A hands-off dinner is such a help on busy nights, right? Whether you need your two hands to hold a baby, help with homework or finish up work or laundry, it’s great to have a few staple dinners that don’t require your constant attention. This is one of those staples. Honey butter chicken is super moist and delicious! You mix up the sauce, coat the chicken in it and stick it in the oven. Done! No need to marinate ahead of time. You just put it all together at once and get on with your night. The sauce does all the marinating and glazing work for you in the oven. Which leaves me free to focus on my little ones and make sure the crayons are being used on the paper, the play doh isn’t getting ground into the carpet and no one’s taken anyone else’s truck or baby doll. We’ve had some theft problems between M and J recently. When J was little, he didn’t care if his big sister took something he was holding from time to time. Now that he’s almost 2 and knows the word “mine,” it’s a problem. A big one with lots of tears. And sometimes, hair pulling. No good. If you have ideas, I’m open! But back to dinner. Let’s talk about how to serve this up. It’s really versatile, but here’s a few of our favorites.
Serving Ideas:
I like serving this honey butter chicken over brown rice (which also doesn’t require attention and is ready in about the same time). Or sometimes I’m in the mood for a potato (who are we kidding? I’m always in the mood for a potato!) and I pair this with my 10-minute microwave potatoes or some creamy mashed potatoes. Pasta - can’t go wrong. We prefer whole wheat and I think a long noodle like spaghetti would be nice with this chicken, but you can use whatever you like. You could even do polenta or quinoa here. Basically, you just want something to sop up those yummy honey-mustard-butter juices. For a vegetable, steam some broccoli or asparagus, sauté some spinach or just heat up some frozen peas and you’ve got a delicious meal on the table!
This also freezes well, so you can double the recipe and store some away to pull out another night. So go and use your hands for something else – whether it’s wiping away tears and giving hugs, reading a book or pouring a glass of wine (or all 3 in quick succession) – because dinner is taken care of. Also, check out all of my easy chicken recipes. Or my easy chicken recipes with few ingredients - all 5 ingredients or less like this one - for more inspiration. Enjoy! XO, Kathryn Note: This post has been updated with new photos and a recipe video. The original post is from July 2015. The chicken freezes well, so you can pack the extras in a freezer bag to have on hand for a busy night.You also could use chicken thighs or other chicken pieces, but you may need to adjust the cooking time to make sure everything cooks through properly.
