This simple Honey Lime Chicken Thighs recipe only calls for a few ingredients for a delicious sticky glaze: honey, zesty lime, and spicy sriracha!

Are you ready for a super easy recipe that has a whole lot of flavor going on?

Honey Lime Chicken - Served on White Platter with Lime wedges

Pretty much all of the ingredients required for these Sticky Honey Lime Chicken Thighs are already in the title.

The only thing that’s missing is a little bit of sriracha, which I add just to play off the sweetness of the honey.

Sweet + spicy is one of the best flavor pairings of all!

Honey Lime Chicken Thighs - Served on White Platter with Lime wedges

How to Make Honey Lime Chicken Thighs:

For this recipe, I like using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to maximize juiciness and flavor.

Four Chicken Thighs on Wax paper

Start by seasoning chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper, then get them cooking in a nonstick skillet, skin-side down:

Searing Chicken Thighs in Nonstick Skillet

While the chicken cooks, you’re going to make the glaze.

But before we do that, let’s talk about honey for a second.

Honey varies wildly in quality. This article even talks about how most store honey isn’t really honey. I think this article skews pretty far on one side, but seriously, if you’ve ever tasted really cheap commercialized honey against an artisanal high-quality honey, it’s so easy to taste the difference.

Small batch good quality honey is of course more expensive than the mass-produced stuff, but I think the latter isn’t even worth bothering with, making good honey worth the splurge.

“Raw” and “unfiltered” are good words to look for, most of the time. Also, you’ll generally want to steer clear of the bear-shaped bottles.

A close up of a bottle of honey

Moving on with the recipe, zest a fresh lime:

Lime Zest on a Cutting Board

Combine the lime zest with honey and sriracha, and squeeze in the juice:

Honey, Lime, and Sriracha in a Glass Bowl

At this point the chicken should be nice and brown on the skin side, so flip them over to finish cooking:

Browned Chicken Thighs in a nonstick Skillet

When the chicken is around 170 degrees F and mostly cooked through, drain any excess fat from the pan, then add in the honey mixture:

Pouring the Lime Honey Into the Pan

The reason we’re adding the glaze at the end is so the honey doesn’t burn.

Baste the chicken until the liquid turns into a sticky glaze:

Honey Lime Chicken Recipe - Cooking In Skillet with Bubbling Sauce

This dish is great with simple sides like Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Smashed Potatoes.

More Quick Chicken recipes:

Honey Lime Chicken Served on White Platter with Lime wedges

Honey Lime Chicken Thighs

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
 These simple chicken thighs only need a few ingredients for a delicious sticky glaze: honey, zesty lime, and spicy sriracha!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
7
reviews
Leave a Review »

Ingredients

For the Honey Lime Chicken:

  • 1.5 lbs bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (I had 4)
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp sriracha
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • zest of 1 lime
  • juice of 1 lime

Ideas for Side Dishes that Pair Well:

Instructions 

  • Sprinkle the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Place them in a nonstick pan skin side down over medium to medium high heat, and cook for 15 minutes. The idea here it to render the fat a little bit and crisp up the skin to a golden brown color. You don’t want the heat to be so high that the chicken skin burns, so keep an eye on it.
  • In the meantime, whisk together the sriracha, honey, lime zest, and lime juice. Set aside.
  • Once the chicken skin is golden brown, flip the chicken over and cook for another 10 minutes, until the chicken is almost cooked through (170 degrees F). 
  • Pour the honey mixture into the pan and cook for another few minutes, basting the chicken until the liquid thickens into a glaze, until the chicken reaches 180 degrees F. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 243kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 80mg, Sodium: 197mg, Potassium: 296mg, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 115IU, Vitamin C: 2.4mg, Calcium: 12mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Author: Fifteen Spatulas

Post updated in November 2018. Originally published August 2015.