Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken

Catalina Castravet
By Catalina Castravet
Updated:
Published:
5 from 4 reviews

Asian food recipes Chicken

Cook time Cook time: 15 minutes

Last updated on June 18th, 2021 at 05:49 pm

Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken is one of the fastest, most delicious and flavorful dinners you can make in 30 minutes! Not fried and with no processed sugar!

I love easy Asian inspired dishes that can feed a large family. My other favorite quick, yet delicious Asian recipes are Kung Pao Chicken, General Tso, and Slow Cooker Asian Short Ribs.

Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken

Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken is so much better than takeout! This recipe is super easy and quick to make, and also doesn’t involve any deep-fried chicken or processed sugar. I love my fair share of indulgent recipes, but I also like to balance it and eat healthily. This healthy dish is best served over brown rice. It is definitely one of those crowd-pleasing meals that I always refer to on a busy weeknight.

Also, you can adjust the recipe as you want. Feel free to add some spiciness to it, or garnish with some chopped green onions, or sesame seeds. In addition, feel free to make a large batch and store it for the days to come. Leftover is delicious, and it tastes even better in the next days! 

Why You’ll Love This Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken Recipe:

  • Firstly, it’s very easy to make, perfect for busy weeknights
  • Also, creates delicious leftovers that can be easily packed for next day lunches
  • Can be made with kids as the steps are not complicated
  • Fresh and beautiful flavors
  • In addition, it’s packed with lots of lean protein
  • Healthy – the chicken hasn’t been deep-fried and the meal doesn’t contain any processed sugar

Tips & Tricks on how to make the perfect Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken at home:

  • I always say this, but a good meat centered meal starts with quality meat, so use organic chicken breasts.
  • Also, cornstarch is a key ingredient in here, do not try to replace it with flour, the results will not be the same.
  • Using fresh ginger and garlic will add amazing flavor and taste to the sauce.
  • I am a huge garlic lover, you can add more or less as you please, but in my case, more garlic is always better.
  • In addition, fresh lemon zest will add a punch of flavor so definitely add some and please don’t skip it.
  • You can serve this meal with white or brown rice.
  • Garnishing the dish with sesame seeds and green onions will add a pop of color and interesting texture.

Love easy Chicken Recipes? Check these out:

Tools/Ingredients I used to make the Honey Lemon Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe:

  • Soy Sauce – I like using lite soy sauce in my recipes, as it has less sodium and its easier from me to control the saltiness of the dish, I always buy a large bottle like this one and keep it in my pantry
  • Sesame Seeds – these little guys are perfect in Asian recipes, also sprinkled on salads and fish, a jar will last you a long time
  • Cornstarch – I prefer using cornstarch instead of flour to thicken sauces, and this organic brand is my favorite
Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken is one of the fastest, most delicious and flavorful dinners you can make in 30 minutes! Not fried and with no processed sugar!

Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken

Healthy Honey Lemon Chicken is one of the fastest, most delicious and flavorful dinners you can make in 30 minutes! Not fried and with no processed sugar!
5 from 4 votes
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 626kcal
Author: Catalina Castravet

Ingredients

  • 2 cups brown rice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-2 inch chunks)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Honey Lemon Glaze:

  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • 2 cups orange juice
  • 1/2 lemon (juiced)
  • cup honey (or more)
  • 2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
  • 10 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Garnish:

  • 1 green onion (thinly sliced)
  • ½ teaspoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan add rice and to 2 1/2 cups of boiling water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside when ready.
  • In the meantime, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  • Season chicken with salt and pepper add it to the skillet, cook until golden, stirring and tossing occasionally, about 4-5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and set aside.

Honey Lemon Glaze:

  • Add chicken broth, orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and cornstarch to a medium sauce pan over medium heat, stir to combine. When adding the cornstarch is best to make a slurry to avoid clumps. Mix it with the orange juice in a small bowl and after that add it to the sauce pan.
  • Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, stirring from time to time, about 4-5 minutes.
  • Once the sauce has thickened, pour it over the chicken. Cook on medium low heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring and gently tossing to combine. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve.
  • Serve chicken over brown rice, drizzle with a little more honey lemon glaze. If desired, garnish with sesame seeds and chopped green onion.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

If you want the recipe to taste sweeter, you can add an extra 1/4 cup of honey.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 626kcal | Carbohydrates: 113g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 683mg | Potassium: 787mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 74.4mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2.6mg
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Comments

Leave a reply

Cherri Megasko

I totally agree with you in regards to how high quality, fresh ingredients make so big a difference in a dish. In the herbs alone - the fresh garlic, ginger and lemon zest - I know you can tell the difference compared to dried or granulated versions. This dish also sounds very versatile. I see you have a version with lettuce wraps - I'd love that!

Reply

Censie Sawyer

Well thank you for planning tomorrows dinner for me! YUM! I cannot wait to give this recipe a try. I love that it is healthy and perfect for my family. We love lemon chicken so i know we will enjoy this recipe too!

Reply

lisalisa

OMGoodness this dish looks so good! I love lemon chicken but, I've only had lemon honey chicken from a restaurant. Now you have my attention, I'm going to see about creating this for the family this week. It is such a healthy meal that we can enjoy anytime! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

Reply

Cyn Gagen

This sounds really yummy. My family would really enjoy this recipe. I wish I had seen it yesterday - we had a chicken dish for dinner and could have tried this instead. Yum.

Reply

Ali Rost

Both my husband and I like lemon and this meal looks absolutely wonderful. Plus, I have everything on hand, including fresh parsley from my little herb garden on the kitchen windowsill. The only thing I added were some capers. Such a wonderful recipe, not just for weeknights at home, but to serve to guests as well.

Reply

Aileen Adalid

Oh my goodness, you had me at honey. This looks so good and it even looks so easy to prepare! Thank you for sharing this. I'll be trying my hands on it!

Reply

Linda Price

The recipe says 2 cups of orange juice. Is that correct??

Reply

yes, that is correct

Reply

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