Honey, Lime & Sriracha Chicken Skewers
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These chicken skewers marinated in honey, lime juice and Sriracha taste every bit as good as they look.
These chicken skewers marinated in honey, lime juice, and Sriracha are every bit as good as they look — and if you haven’t tried Sriracha, the Asian hot sauce named after the coastal city of Si Racha in Thailand, this is the perfect recipe to taste just how delicious it is. Made from sun-ripened chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt, Sriracha is used in soups, sauces, noodle dishes, omelets, burgers or anything else to add a delicious spicy taste. It has become so popular in the States that you can find it in the international section of most supermarkets.
What You’ll Need To Make Honey, Lime & Sriracha Chicken
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by making the marinade. In a blender, combine the zest of a lime, fresh lime juice, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and Sriracha. (Even though you’re puréeing the marinade, it’s a good idea to roughly chop the garlic and ginger so they get incorporated — some blenders can’t handle large chunks.)
Purée until completely smooth, then set aside 1/2 cup of the marinade to use as a drizzling sauce.
Next, prepare the chicken. I’ve specified boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe because they’re more flavorful than chicken breasts and easier to cook without drying out. I know many people prefer white meat but I’ve tried both in this recipe and, trust me, it’s much better made with dark meat.
The only drawback to using chicken thighs is that they need to be trimmed before you cook them. I think it’s easiest to use kitchen shears as opposed to a knife. So, using scissors, simply cut off any gristle and large chunks of fat (don’t fret over every little bit as it mostly melts away on the grill) and then cut the meat into 2-inch pieces.
Place the chicken in a Ziplock bag with the remaining marinade and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
After the chicken has marinated, thread the pieces onto skewers.
Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Scrape the grates clean to prevent the chicken from sticking, then dip a wad of paper towels in oil and rub the grates until smooth and shiny.
Grill the chicken, turning occasionally to promote even browning, for 10-15 minutes.
Keep an eye on it — the honey in the marinade causes the chicken to caramelize on the grill and turn a beautiful, rich brown color; however, the chicken can burn if the grill is too hot. Lower the heat if the chicken is browning too fast.
Transfer the skewers to a platter and drizzle with the reserved marinade. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over top and serve. Enjoy!
It was a mouth-watering photo from a blog called Kitchen Meets Girl that caught my eye on Pinterest and inspired this recipe.
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Honey, Lime & Sriracha Chicken Skewers
These chicken skewers marinated in honey, lime juice and Sriracha taste every bit as good as they look.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free if needed)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon lime zest, from one lime
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from 2 limes
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1½ square inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (see note)
- 1½ tablespoons Sriracha sauce
- 1¼ teaspoon salt
- 2½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (between 8-10), trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus a few whole sprigs for garnish
- Limes, sliced into wedges, for garnishing platter (optional)
Instructions
- In a blender, combine the soy sauce, honey, oil, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, ginger, Sriracha and salt. Blend until completely smooth. Pour ½ cup of the marinade into a small bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (this will be your drizzling sauce).
- Combine the chicken and remaining marinade in a large Ziplock bag and seal tightly. Place in a bowl (in case of leakage) and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and thread onto skewers, folding the pieces in half if they are long and thin.
- Be sure the grill is clean, then preheat to medium-high heat. To grease the grill, lightly dip a wad of paper towels in vegetable oil and, using tongs, carefully rub over the grates several times until glossy and coated. Grill the chicken kebabs, covered, until golden brown and cooked through, turning skewers occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it -- if they are browning too quickly, turn the heat down.) Transfer the skewers to a platter. Warm up the reserved marinade in the microwave and either drizzle it over top or pass it alongside. Scatter the chopped cilantro over top and garnish the platter with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs, if desired.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 321
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Sugar: 18g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 37g
- Sodium: 1147mg
- Cholesterol: 180mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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My daughter asks for these skewers frequently. Easy, healthy and a crowd pleaser.
This is now in our regular rotation! I reduce the Sriracha to 1 Tbsp. for our family. It’s delicious! Jen’s recipes are always spot on!
These are excellent. Quick and easy. My boys said They would like this in the regular rotation. I have doubled it and froze the chicken in the marinade with a separate bag of the extra marinade with great results.
Have made this so many times I almost don’t need the recipe any more. It’s always requested after serving to guests …always nice for the chef to feel guests have enjoyed it that much. Haven’t changed anything in the recipe either!
Love love love this recipe! This is an instant family favorite! Once again Jenn, thanks!
Vassa
Made these for a Girls’ Weekend — rave reviews all round. Perfect balance of flavours!
Great marinade! We love grilled chicken thighs in this house and are always looking for new marinades to try. This is a winner. Not too spicy either so if you can’t handle heat, don’t be scared of the name.
I have never particularly liked chicken thighs but my husband loves them. So i saw this recipe and had to try it. Best thighs ever! We have to have them on the grill, even in the winter, at least once a week. So delicious!
One for the Books!
Quickly this simple recipe has been my husbands regular request when grilling outside. Great flavor and goes well with Israeli Couscous. Meat comes out tender each and every time.
The whole family loves this recipe. I leave the thighs whole and usually double the recipe. The leftovers I use in chicken fried rice adding a bit of the sauce. Yummy. I also freeze the cooked chicken with the leftover marinade for quick meals!
Delicious and easy. Great for summer grilling.
This is our go to recipe for chicken in the summer! I have done this as skewers or just boneless, skinless chicken thighs and they always turn out fantastic! My kids love it. We usually serve with black beans and lime cilantro rice.
This recipe has become a summertime favorite for our family. Simple yet delicious recipe. I have tried with chicken breast before…..guuurrrl don’t do it! It really is best with chicken thighs. I have used powdered ginger before and it was still great.
Best chicken marinade ever! We just love this recipe… so tasty with the spicy and sweet. While we don’t prefer chicken thighs, it is great with chicken breasts too. In fact, we have some in freezer right now, marinade and all waiting to grill. In the snow.
Hi Jenn, do you think it would make much difference to this recipe without the use of a blender? I can borrow one if you think it’s important, just trying to avoid a little bit of hassle =) Thanks for your help, can’t wait to try this over the weekend!
Hi Mel, It should be doable without a blender; just make sure to finely chop the garlic and ginger and blend everything well. Hope you enjoy!
Amazing blend of flavours, this was a total winner – highly recommended, the chicken morsels were just perfect. We also used the leftover marinade to bake salmon the next day, and this was also delicious. Thanks Jenn!
Just made this & it was delicious! This is the second recipe I’ve tried off this site & both were home runs! I also love the ingenious tip about using kitchen shears to trim the fat! I cook boneless skinless chicken thighs all the time and that tip will not only save me time in the future but also save me from having to sanitize & wash a cutting board. Double bonus! Thanks so much for this awesome recipe, it’s going in my regular rotation.
Superb recipe! I used a tabletop grill as it’s not bbq season here now, and the results were just as great. The meat was tender and succulent and the marinade had a great zing with a little hot kick. Definitely will make again!
Can I use the marinade as a stir fry-style sauce? As in, would it work if I coated the chicken pieces in flour, cooked them in a pan on stove top, and added the marinade last?
Sure, Em, I think that would work. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
The flavor was fantastic! I minced the garlic and ginger instead of blending, and added a bit of cornstarch. I think some of its potential was lost because it isn’t meant to be prepared in a stir-fry style, but delicious nonetheless. Gonna try it as a salad dressing next!
So glad that overall, it turned out nicely — thanks for the follow-up! 🙂
I am trying this wonderful recipe for the first time and have been marinating the chicken for about 12 hours now. Something has come up and it looks like we won’t be able to cook the chicken for another 2 days. Should I leave chicken in the marinade for that long or is it better to remove from marinade and then cook it when I can? Or I could possibly freeze the chicken in its marinade? Thank you for your help!!
You could probably get away with marinating it for another two days, but to be safe, I’d recommend freezing the chicken in its marinade and then defrosting when you’re ready to cook it. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much for your reply. I ended up freezing the marinated chicken and grilled the thawed chicken last night. It was terrific. I loved the fact that there was reserved marinade to use as a sauce. I served it with your fabulous Thai Crunch Salad and it was an amazing dinner. Thank you again!
Ok there are about 1,000,000 chicken marinades out there, and most are fine, some are good, this one is GREAT. I cannot stress enough that this is a keeper. One of those add to bookmarks, write it down in your recipe book, tell your friends type of marinades. Make it!
This is one of my favorite recipes of yours (even though it is hard to pick just one!). Have you ever made this marinade with salmon? Thinking it would be great.
So glad you like it! Yes, it should work with salmon but be sure to only marinate it for 30 minutes or so, otherwise the acid in the marinade will start to “cook” the fish. Please LMK how they turn out!
Hi Jen.
Is there a substitute for soy sauce I could use, or can I omit it without a big change in flavour?
Hi Michelle, omitting it would definitely change the flavor. You could use Braggs Aminos or tamari in place of the soy sauce.
Delicious! Will definitely make again! I was very hesitant to add all that honey but it was perfectly fine. I added chilli flakes in the marinade and toasted sesame seeds on top and using thighs made the chicken not dry out at all. I also only had to time to marinate it for 2 hours and they still came out great,
Made the Honey, Lime, Sriracha chicken last night and it was a top 10. Also added jasmine rice with shallots and a tad of butter. Absolutely delightful 🙂
Next time I’m going to make the Thai salad with peanut dressing with it. What do you suggest for dessert that is easy and what kind of wine do you pair with the meal ?
Outdoor dinner party coming up soon.
I am true follower of your wonderful recipes. Thank you and keep up the terrific work.
So glad this was a hit!! I’d love this with a really cold white wine — maybe a chardonnay or sauvignon blanc. In terms of dessert, this wild be nice with something lemony like these lemon bars or lemon berry parfaits. I’m also about to share a Vietnamese No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream which would also be great here (although it’s influenced by a different part of Asia)! 🙂
Just made this tonight with basmati rice and the suggested Thai crunch salad. Lots of happy flavors on the tongue. Hubby loved it too. He cannot eat anything spicy and found this was perfectly spiced.
Since I made the full recipe for just two of us (yay leftovers!), I served the sauce on the side and it was great over the chicken and the rice combo.
Can’t wait to make this for the next cookout.
Jenny: I made the chicken kabobs and your key lime pie for the 4th. Absolutely delicious. You are the bomb.
Do you think the marinade would freeze well so when I wanted some pre-prepared I could have it ready to go, just thaw it? Or how long would it keep in the refrigerator to make a big batch?
This is hands down the BEST chicken I have ever made. I didn’t bother w/skewers, I just cooked the chicken in chunks on the grill. It will be my go to for when friends come over. Delish, Delish, Delish.
Has anyone tried it on pork?
So glad you like this, Ruby! I’ve never frozen the marinade, but I think you could (and I suspect you could store it in the fridge for 4 to 5 days). 🙂
Made this tonight, marinating by 11am cooked at 7pm. Absolutely delicious!
Absolutely excellent! I will make this over and over and over again.
This is the BEST chicken recipe I have come across in a long time. It is easy to make. I did not cut up the chicken and put in on skewers; I just cut the fat off and sliced some of the thighs in two and off to the grill they went. We used a rotisserie basket for the grill to hold the thighs. They were absolutely perfect – melt in your mouth perfect! We marinaded the thighs for about 20 hours – they absorbed almost all of the marinade. Delicious! I needed to give it 10 stars but, alas, only 5 were available…
🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
I have no grill; can this be successfully made under the broiler of my electric oven?
Yep, definitely. The cook time will be about the same. 🙂
Latest recipe of yours that has moved to the top of our favorites list! As usual with all of your recipes, I didn’t change a thing. Somehow you manage to have each recipe perfected, down to the amount of limes needed! Which is why I love coming to your website for a recipe….I always know it will be a keeper. Thanks Jenn!
❤️
Absolutely amazing. Made it twice in one week. Can’t. Stop. Eating. It. I made mine with the broiler then baked at 350. They were perfect.
I made this dish and used dark and light meat. It was absolutely delicious. I served it with your Thai Crunch Salad as recommended, which is one of our family’s very favorite salads, and coconut rice. My entire family loved it and one son went back for thirds! I have passed it on to many friends! Thank you again for your amazing recipes.
Like others have commented, your blog is a fabulous source of inspiration. Tried this for the first time today, marinated about 24 hours & served the skewers with a huge Greek salad and it was excellent. Good amount of heat and wonderful flavor. I’d love to get your feedback, Jen, on how tightly I should pack the kebabs next to each other…I realized there are more delicious crispy edges when there is a little more space between them so may space them out that way next time. Thanks again for a great recipe!
So glad the recipes are providing you some semblance of comfort during this challenging time! Yes, feel free to leave a tiny bit of space between the chicken pieces; this does allow more of those crispy edges.
Jenn,
I’ve made many of your recipes over the past several weeks. I’ve really enjoyed using new found time to try new recipes and food blogs. Yours has been a wonderful discovery and a frequent go-to for new recipes both in the savory and sweet departments. I made this recipe a few nights ago and absolutely loved it! What a wonderful flavor combination! I marinated the chicken thighs the night before (~20 hours) and I think that really concentrated the flavors. I didn’t actually make them into skewers; I just grilled the thighs whole and everyone loved them. It was a hit with the kids as well as the adults. The marinade is so delicious I may try it with pork chops as well. Thanks for the inspiration and keep the new recipes coming!
So glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes!! 🙂
Absolutely Delicious. I used chicken breast and chicken thighs. Both were moist and flavorful. The extra sauce was great as I made coconut rice and drizzled sauce on top of the rice.
Excellent!! Definitely making this again and again. Made with Thai cucumber salad here and it too is fantastic! I am loving Jenn’s recipes.
Completely perfect! My whole family LOVED the flavor. I believe we may be trying this on pork chops as well. The marinade is very versatile. Many thanks for the great recipe!
Jen can these be made ahead and reheated?
Thanks
Sure Anne- just make sure to just reheat them versus cooking them more to avoid them getting overcooked and chewy. Enjoy!
Best chicken! My husband is tough but this was a hit! He asks for this to take for work. This has made it into our rotation. I don’t edit recipe and definitely use thighs.
Aaahhhh I cannot wait to try this! Am I able to cook these in the oven instead of the grill?
Sure, You can cook these using the boiler in your oven. Arrange them about 6 inches from the broiler, turning occasionally. If they aren’t browning you can move them up. Just be sure to shake off as much marinade as possible before putting them in the oven because it will smoke and burn in a hot oven. Enjoy!
Another amazing recipe! I have made this several times and will continue…
Question: Can I marinate the chicken and then freeze it? As it thaws the day before using that will be the “overnight marinating time?
Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it, Michelle. Yes, you can freeze it in its marinade. 🙂
I made this chicken tonight with chicken breasts. I served it over peanut pasta. It was delish.
My husband said how come this chicken is so moist and delicious?
🙂
Hi Jen, I tried this recipe and out of laziness I kept the chicken thighs whole, I just trimmed them up real nice and poured the marinade over them in a ziplock bag and gave them to hubby to throw them on the grill. I made a mistake and poured all of the marinade over the chicken so I was forced to make another batch of the sauce. It tastes so good. My children and hubby loved it. Question could I use this marinade in the over say to bake a whole chicken?
So glad your family enjoyed it, Toni. You could definitely use this marinade for a whole chicken. I’d love to know how it turns out. 🙂
I made these as appetizers on small skewers for a party last weekend. They were a huge hit!! I tripled the recipe, and it made about 100 skewers. I sliced each chicken thigh into three pieces and threaded each piece onto one small skewer after having marinated the chicken overnight. It took no time at all.
I followed the recipe exactly, but forgot to reserve some of the marinade for basting. They still turned out fabulously and our guests were begging me for the recipe! I did not even get to taste a single one, so I will have to make them again soon so that I can try them myself. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Ah-mazing! I was worried that the marinade would be too spicy for my toddler but he loved this (didn’t pour the extra sauce in his). Flavors were perfect
Another fantastically easy and tasty recipe. I made it exactly as advised – used thighs and fresh everything! Served with perfect jasmine rice and an asian salad with a peanut sauce. grilled and caramelized – just Exquisite! Jen – Thank you so much for perfecting and sharing your deliciousness with myself and my family. They LOVED this one and I’ll make it again and again and again!!!
My husband cant eat honey. Can I substitute maple syrup or can you suggest another substitute?
I’d suggest brown sugar in place of the honey. You’ll need about 1/2 cup. Enjoy!
Can I substitute the lime for lemon?
It will taste slightly different with the lemon, but yes, definitely. Hope you enjoy!
I have not tried yet but these sound great! Having a cookout in the next few days for the fourth. I read another review that said about the lime juice and chicken breast, I generally only buy chicken breast due to a picky fiancee. Could I just do the zest for the breast? Second question could I marinade over night? trying to find ways to cut down prep time the day of. Thanks! Cannot wait to try!
Hi Deanna, Sorry about the delayed response as the 4th has come an gone! I definitely get concerned that the breasts will get too tough if marinated in citrus but it does add a lot of flavor here. If you’re going to use breasts, I’d use both the zest and juice, but would suggest a shorter marinating period (so definitely not overnight). Hope you enjoy!