Honey Sriracha Chicken
With this honey sriracha chicken recipe, we marinate the chicken first for flavor and juiciness, grill it, and finish it up with a honey-sriracha baste.
Do you have an easy go-to weeknight dinner? Something you make often because it’s so simple to whip together? Most people do. For me it’s usually chicken because – ONE: I love chicken, and TWO: Chicken cooks up FAST.
When cooking chicken, no matter what cut you’re working with, you need to decide if you’re doing a MARINADE or a RUB. Either way will give you some great flavor. After that, you need to consider the SAUCE. How wet do we want this chicken? How SPICY? How zesty?
For this recipe, I went with a marinade because I’m all into marinades lately. There is nothing like chicken that’s been marinating all day that gets tossed onto a hot grill.
I finish it up with some of the reserved marinade that gets basted on as a sauce, and triples as the final serving sauce, a wonderful combination of honey and sriracha for a blast of sweet and spicy. It’s so good!
Oh baby! Easy and delicious! Let’s talk about how we make the recipe, shall we?
Honey Sriracha Chicken Recipe Steps
First, let’s make our marinade, which will also double as our basting and finishing sauce. You’ll need the following ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sriracha
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Whisk all of the ingredients together, which will make you just over 2 cups. Reserve 1/4 cup to 1 cup of this marinade and set it aside for now, depending on how much you want to have leftover for your basting and sauce. This recipe is very similar to my Spicy BBQ Chicken Marinade Recipe, with a few changes.
With the remain 1 cup or so of marinade, add it to a large bowl or resealable baggie with your chicken. This marinade is good for up to 3 pounds of chicken, but for now I’m only marinading 4 large chicken breasts.
Marinate the chicken for 8 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight for even more flavor. If time is a factor, you can marinate for 30 minutes to get some additional flavor. 30 minutes is enough to impart some flavor.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, heat your grill to medium heat and lightly oil the grates.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill the chicken 5 minutes per side to get a nice sear.
Baste on a few spoonfuls of the reserved honey-sriracha sauce and continue to grill until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F when measured with a meat thermometer. I like to baste a few times while cooking.
I like to use my Thermapen meat thermometer from ThermoWorks (I’m an affiliate). Works great! Looks like it is done cooking!
Remove the chicken from heat and let rest a couple minutes.
Serve with the remaining reserved honey-sriracha sauce. Toss in a few lime wedges if you’d like a bit of a finishing citrus pop.
BOOM! Quick and easy, right? I love that. It’s nice and spicy, definitely satisfying for spicy food lovers.
Recipe Tips
Heat Factor. If you’re looking for a milder version of this recipe, dial back on the amount of sriracha used. If you’re looking for a spicier version, feel free to include more sriracha or add in a bit of your favorite hot sauce. You can also incorporate a bit of spicy chili powder or chili flakes to really up that zest factor.
Alternate Cooking Methods
If you’re unable to or don’t feel like cooking on the grill, you can cook up chicken breast the same way in a hot pan on the stove top. Just heat a pan to medium-high heat and sear the chicken in oil about 5 minutes per side. After this, reduce the heat and cover the chicken. Keep cooking until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 10-15 minutes more.
Or, instead of covering, add the pan to the oven and bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees F, until you reach the same internal temperature.
Baste with more of the honey-sriracha sauce and serve them up! It’s just as great this way!
That’s it, my friends. I hope you enjoy this quick and easy chicken recipe as much as I do. Time to get cooking!
Check Out Some of My Other Popular Recipes
- Mango-Habanero BBQ Chicken
- Grilled Jerk Chicken Wings
- Crispy Grilled Ghost Pepper Wings
- Spicy Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Smoked Gouda and Habanero Hot Sauce
- Grilled Pork Chops with Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
- Grilled Shrimp Po’boys
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
- 1/2 cup sriracha
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 large chicken breasts this recipe can marinate more if needed
- Olive oil as needed
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Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together until well combined. Reserve half of the marinade to use later for basting and serving.
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Marinate your chicken in a baggie or large bowl, sealed, at least 8 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight for even more flavor. If time is a factor, you can marinate for 30 minutes to get some additional flavor.
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Heat your grill to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grates.
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Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill the chicken 5 minutes per side to get a nice sear.
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Baste on a few spoonsful of the reserved honey-sriracha sauce and continue to grill until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F when measured with a meat thermometer. I like to baste a few times while cooking.
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Remove from heat and let rest a couple minutes.
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Serve with the remaining reserved honey-sriracha sauce.
Heat Factor: Mild-Medium, but you'll get plenty of sweet zing from the honey-sriracha marinade and finishing sauce. For more pronounced heat, try adding spicier chili powder or flakes to the marinade/sauce.
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My family flipped for this chicken! I marinated it overnight and it was just perfect. We’re going to put this in our regular rotation.
Outstanding, Susan! I’m super happy you love it! Thanks!