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Home » All Sauce Recipes » Sauces for Chicken

Honey Garlic Sauce

August 11, 2022 by jessica 5 Comments

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I adore Asian-inspired sauces, and this honey garlic sauce is one of my favorites. The soy sauce brings in the umami while obviously the honey brings the sweetness to the otherwise savory sauce. 

honey garlic sauce on a spoon with text overlay for facebook

Table of Contents

  • How to Use It
  • What is Honey Garlic Sauce?
  • Ingredients
  • How to Use Honey Garlic Sauce
  • Variations
  • Storage & Freezing
  • Other Dipping Sauces
  • Honey Garlic Sauce
    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Nutrition

How to Use It

Whether you’re whipping up some wings in the air fryer or want a delicious sauce that coats your dumplings or egg rolls, this sauce delivers on both flavor and texture. It has that sweet flavor that combines with the garlic for a fun funkiness while the cornstarch makes it thick enough to cover anything you want to dip into it. 

Don’t sleep on mixing this to make a new dip, too.

While you can use it on its own, it’s absolutely amazing mixed with dairy concoctions. Make a unique umami-filled dip for chips, veggies, or even pork rinds for family get-togethers or cookouts.

The next time you’re looking for an amazing sauce to douse your proteins in before grilling, or to dip your fried goodness into, look to this honey garlic sauce

overhead shot of honey garlic sauce in a pan

What is Honey Garlic Sauce?

Honey garlic sauce is a delicious dipping sauce that can play multiple roles as a marinade, salad dressing, or marinade. It marries the umami of soy sauce and garlic and the acidity of vinegar with the sweetness of honey and brown sugar. It’s a perfectly balanced sauce.

The flavors of Asian cuisine often combine together saltiness and sweetness to create a combination that works well. The corn starch in this sauce adds some thickness that will help to coat your meat or veg, as well. 

If you’re a lover of sweet and savory combinations, this is going to be your new favorite sauce.

spoon in honey garlic sauce

Ingredients

These simple ingredients combine to make pure saucy perfection!

  • Soy sauce – Using low sodium soy sauce can help keep the salt content down while still packing an umami-filled flavor punch. If you want more salty flavor, add some sea salt.
  • Honey – I prefer to use local honey but you can use whichever brand you prefer. You can also find honeys infused with other flavors if you want to experiment or add your own unique twist.
  • Brown sugar – You can choose to use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. The darker variety will add a bit more molasses-style flavor.
  • Garlic cloves – Using fresh garlic gives this sauce the best flavor — make sure it is finely minced. If you don’t have any on hand, though, you can use garlic powder though it won’t have quite as much garlic flavor.
  • Rice vinegar – It’s better to have this on hand for a more authentic recipe, but you can use other varieties as well.
  • Water – This helps to make it a little viscous so that the cornstarch can do its job to thicken appropriately.
  • Cornstarch – Using cornstarch thickens the sauce to make it the perfect consistency.
honey garlic sauce spooned on tuna

How to Use Honey Garlic Sauce

Of course one of the most common uses for a sauce like this one is to use it for the likes of dipping a spring roll, potstickers or dumplings. However this versatile sauce can be used in so many other ways. 

  • Marinate – Chicken breasts or chicken thighs, pork, beef, and seafood (as well as alternatives for those proteins) are all made better with this garlicky sweet sauce.
  • Sauce your snacks – Switch up your game day wings or meatballs by tossing them in honey garlic sauce. You can also use it on fried veggies like cauliflower, zucchini, or fries.
  • Dress it up – Up your salad game by drizzling this over your salad greens or mixing up an Asian-inspired pasta or rice-based salad.
  • Baste better – Salmon, shrimp, scallops or tuna can all be basted with this garlicky sauce.
  • Improve your dip – Mix this with mayo or plain Greek yogurt for a dip or spread. For a thicker version, mix it with cream cheese. 
  • Try a new twist – Change up your cheese and charcuterie boards by offering this sweet and savory option for drizzling or dipping.
  • Mix it up – Drizzle some of this into your burgers before you make the patties whether they’re beef, turkey, chicken, salmon, or veggie.
  • Give veggies variety – Toss roasted or steamed vegetables in this sauce or marinate raw veggies before grilling or roasting.
bowl of honey garlic sauce

Variations

  • Alternative starch – If you can’t use cornstarch, or don’t have it handy you can use arrowroot, rice flour, or tapioca flour.
  • Nuttiness – Mix in a small amount of peanut sauce for some added umami flavor. 
  • Brighten it – A little lemon goes a long way. Citric acid or any citrus will help to freshen the flavor.
  • Get your onion on – Try adding finely sliced green onions, or your onion of choice, for an added flair of flavor.
  • Spice it up – Heat up this sauce with wasabi or crushed red pepper flakes.
  • Vary the vinegar – Try using apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.
  • Get oily – Add some oil, like sesame oil, to give a bit of bold flavor.
honey garlic sauce on a spoon

Storage & Freezing

Store in an airtight jar for up to 7 days in the refrigerator. If you choose to freeze, it’s easiest to do so in ice cube trays for later use in small portions.

collage of honey garlic sauce for pinterest

Other Dipping Sauces

  • Yum Yum Sauce
  • Cocktail Sauce
  • Coconut Shrimp Dipping Sauce
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bowl of ginger sauce with dumplings
Chili’s Honey Mustard Sauce
If you're looking to recreate Chilis honey mustard sauce then this is the recipe for you. This honey mustard sauce will be your new favorite!
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Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce Recipe
This EASY Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce is a heady sauce that is more tangy than it is spicy. The sugars and fruit make it sticky and sweet!
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bowl of honey garlic sauce with text overlay for pinterest
honey garlic sauce on a spoon

Honey Garlic Sauce

If you want a sweet and savory sauce for your proteins and vegetables, this EASY Honey Garlic Sauce recipe is the sauce for you!
5 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Sauce
Cuisine: American
Keyword: honey garlic sauce
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1 cup
Calories: 566kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 5-6 large garlic cloves finely minced
  • 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

  • Add the soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, garlic and rice vinegar to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir well.
  • When the sauce starts to bubble and sugar dissolves, reduce to low heat.
  • In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the water and cornstarch and then stir into the honey garlic sauce. Heat and stir until the sauce starts to thicken and become glossy.
  • Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.
  • If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.

Nutrition

Calories: 566kcal | Carbohydrates: 136g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 0.5g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 4608mg | Potassium: 601mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 117g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 3mg

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MJ

    August 15, 2022 at 9:43 pm

    5 stars
    I was looking for a new sauce to switch up our wings, and had everything I needed to make this recipe. It turned out delicious! Can’t wait to make it again!

    Reply
  2. Tavo

    August 15, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    5 stars
    we used it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls and it totally worked! delicious and simple!

    Reply
  3. rebecca

    August 15, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    5 stars
    yum! love the sweet and salty flavors in this sauce

    Reply
  4. Caitlin

    August 15, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    5 stars
    This is my new favorite sauce for the summer – so delicious and it’s great on just about everything!

    Reply
  5. Gina Abernathy

    August 16, 2022 at 12:01 am

    5 stars
    This honey garlic sauce is now one of my favorite sauces. Full of flavors I adore. I love them over my dumplings.

    Reply

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My Sauce Recipes provides a wide array of savory and dessert sauces perfect for any level of home cook. Jessica is a cookbook author and Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School certified recipe developer. See her work in Parade Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Mashed, AllRecipes AllStars and The Daily Meal Food + Travel and more!

For all things savory, make sure to visit our sister site, SavoryExperiments.com.

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