Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Wok or medium sized pot
Ingredients
Chicken & Batter
- 16 oz chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
- ½ cup rice flour, see note 1
- ½ cup potato starch
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup water, adjust as needed for batter consistency
- Neutral oil, for frying
Honey Butter Sauce
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp minced ginger
Optional Garnishes
- Sesame seeds
- Scallions
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine rice flour, potato starch, salt, and water. Mix until you get a batter that is slightly thinner than pancake batter.
- Add the chicken thighs to the batter and coat thoroughly.
- Heat oil in a pot to 375°F (190°C). Fry the chicken for about 8 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Remove and let rest briefly.
- In a separate pan, melt the butter. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and minced ginger, then simmer until the sauce reduces slightly to your desired thickness.
- Add the fried chicken to a bowl, pour over the sauce, and toss until evenly coated.
- Serve in a bowl and optionally garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Table of Contents
- Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe
- Introduction
- How This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe Gets So Crispy
- Why The Sauce Is So Important For This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe
- Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Honey Butter Fried Chicken
- What to Serve with Honey Butter Fried Chicken
- How to Store Honey Butter Fried Chicken
- Honey Butter Fried Chicken Substitutions
- What to Make Next
Introduction
Everyone always has that one fried chicken recipe that they love or want to make, and this Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe is mine! For me, this Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe has a perfect balance of crispy batter and sauce, and it’s not nearly as hard to make as you’d expect. Deep frying sounds scary, but it’s one of the easiest and tastiest ways to cook your food. I’ve made a lot of fried chicken, but this Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe is my personal favorite because of the crunch and the complexity of the sauce.
How This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe Gets So Crispy
This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe is the result of rigorous testing to get the lightest, yet crispiest texture. The batter is made with rice flour and potato starch, which creates a very light coating, but becomes golden and crunchy once fried. Because the batter is a wet batter, it’ll stick evenly to your bites of chicken and give you a consistent, crunchy exterior on every piece. Additionally, frying at a consistent 375°F allows the chicken to fully cook through, and letting the chicken rest after frying helps the crust set, which keeps it crunchy even after the sauce is added. Sometimes the chicken is still crunchy after I store it in the fridge!
Why The Sauce Is So Important For This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe
In my opinion, the sauce is what makes this Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe so good. The butter makes the sauce luscious and rich, while the honey adds a slight bit of sweetness and helps the sauce reduce into a thick glaze. It’s not super sticky or super runny, which is what allows it to cling to the crispy exterior of the chicken without making it soggy. And finally, the ginger perfumes the entire dish with its flavor that enhances the overall dish.
Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe Ingredients
Chicken thighs + batter (rice flour, potato starch, salt, water) – The chicken thighs stay juicy and tender, even when fried, while the batter creates a light, crispy coating that gets golden brown.
Sauce (butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger) – A combination that is sticky, salty, and coats the chicken perfectly.
Optional garnishes (sesame seeds, scallions) – Add texture and makes the dish pretty!
How to Make Honey Butter Fried Chicken
In a bowl, mix together rice flour, potato starch, salt, and water until you get a batter slightly thinner than pancake batter.
Add the chicken to the batter and coat thoroughly.
Heat oil to 375°F and fry the chicken until golden brown and crispy, about 8 minutes, then remove and let rest briefly.
In a separate pan, melt the butter and add soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and ginger. Simmer the sauce until it thickens slightly.
Add the fried chicken to a bowl and pour the sauce in. Toss until evenly coated.
Serve immediately and optionally garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
What to Serve with Honey Butter Fried Chicken
This Honey Butter Fried Chicken is crispy and rich, so pairing it with something will always enhance those flavors. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Steamed white rice. A bowl of white rice soaks up that extra sauce and is a perfect textural contrast to the crispy fried chicken.
- Pickled vegetables. You can make your own by combining rice vinegar, salt, and sugar, but I also like to use pre-prepared pickled jalapenos as well!
- Coleslaw. Something cold and acidic like coleslaw is perfect to serve with this!
How to Store Honey Butter Fried Chicken
Like all fried chicken, this Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe is best eaten fresh while it’s still crispy, but you can still place the leftovers in the fridge if needed. As always, I like to keep it in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Here are a couple of ways to reheat your Honey Butter Fried Chicken:
- Air fryer or oven. When reheating this way, air fry or bake at 300°F (149°C) for 10 minutes to avoid burning the sauce.
- Microwave. While the most convenient, it will be hard to restore that crunchiness, but the flavor will still be there! To reheat properly, heat for 2 minutes at medium-high power.
Honey Butter Fried Chicken Substitutions
This Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe can be adjusted to whatever you have available. A few of my favorite substitutions are:
- Chicken breast. A leaner option that is classically used in a lot of fried chicken recipes.
- All-purpose flour. This can be used instead of rice flour and potato starch in a 1:1 ratio, but the coating will be heavy. I highly recommend using rice flour and potato starch if you can find them.
- Brown sugar. A great substitute for honey that will still give that sauce its signature sweetness and reduce the sauce into a sticky glaze.
What to Make Next
Need something to serve with this? You’ll love my Garlic Noodles!
Want another fried chicken dish? Try my Korean Fried Chicken Tenders!
Feeling like rice instead? Cook my Garlic Pork Belly Fried Rice!
