Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken is the kind of easy skillet supper you’ll want to keep in your back pocket. Tender chicken is coated in a sweet and savory garlic brown sugar sauce, then cooked until beautifully caramelized and flavorful. Serve it over fluffy rice with steamed vegetables for a simple, satisfying weeknight meal that comes together in no time.

Course Main Course, Poultry

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword brown-sugar-chicken, eacy-chicken-breast-recipes, garlic-brown-sugar-chicken

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 582kcal

Ingredients

4 8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil additional, as needed
3 Tbsp salted butter
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

Pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel. In a shallow bowl, whisk together flour, salt and black pepper. Dust chicken on all sides.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add chicken breasts and let cook until golden brown and cooked through, around 6-8 minutes per side (depending on thickness) or until juices run clear. Adjust time depending on thickness. Remove from pan to a platter, keep warm.
Add butter and garlic to pan. Cook over medium-high heat for 1 minute and butter has melted scraping any brown bits from bottom of skillet.
In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in chicken broth. Lower heat to medium.
Whisk cornstarch mixture into pan along with brown sugar, honey, teriyaki, lime juice, red pepper flakes and ginger. Stir constantly until brown sugar is melted and a sauce forms. (Sauce easily doubles!)
Add chicken back to pan and spoon sauce over chicken. Simmer 1 minute.
Serve immediately with cooked rice, drizzle with sauce and garnish with green onion.

Notes

Chicken - You can adapt this recipe using boneless skinless chicken thighs. Cook until the chicken thighs reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees f to be certain they're cooked through.
Brown Sugar - You can use dark brown sugar for a stronger molasses flavor.
Teriyaki Sauce - The sauce for this chicken has Asian flair thanks to the addition of teriyaki sauce. You can use lower sodium teriyaki sauce or soy sauce, and adjust the amount using more or less to your personal taste. Likewise, if you're family enjoys sauce, the ingredient amounts easily double.
Spice - You can adjust the amount of red pepper flakes to your taste using more for extra heat or less for a milder flavor. You could also use a dash or cayenne or replace with smoked paprika.
Garlic - While fresh garlic works the best for this dish, some days we all need to improvise. You could use 1 teaspoon garlic powder or granulated garlic whisking it into the sauce. Taste and adjust the amount to your personal preference.
Breading - The chicken breasts in this recipe aren't heavily breaded. The light dusting of flour gives it just enough of a coating for crunch, and it adds flavor to the dish overall. It also helps soak up the sauce and coat the chicken pieces beautifully.
Fresh Herbs - You can garnish with chives, thyme or parsley.
Serving Options - This Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken is especially tasty with rice, but is also works well alongside a baked potato and mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles or sliced and served on a salad. You can also pile it on toasted kaiser rolls and enjoy as a sandwich.

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