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Enjoy this Easy Spicy Honey Lime Chicken Thigh Recipe made with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The chicken cooks quickly and is finished in a delicious garlic infused sauce that’s sticky, sweet and spicy, with a tart citrus tang from the lime juice. We’ve got so much flavor going on here … nothing boring about this chicken dinner!
We were so thrilled with our Spicy Honey Lime Shrimp recipe, I knew it would be terrific adapted for juicy chicken thighs. To add a little more depth to the flavor, we brought soy sauce to the party which turned out to be the perfect compliment for the sweet honey and fresh lime juice. The spicy base comes from the dry Sriracha Seasoning but if you can’t find it in your store, feel free to use your favorite spice blend. If you’re on Amazon you can find the seasoning there too. Check out the link at the bottom of this post.
These chicken thighs are best cooked in a non-stick skillet to avoid burning the sauce as it caramelizes.
If you can wait to get the chicken to the table, it’s terrific served over rice or pasta, basically anything that will help you sop up every drop of the zesty sauce. Crusty bread works great too! Served with a side of steamed broccoli or oven roasted green beans, this chicken thigh recipe is super satisfying and very delicious!
Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or cilantro leaves and sliced lime wedges.
Do you know you can freeze chopped fresh herbs? I really hate to waste food and if I buy a bundle of fresh parsley or cilantro at the store, I want to use it all before it goes bad. If you have some in your vegetable drawer too, chop up the leaves and dump them directly into a airtight freezer safe container. The herbs don’t even stick together once frozen and even retain a good bit of their beautiful color. Whenever you need a garnish or a few tablespoons of fresh herbs, check the freezer for your stash!
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- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- juice of 1 lime, about 1 1/2 tablespoons
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha dry seasoning, more or less to taste (or substitute your favorite seasoning blend)
- 1 3/4 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8 thighs) (chicken breasts work well too but need to cook longer)
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed chili pepper flakes (optional)
- chopped fresh parsley for garnish
- sliced lime wedges for serving
- Combine the garlic, soy sauce, honey, lime juice, salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Stir to combine, set aside.
- Sprinkle both sides of the chicken thighs with the dry Sriracha seasoning blend.
- In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and heat until shimmering. Once the skillet is hot add the chicken thighs in a single layer. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides, 4-5 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic lime sauce and cook the chicken, turning and stirring occasionally, until done all the through, 7-10 minutes. The sauce will thicken and caramelize and reduce slightly.
- Sprinkle the chicken with crushed chili pepper flakes and parsley, if desired. Serve over your favorite cooked pasta or rice. Garnish with fresh lime slices if desired.
Use a large non-stick skillet so the sauce doesn’t burn as it caramelizes
Kitchen essentials – we love a big non-stick skillet for this recipe – click on the photo for more information:
If you purchase something from Amazon after following my affiliate link, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which I use to pay for web hosting and services for this blog. Thanks for supporting SRFD!
K M S says
January 29, 2019 at 12:20 pmMine did not come out as pretty as yours but it was so delicious! Thank you!
Tricia Buice says
January 29, 2019 at 7:13 pmThank you for the feedback Katy! So glad you enjoyed it.
Tiffany says
December 12, 2018 at 8:59 pmThank you so much for this recipe! As a young adult that just moved out of my parents house this recipe was easy to follow and turned out amazing! I marinated the chicken in the honey garlic sauce for about 2 hours before cooking and it really added to the flavor.
Tricia Buice says
December 13, 2018 at 7:19 amCongratulations on your big adventure Tiffany! So glad you picked this recipe to try. It’s perfect for young adults, who are working and need something easy and quick. Best wishes for a fabulous new year!
Marylyn says
October 3, 2018 at 2:59 pmI made this for lunch,doubled the recipe so we can have it for dinner too. I didn’t have the sriracha powder so I used the crushed red pepper flakes , added onion powder and sweet paprika, cut up the chicken into bite size pieces before cooking added the sauce per recipe and set it aside. I stir fried shredded cabbage, carrots and sweet peppers and seasoned it with oyster sauce and served the chicken over the cooked vegetables. For dinner I served the chicken over cooked Asian vermicelli. Both were super delicious.
Tricia Buice says
October 3, 2018 at 4:44 pmWow Marylyn – this sounds wonderful! I love that you cut the chicken up and I adore cabbage – this is just brilliant! Thanks for sharing. Hope you’ll get some sriracha and try that next time – such great flavor. Thanks again.
Heather says
August 22, 2018 at 9:56 amCould I cook this in the oven instead? If so, how long do you think the chicken would need to cook?
Thank you!
Tricia Buice says
August 23, 2018 at 6:55 amHi Heather! I have not tried cooking this in the oven. But I would think they need 20 to 25 minutes at about 350F. Not sure how this would work if you’re not stirring the sauce around. Also, I like to make this in a non-stick skillet so the sauce does not burn. I don’t think this will work as well in the oven, but perhaps it’s worth a try. Good luck and thanks!
Michele says
August 11, 2018 at 3:03 pmI made these to day. Yummy! I did not have the dry sriracha. I used Tajín Classico salsa en polvo with lime. I added fresh grated ginger root to the garlic honey mixture. Served the chicken and sauce over rice noodles garnished with cilantro and lime wedges. Served with cole slaw made with grated ginger root, red onion and lime olive oil dressing. Delish!
Tricia Buice says
August 11, 2018 at 4:22 pmSounds great Michele – thanks for letting us know! I like the addition of ginger – yum!!!
Alberta says
July 4, 2018 at 8:59 pmI made this tonight for dinner. I didn’t have any sriracha powder so I made my own chicken rub. I doubled the sauce part of the dish and made steamed vegetables and poured the sauce over the vegetable mix and cut the chicken for on top. My family loved it. Thank you.
Tricia Buice says
July 5, 2018 at 6:30 amThank you so much for the feedback Alberta – my family loves this too and I love that you included vegetables in the sauce. Spicy, sweet and juicy – all the things I love about this chicken!
George says
June 24, 2018 at 8:02 amThanks for the recipe, it was a quick and delicious meal! I couldn’t locate the dried sriraccha seasoning so I just used the sauce from a bottle and it was tasty. For the sauce, I added a small amount of corn starch to improve the thickening and sautéed onions and mushrooms for flavor.
Meegan says
June 13, 2018 at 3:02 pmI just finished making this recipe. It smells lovely, but my sauce didn’t thicken or caramelize. I wonder if I did something wrong. I tried following the recipe as closely as possible. The only difference is the lime juice. I just used lime juice, I didn’t squeeze it from a lime.
Tricia Buice says
June 13, 2018 at 6:30 pmHi Megan – I’m not sure what happened but maybe it was the bottled lime juice. I know honey varies greatly in thickness so maybe it just needed to boil down a little longer. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Please try again – and cook until it thickened. Thanks for trying the recipe!
K. Hobson says
May 25, 2018 at 3:48 pmI made this with skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into fourths, because it’s what I had. I didn’t have sriracha powder, but used some sauce. It seemed bland to me so I also added minced onion, lots of fresh minced garlic and grated about an inch of fresh ginger in the sauce. At the end it still seemed a little bland so I added some chili pepper flakes and more honey and lime. If I make this again I will probably use thighs instead of breasts, add some sweet pepper strips and more onion, maybe broccoli, even more fresh garlic and hot peppers. It was tasty, but I’ve made better and this can be improved. I don’t mean to sound critical, but I’ve cooked for over 40 years.
Tricia Buice says
May 27, 2018 at 7:12 pmThanks for the comment K. I think you would have found it to be much more flavorful if you had used the chicken thighs and the powered Sriracha seasoning. It is pretty intense and so good with the lime juice and honey. Your “new” recipe sounds great too – I may just have to give your version a try. Thanks for sharing and for reading the blog.
Marlene says
May 11, 2018 at 1:39 pmMade this last night and Mr. Fussy deemed it a keeper! A nonstick pan is a must; the sauce is sticky and cleanup would be tough otherwise! I didn’t have the dry Sriracha so used a different rub mixed with regular Sriracha and marinated the chicken for about an hour. (I tried to make the dry Sriracha in the oven but must have used too much/spread too thick, because much of it doesn’t crumble well, even after longer baking…it’s pretty sticky.)
Tricia Buice says
May 12, 2018 at 6:45 amWooohooo! Thank you so much Marlene Sounds like you adapted it well. Sorry the Sriracha powder didn’t turn out – try making it really thin like in the photos. Marinating sounds wonderful too – great adaptation! Thanks for the feedback, so happy you and Mr. Fussy liked it.
Julia Bita says
May 2, 2018 at 10:35 pmHi there, what are the calories for 2 porttions of chicken thighs? I want to try this however I just started a fairly strict diet following my calorie intake. Thank you!
Tricia Buice says
May 3, 2018 at 7:56 amHi Julia – I haven’t added that feature to my site yet – but I’m working on it! Good luck on your diet, it’s a life long battle for me 🙂
Sandy says
April 29, 2018 at 9:51 pmI made this recipe tonight. What a great combination of flavors – it was a hit!! Next time I may garnish with sliced green onions.
Fab recipe – thank you!!
Tricia Buice says
April 30, 2018 at 7:28 amYeah! Thanks for the feedback Sandy and for trying one of our recipes. We love this delicious chicken and serve it often. Thanks again … so glad you liked it!
Lizzie says
April 24, 2018 at 11:50 pmRecipe looks great, thanks! But … a question … you suggest using a non-stick pan … but your pictures look like stainless steel …? Or maybe you found non-stick that looks like stainless? I use only stainless but will give this recipe a whirl because it looks so dang good!
Tricia Buice says
April 25, 2018 at 5:05 pmHaha – I made this chicken in a large non-stick skillet but moved it to the stainless steel for photos because the sauce shows up better in a lighter color pan. That’s the only reason they were not photographed in the nonstick pan – mine is very dark. I like that you’re paying attention and hope you’ll give this recipe a try! This chicken is so good 🙂
Sarah says
April 23, 2018 at 4:54 pmHi Tricia,
Do you have the nutritional information for this dish (including carbs)? It sounds great!
Tricia Buice says
April 24, 2018 at 9:05 amHi Sarah – I do not have it calculated for this recipe. I am trying to get that added to my recipes. This recipe is a keeper and I hope you’ll give it a try.
Els says
April 18, 2018 at 10:02 pmThe chicken thighs were tasty and we loved the spicy flavor. The sauce thickens as described and was served over a rice blend. Even with the extra lime wedges the sauce seemed a bit too sweet. Not sure how to fix that. Any ideas?
Tricia Buice says
April 22, 2018 at 3:38 amHi Els. Thanks for the feedback. I guess you could decrease the amount of honey, but of course that will affect the sauce and how thick it becomes. If you add more lime juice that will also thin the sauce. We didn’t think it was very sweet, so maybe you had better honey?
Rachel says
April 18, 2018 at 1:10 amJust made this tonight for dinner! Yummy & got good reviews to save
the recipe!!
Thank you for sharing it!
Tricia Buice says
April 22, 2018 at 3:40 amThank you Rachel! We love this chicken and it’s so easy to make too. A real winner all the way around. Thanks again for trying our recipe 🙂
Val says
April 8, 2018 at 12:51 pmThis looks delicious! Do you have the nutritional info for this recipe?
Tricia Buice says
April 8, 2018 at 1:12 pmHi Val – no I don’t sorry.
Susan says
April 5, 2018 at 1:07 pmI made something very similar last night for dinner, although I used lemon juice and some brown sugar too. I absolutely love this type of chicken! Your photos are making my mouth water, Tricia 😉
Tricia Buice says
April 6, 2018 at 7:02 amHi Susan – I bet the lemon was really good, and brown sugar …yum! We love this chicken too. So easy and delicious 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend!
handmade by amalia says
April 5, 2018 at 1:02 amAnother wonderful recipe, Tricia, it looks quite delicious.
Amalia
xo
Tricia Buice says
April 5, 2018 at 7:07 amThanks so much Amalia. Hope you are doing great!
Karen says
April 4, 2018 at 6:37 pmI tried the Spicy Honey Lime Chicken Thigh recipe and it was delicious.
It wasn’t as pretty as yours, but tasted very good. Thanks for the recipes on your blog.
Tricia Buice says
April 5, 2018 at 7:08 amThank you so much for letting us know Karen! Our readers like to know how it goes. I really, really love this recipe and think about making it all the time – haha. Glad you liked it too and thanks for giving it a try!
Monique says
April 4, 2018 at 5:57 pmWe love thighs to and everything Asianish! Will look for the spice..although my sauce seems to last forever..you?:)
Tricia Buice says
April 4, 2018 at 6:07 pmHi Monique! If you have the sauce you can make this. Squirt some onto a baking pan lined with parchment or a silpat mat. Bake it in the oven at about 200F for an hour or so until it’s dried out. Crush it up and you have Sriracha seasoning!
Pam says
April 4, 2018 at 12:38 pmGreat flavors here, Tricia and love that spiciness! I have been looking at the grocer’s for the Sriracha Seasoning, with no luck. Guess I will go to Amazon and look now. Thanks for this recipe, it sounds like a keeper! Take care
Tricia Buice says
April 4, 2018 at 2:54 pmThanks Pam – I wish everybody had Sriracha seasoning, there are lots of different brands out there. Must be a southern thing? Hope you get some and give this a try – so good!
John / Kitchen Riffs says
April 4, 2018 at 10:39 amGosh, these look so full of flavor! Who could resist? Such a pretty dish, too. Great recipe — thanks so much. 🙂
Tricia Buice says
April 4, 2018 at 2:53 pmThanks John – we’re really loving spicy foods lately!
marcie says
April 3, 2018 at 3:49 pmWhat a mouthwatering recipe Tricia! I love these flavors and can’t wait to try this delicious chicken!
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 4:29 pmThank you Marcie – I know you’re going to love it as much as we do 🙂
Liz says
April 3, 2018 at 9:53 amI always have chicken in the freezer and many nights I repeat the same dishes over and over! SO glad to have this delicious recipe to try—-and an excuse to pick up some sriracha seasoning!!!
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 11:15 amThanks Liz – I bet you’re going to love this one 🙂
Gerlinde says
April 2, 2018 at 3:38 pmI am a huge fan of chicken thighs and are always looking for new recipes. This one looks delicious, I have to try it.
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 7:56 amThanks Gerlinde – if you like a full flavored chicken dish, this is the one – so easy too!
sue | theviewfromgreatisland says
April 2, 2018 at 12:27 pmI love spicy food and I haven’t seen that Sriracha seasoning, I’m going to look for it today!
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 7:56 amMe too – this is a winner for sure!
2pots2cook says
April 2, 2018 at 10:01 amYes; I freeze herbs as well. This is perfect to use four seasons; also, pinned this lovely idea for week dinner. Thank you so much !
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 7:56 amThank you!
Larry says
April 2, 2018 at 9:51 amLooks awesome Tricia
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 7:55 amThanks Larry 🙂
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers says
April 2, 2018 at 7:53 amLove that you brought this great sauce to chicken, too! Looks perfect 🙂 Can’t wait to try this!
Tricia Buice says
April 3, 2018 at 7:55 amThanks Jennifer – this is sooo good!
[email protected]'s Recipes says
April 2, 2018 at 5:59 amChick thighs taste so tender and yummy even simply poached in ginger/onion water, let alone with a spicy, sweet and tangy sauce like yours…heavenly!
Tricia Buice says
April 2, 2018 at 6:49 amThanks Angie! My husband wants to know how often we can eat these delicious chicken thighs – so we will have it often!
Chris Scheuer says
April 2, 2018 at 5:53 amHappy Monday Tricia! This is not only a gorgeous looking dinner, the flavors sound fabulous. Yes, I would want to enjoy every little drop of that wonderful sauce!
Tricia Buice says
April 2, 2018 at 6:48 amThanks Chris! Hope you get to make it soon, it has so much delicious flavor. Thank you!