My love for all things hot honey isn't going anywhere. That sweet and spicy combination just gets me every.single.time. And when you combine that with chicken, something magical happens. Then again, something magical always happens whenever I eat chicken thighs. It's my favourite part of the chicken, especially the bone-in and skin-on pieces, YES PLEASE! If you're like me and love it too, then you're gonna want to give this hot honey chicken a try. Serve alongside some crispy baby potatoes and kale and make it all in one pan too. What's not to love about that?!
Few things are better than a sweet and spicy combo IMO. I love how the spice is balanced with the sweet, providing so much more flavour than just having spice on its own. So when I discovered hot honey, I kinda became obsessed with it. Now, I love to put it on everything. Like a drizzle on pizza or dunked in chicken tenders, either way, you can't go wrong. If you want to see how I make my own grain-free oven baked chicken tenders, definitely check out this post! You'll also see how I've dunked it in hot honey for the ultimate best-ever dip.
So let's get to it, and make some delicious pan fried hot honey chicken!
Here is everything you'll need to make this super easy (foolproof) one pan hot honey chicken. And yes, that's right, you'll only need 6 ingredients!
I recommend going with bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs for maximum flavour. You can opt for boneless, but you'll definitely need the skin on. Because we're pan frying the skin and not actually deep frying anything, chicken breast won't work. For two servings, you'll need four thighs in total, just over 1 pound in total.
Oh how I love potatoes. Especially when they're crispy and served alongside chicken. You'll need about 3/4 lb. baby potatoes, quartered. You can try this with sweet potato as well, but may need to adjust the cooking time.
To get that beautiful sear and crust on the chicken thighs, I like to use olive oil when pan frying. You can also try with avocado oil or ghee for a more stable, high-heat option. This is also what will give lots of flavour to the potatoes and the kale.
Yup, all you need to season these chicken thighs with is salt and pepper! You'll also use some on the kale and salt for the potatoes. I told you this was simple!
My personal favourite type of kale is lacinato, otherwise known as Tuscan kale. This is much less tough than regular curly kale and crisps up once the chicken and potatoes are done in all the leftover schmaltzy goodness.
The fun part about this recipe is you can either make your own easy two ingredient hot honey, or purchase one already made. I'll show you how to make it below.
You want to ensure you get a nice crust on the chicken skin, so searing them first skin side down is key. Prior to that, just season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Heat up the skillet over medium heat and add some oil to the pan. I suggest using a large cast iron skillet as this can go from the stovetop to the oven and it'll get your chicken super crispy. Now, go ahead and add the chicken thighs, skin side down and sear them, without flipping or moving too much for 8 to 10 minutes.
Then go ahead and add the potatoes to the pan. Transfer this to the oven to finish cooking for about 20-22 minutes.
Once there is about 10 minutes left, take out the chicken and flip them over to sear the other side.
Remove the pan from the oven and take out the chicken and place on a plate to let them cool slightly and rest, the potatoes should be fork tender and cooked through at this point. You can also remove them from the pan.
Add the kale to the skillet and let them wilt and get a little crispy (work in batches so you don't overcrowd the skillet).
Divide the kale onto plates, top with potatoes. Then add the chicken.
Now is the fun part! Drizzle the hot honey all over the chicken. Serve and enjoy!
There is so much flavour in this sauce and you're going to want to make a batch of it and use it on everything! Depending on how much spice you want, you can control the amount of peppers you use. I don't like things crazy hot, so I only use one serrano pepper, but for me that was enough.
You definitely want to ensure that you're using a good quality honey. No need for the raw stuff as you're going to heat it over a low heat. But the stuff in the 'bee' bottle just won't do. This is the one that I used for this recipe, it's a Canadian brand.
Make the hot honey ahead of time to speed things up. It lasts a while in your pantry (or somewhere else that is cool and away from the sun). It can get very thick as it sits, but it will loosen if you run the jar under hot water. Of course, you can always buy hot honey as well, this brand looks great!
In a small saucepan over low heat, add the honey and serrano pepper and bring to a very low simmer. Once it has begun simmering, lower the heat more and let it sit for up to 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
Strain the pepper from the honey using a sieve into a clean jar. You can also leave the pepper in the honey if you want more heat. Store in the container in a cool, dry place.
Personally, I love serving this hot honey chicken with potatoes and kale because this is simple and can all be prepared in one pan.
But if you're looking for other ideas, here are a few different options:
If you make these hot honey chicken thighs, let me know. Tag me on Instagram, or comment/leave a rating below. I love hearing from you!
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Delicious, sweet, spicy and sticky hot honey chicken thighs made in a cast iron pan with potatoes and kale.
Hot Honey
For the Hot Honey
The hot honey can be made ahead of time and stored in a glass container.
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