Grab a fork, and get ready to dig into this luscious Cajun Honey Chicken! It’s loaded with flavor and ready in only a half hour. Just right for busy nights!
Hi everyone, it’s Amanda from The Chunky Chef. I’m excited to be here today, sharing my recipe for the most insanely flavorful Cajun honey-glazed chicken bowls! As a busy Mom of two, I LOVE easy meals. Most nights, I’m lucky if I can summon up the energy to cook dinner, let alone a long, involved one. That’s where I love meals like this one! Marinate the chicken all day, so you need to plan a little, but once it’s time to cook the chicken, it’s easy peasy.
One unique thing about this cajun honey chicken recipe is that you’ll be braising the chicken in the marinade! Just pour the bag’s whole contents right into a large skillet and let the chicken and marinade simmer away. This method makes the “glaze” on this dish amazing… the liquid cooks down, and what’s left to coat the chicken is a sticky, finger-lickin’ good glaze.
Cajun Cuisine
Cajun cuisine is a sort of food that originated in Louisiana in the United States of America and was inspired by rural French cuisine. It is recognized for its spice and flavor. The French-Canadian Cajun immigrants from Nova Scotia arrived in America.
The “trinity” of onions, green bell peppers, celery, and a special spice mixture known as Cajun seasoning, were used to flavor the seafood, poultry, pork, and game meat prepared in the peasant manner. The spice blend is now so well-liked that people use it worldwide. It is a robust blend of hot and powerful flavors. Furthermore, it is a flexible component that may be utilized in vegan and non-vegetarian cuisines.
This sweet, moist, spicy Honey Cajun Chicken spice up your weeknight dinner. It is flavorful, juicy, rich, and super delicious. A simple family supper and the best thing is that you can throw the leftovers in a salad for lunch the following day. Then, slice it and use it the next day as taco, burrito, or fajita stuffing. The hot honey sauce has the ideal ratio of sweet to heat in its flavor. The good thing is that you may modify the spice level according to your preferences.
These Hot Honey Chicken Bowls are for you if you’re searching for a new, unique weekday meal recipe that’s also quick, simple, and healthful. It was a delightful get-together. Similar to insanely yummy, as if unless you try this honey mustard chicken, you haven’t had honey mustard chicken at all. Marinate the chicken in honey, orange juice, brown sugar, yellow and Dijon mustard, and Cajun spices to soak up all the flavors. It is also covered in the most scrumptious Creamy Cajun Honey Mustard Sauce.
Vegetables and Seasoning in Cajun
You can use any veggies that you’d like for this recipe… I chose some red bell pepper, sliced jalapenos, and a few orange slices. And, of course, I garnished with some extra freshness from sliced green onions and parsley. There’s some heat to this meal, but you can customize that to your tastes by using less Cajun seasoning and/or omitting the sliced jalapenos :)
I like to use this recipe as a great excuse to use up some leftover rice, like perhaps maybe some arroz verde? But it’s also amazing over some fluffy quinoa or even with no grains for a low-carb option.
Another great way to enjoy this recipe is to grill or saute the chicken as you would for any other recipe, but pour the marinade into a saucepan and simmer it until it boils down into a thicker sauce. Reusing the marinade that had raw chicken in it is okay for both versions since you’re heating it. That will kill any bacteria, rendering it safe to eat :) Once you boil down the marinade, you can brush it over the cooked chicken tenders. This method would be GREAT with kebabs! Just skewer the marinated chicken, peppers, and maybe some onion slices… grill until cooked through, and baste with the sauce!
I hope you all give this cajun honey chicken a try this season… it’s perfect for the warmer months ahead!
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Cajun Honey Chicken Bowls
Grab a fork, and get ready to dig into this luscious Cajun Honey Chicken! It’s loaded with flavor and ready in only a half hour. Just right for busy nights!
- Total Time: 8 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into strips (chicken tenders can be used instead)
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and sliced
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and sliced
- orange slices cut in half
- lime wedges for garnish, optional
- 2 green onions sliced, for garnish (optional)
- fresh parsley minced, for garnish (optional)
- Cajun Honey Mustard Marinade
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup orange juice (fresh is best if possible)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons coarse dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 3/4 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Trim chicken breasts of fat, and slice into strips to resemble chicken tenders.
- Add marinade ingredients to a zip-top plastic bag and whisk to combine. Add chicken to bag, and seal, pressing out any excess air. Smoosh the bag around a bit to make sure all the chicken pieces are coated in the marinade. Place bag on a plate and refrigerate up to 8 hours.
- Pour entire contents of the bag into a large skillet and heat over MED-HIGH heat until the mixture comes to a bubble. Reduce heat to MED-LOW and simmer, uncovered, for about 25-30 minutes, until most of the liquid cooks off, leaving a loose glaze.
- The last 5 minutes or so, add in the sliced bell pepper, jalapeño and orange slices and let them cook in the glaze.
- Remove chicken, veggies and oranges to a plate. Serve over rice, quinoa, or as is for a low carb option. If desired, garnish with sliced green onions, minced parsley, and a lime wedge.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 480
Nutrition Information Cajun Honey Chicken
Per serving:
| Calories | 279 kcal | Carbohydrates | 9 g |
| Protein | 33 g | Fat | 37 g |
| Saturated Fat | 21 g | Potassium | 502 mg |
| Iron | 3mg | Sodium | 1322 mg |
| Vitamin A | 1845IU | Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 5 g | Vitamin C | 5 mg |
| Cholesterol | 149 mg | Calcium | 479 mg |
Why You Love Honey Cajun Chicken Recipe?
- Strong flavors. The flavors of the sweet and tangy mix so well together. Each bite is extra crispy and flavorful.
- A great choice for a family supper.
- Perfect for dinner preparation.
- A fun family activity is cooking.
- And it’s just so comfortable and perfect for any day.
Here are more rice bowl dinners you’ll love!
Storage Tips
Serve: The remaining Cajun honey butter may be served with a spoon or drizzled over the platter.
Storage: For up to four days, keep leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container. If necessary, leftovers can be frozen, but the texture may change.
To Reheat: Warm up leftovers in the microwave until completely heated. Furthermore, you can fully reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Ellie says
After reading the comments, I cooked mine differently than directed. While I marinated the chicken, I sautéed the onion and peppers with one T of brown sugar to caramelize, then I added the chicken to the hot skillet using a slotted spoon and added paprika to get that nice dark color. This worked perfectly and there wasn’t too much sauce to boil off. Looks like the picture. The meal is pretty good. I have a little one so I opted out of jalapeño and added pineapple and it’s delicious.
Rosie says
Hi, Ellie! Great! That sounds really delicious, would you like to write some recipes for our community? If you have some favorite recipes feel free to contact me by email and we can work something out. Thanks!
Elijah Robinson says
I just made it with a bone in leg, thigh and breast in a skillet. 15 minutes simmered on one side, flip and do the same, 10mins in I added in jalapeños and oranges slice then put it under the broiler for 10. It probably could’ve used a bit longer or been closer to the coil as the skin wasn’t too crispy but the sauce was delicious. A little too sweet, could use less brown sugar but the over all mix is good. I had it on white rice next to steamed broccoli. Thanks for the recipe!
Melissa says
I made this tonight and it was SO good!!
Mary says
IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING TO MAKE THE RECIPE WORK TRY THIS.
I followed the recipe as normal, up until cooking the chicken. When the chicken was cooked all the way through, I took it out since the glaze hadn’t formed and I didn’t want to overcook. Once I did, I put the marinade on high and brought it to a boil while constantly stirring. Once it started boiling, I turned it to medium-high heat. I let that boil off until I actually got a glaze. The original recipe calls for just simmering, but you can’t reduce a liquid without some boiling going on.
Austin says
I made this tonight and it looks absolutely nothing like the picture. No thick, dark sauce like the picture shows. More of a yellow, runny slurry. Pretty deceiving…
Jessica says
Made this dish tonight. Unfortunately, looks nothing like the picture. Glaze did not thicken at all.
Shay says
I too made this and the sauce looks nothing like the picture. My sauce was a yellow color and was a tad bit to sweet to me. May try again with less sugar and without the extra sauce.
Jo says
I also made this tonight, tipping in all the marinade to “thicken up” and it came out more like a curry or honey mustard chicken. I’ve spent a good portion of tonight at the dinner table wondering where I went wrong with the recipe lol…
Taylor says
Would you be able to use this recipe in the crock pot?
Jenni says
Just made this tonight and my boyfriend raved about the glaze! I forgot to put the marinade together this morning so it only sat for an hour before cooking but it is so yummy still! Will be making again!
WANDA says
I LOVE ALL YOUR RECIPES, TRYING THE SHRIMP FRIED RICE NOW.
LOVE ALL MEXICAN. FOOD. THANK YOU
Andi Gleeson says
Thank you so much, Wanda! xoxo
Jasmin says
I know it’s been over a year but as I’m trying the recipe out the sauce has thickened but it is not glazing, I’ve been cooking it longer than the recipe calls for because I read in the comments that it will eventually glaze but now i feel like I’m over cooking the chicken
Steffany says
Hi there. I am planning to make this recipe this weekend. I have what is probably a stupid question. For the orange slices, do you remove the peel? It’s hard to tell in the picture.
Andi Gleeson says
Hi, Steffany! You can leave the peels on. The orange slices add orange flavor to the finished dish but aren’t really to eat. I hope you enjoy it!
Malorie says
This recipe is so super tasty! I have made it twice in 2 weeks! My sauce never thickens up or gets that rich, dark color to it- it stays thin and watery. Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?
Andi Gleeson says
Thank you, Malorie! This is Amanda’s recipe, and I haven’t had a chance to make it yet. I asked her if she can weigh in on your question. Thanks for your patience :)
Key says
I just made this dish last night and it was a hit! The flavors are wonderful and I will definitely be making this again in the near future. I used jasmine rice because I love the taste of it over regular white rice. Next time I will also make more sauce because that is what makes this dish so amazing! Thanks for posting this recipe!
Andi - The Weary Chef says
So glad you enjoyed it, Key! Thank you!
Karly says
This looks finger lickin’ good, for real. And it won’t take me all day, so I’m totally sold. Love this!
Andi Gleeson says
Thanks so much, Karly!
Lucy - (Recipes @ Globe Scoffers) says
This looks delicious! So fresh and colourful. Thanks for sharing ?
Andi Gleeson says
Thank you, Lucy!!
Nutmeg Nanny says
Oh my goodness! These bowls looks PACKED full of flavor!
Sabrina says
I love cajun dishes! This looks delicious!
Katalina @ Peas and Peonies says
The flavors in this chicken dish are outstanding! love it!
Andi Gleeson says
Glad you like it! Thanks!
TidyMom says
I’m always looking for new ways to fix chicken, my family will love this!!
Andi Gleeson says
I’m happy you like it, Cheryl! Thanks!
Kitty says
That marinade looks so tasty! Love orange with chicken!
Andi Gleeson says
Thanks, Kitty! I love savory citrus dishes too :)
Andi Gleeson says
Me too, Kitty. Thanks!
Liz says
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Andi Gleeson says
Thanks for stopping by, Liz!
Kacey @ The Cookie Writer says
Amanda, I already have a hard enough time seeing all your food on your website, but now you have me drooling over here as well! Seriously awesome dish!!
Andi Gleeson says
Amanda needs to tone it down with all her talent. She’s making the rest of us look bad ;) I’m kidding. I agree that her recipes are amazing!