just saved myself some time. Thankfully we hadn’t developed the recipe yet, so we were trying it with breadcrumbs and panko as well, plus trying several sauce variations. In looking for the other stuff, we stumbled on the corn flake crumbs. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known it was an option. If you do make this recipe, Elizabeth, I would love your feedback on it!
Subhashish Roy
The first word hot prepped me up. Because I love all recipes which are hot. Chicken dishes are always welcome. This dish looks nice and different.
The Prepping Wife
I just realized that most of my recipes are chicken, or dessert. Lol. I think you would really enjoy this one, Subhashish. For me, it is the perfect balance of sweet and hot. Starts out sweet and then the hot comes at the end for a nice kick. If you make this, I would love to hear your thoughts on it!
Snehal
I have never tried this combination of chicken and honey. It really looks yum in the photos! 😋 Will be making this. 🙂
Ashley | One Journey Away
I haven’t eaten chicken in about half a year (gone somewhat plant-based) but used to love eating chicken and this looks delicious!
The Prepping Wife
If you haven’t eaten rainbow carrots before, I think you would love them, Ashley! That was one of the newest things we tried to go with this recipe and they were delicious. We roasted them in the oven with a little bit of garlic salt and olive oil. I loved the simplicity of that.
Clio
It looks so inviting! And I’d love to try the roasted carrots, they look like the perfect combination. Love how this dish seems so simple and hearty, like a perfect cozy dinner meal 🙂
jerry godinho
all your recipies and articles are mouthwatering. I love it. thanks for taking the time writing such amazing stuff. I super appreciate. It is warm and hearty and cozy meal
omoh felix peters
great one i think i have to introduce my friends to this site for great dishes
Joyce Osiango
You have a really nice recipe to try. I love that you have more vegetables than the chicken my kinda food.
Lyosha
Chicken and Honey& yes please! MORE! it is a great combo I am so happy I can eat it
Elizabeth
Delicious! This is a dish my hubby would devour .. he’s all about the hot stuff
Live Learn Better
This looks delicious. Would regular habanero work? I’m not a fan of those hot sauce due to their acidic nature.
The Prepping Wife
Many hot sauces are vinegar based, and I am not a big fan of that either. It is hard to find one with good flavor that isn’t just vinegar and acid. Tapatio is the best I’ve found so far in my journey of hot sauce. The only problem with using habanero peppers would be the consistency of the sauce. Hot sauce being thin/water-like, and honey being very thick. Mixed together, it creates more of a dipping sauce and not a sticky mess. You’ve inspired me to try coming up with my own hot sauce now! If you do use a pepper like habanero, my best advice would be blend and puree it so it is closer to a sauce and not a solid. I’m going to research this more and see what I can come up with for alternatives.
Sonia Seivwright
This dish looks very yummy. I didn’t know ‘Corn Flakes’ had ‘Bread Crumbs’. I am looking forward to giving this a try at home.
Luna S
This looks and sounds like it is so delicious! I bet my husband would enjoy this as well.
Debra Roberts
One of the best chicken recipes I’ve ever had was coated in corn flakes and made by my mother. You had me at honey on this one!
Doris Jean
This looks incredibly yummy and easy to make which is important for me. I never thought about using corn flakes. Makes total sense!! I may try this recipe this weekend as Im always looking for ways to switch up basic meals.
Nicole Anderson
I just know my partner will just love this as he really likes chicken and anything hot. The crunchy element will also be a bit hit although I might just have to put regular Cornflakes through the processor because I haven’t seen the breadcrumbs already pre-done before. This does look pretty straightforward to make in the way you describe – properly cooked but not overdone.
The Prepping Wife
It is so easy to put the Cornflakes in the food processor and blend them up to be the same as what I bought in the store. I had originally planned to do that myself until I happened to find the pre-made ones. Let me know how you and James like this dish, Nicole!
Nkem
Looks pretty good! I’d probably like it. I like that you used what was in your home too.
Britt K
I’m not too much of a spicy food person anymore. I love the taste, but my body isn’t as fond of the experience lol That being said, this sounds like something that’s 110% up my husband’s alley. He ADORES all things spicy. I’m going to have to share this recipe with him. It looks like a great option to make for dinner one evening (we can just make something ‘me-friendly’ as well) and then pack the remainder up for lunches throughout the workweek.
The Prepping Wife
I would recommend leaving out the red pepper flakes in the sauce, Britt! You would likely be able to handle it then, because it is a well-balanced mix of sweet and spicy. The red pepper flakes are where the true heat comes from. Your husband could add those in when it is time to serve. Or divide the sauce in half and only add the pepper flakes to his half.
Debra A Roberts
This looks amazing! My mother used to make a chicken coated in corn flakes when we were kids. On a 1-10 scale, how spicy is this?
The Prepping Wife
Without the red chili flakes, maybe a 4. With them, you can really amp up the heat to be a 6 or so. If you want very little spice, leave them out completely. If you want a lot of spice, add in a healthy amount of the red chili flakes.
Jane
Wow, that is amazing!! I am so eager to make it. Just one quick question. Is it possible to do it without an oven? After initial frying just leave it on the pan or move it to the pot and heat it on the stove? My oven broke and I have to deal without it for a while. I manage to do a surprising amount of dishes (even stuffed peppers!) but can I do this?
The Cooking Wife
Hi Jane! It is definitely possible to make this recipe without the oven. The reason for the oven in this recipe is to cook the chicken to the proper internal temperature without burning the outside coating. What you’ll need to do is use a meat mallet and pound the chicken out to be thinner and cook completely through on the inside while in the frying pan. This may take several batches because of the chicken pieces being thinner and taking up more space in the pan, but that’s perfectly ok.