Air Fryer Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

Air fryer honey garlic chicken thighs are simple to make and taste amazing. These chicken thighs are marinated in a beautiful honey garlic marinade, cooked in the air fryer (in less than 15 minutes), and then served with a honey garlic sauce (for that extra honey garlic flavor!).

For other great air fryer chicken thigh recipes, checkout Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken Thighs or Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Thighs.

The Honey Garlic Marinade

The honey garlic marinade is simple to make and is full of flavor. The marinade itself uses only 4 ingredients (more are used when making the sauce out of the marinade).

The marinade contains:

• Honey
• Garlic (minced)
• Soy Sauce (normal or light)
• Rice wine vinegar (or any other vinegar you like: apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, etc.)

To make the marinade, simply mix together all of the ingredients together in a bowl. You want to make sure that the honey is well mixed with the rest of the ingredients.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade to make the honey garlic sauce (roughly half of the created marinade).

Marinating The Chicken Thighs

Place the chicken thighs into a bowl, or zip-top bag, and pour over the marinade. Marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Ideally you will marinate the chicken overnight for maximum honey garlic flavor.

If time is not on your side, you can get away without marinating the chicken thighs for as long. Try to marinate them for as long as possible though. In this case, the honey garlic sauce will be where the majority of the flavor will come from.

Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs In The Air Fryer

Start by preheating the air fryer to 400°F/200°C. It is best to always preheat the air fryer to allow for a constant cooking temperature.

Spread the chicken thighs out in the air fryer, trying not to overcrowd the air fryer (cook in batches if you need to). Cook the chicken thighs for 12-14 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden and cooked through.

If you want you can brush a little bit of the leftover honey garlic marinade over the top of the chicken thighs when you are flipping them. This will help add more honey garlic flavor to the chicken. This is optional though and is not be required, especially if the chicken marinated for a long time.

Honey Garlic Sauce

There should be enough time to make the sauce while the chicken is cooking in the air fryer (or you could make it ahead, while the chicken is marinating). The sauce uses the reserved 1/4 cup of honey garlic marinade.

Pour the 1/4 cup of marinade into a small saucepan or frying pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl mix together some cornstarch and a bit of water and then add it to the saucepan, stirring to combine.

Simmer the sauce for 1-2 minutes, until it has thickened slightly. Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool for a few minutes (or let cool to room temperature). Pour over the cooked chicken and/or any sides served with the chicken.

Storage Instructions

Store cooked honey garlic chicken thighs an airtight container (or zip-top bag) in the fridge or freezer. They will keep up to 4 days in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer.

You can also freeze uncooked honey garlic chicken. Freeze the marinating chicken thighs in a zip-top bag. Take the chicken out of the freezer the day before you plan to cook and put it into the fridge to thaw overnight. This makes for an easy make ahead meal.

Store the honey garlic sauce in an airtight container. Keep it in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in the freezer to have it last longer.

Other great air fryer recipes:

• Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken Wings
• Easy Air Fryer Roasted Tomatoes
• Air Fryer Bananas