Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken – a perfect weeknight meal full of flavor and a sweet brown sugar coating. It comes together in under 30 minutes with only 5 ingredients.
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you decide to purchase through my link, I may earn a very small commission at no additional cost to you.
You’ll love this Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken!
Brown Sugar Chicken Breast is so easy and quick to make. It makes the perfect weeknight meal.
You can have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes. To make it even easier, you can pair it with a 90-second rice and microwave steamable veggies for a full meal with minimal effort.
Seared, juicy chicken breast is cooked in a savory and sweet sauce made of butter and brown sugar.
It’s a unique flavor that picky eaters and kids love. It will quickly become part of your dinner rotation.
Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken Ingredients
- boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
- unsalted butter
- garlic
- chicken seasoning (I use Montreal chicken seasoning)
- brown sugar
How to make Brown Sugar Chicken
- In a large skillet, add the butter and melt. Make sure burner is on medium-high/high. You want to get a good brown sear on the chicken.
- Add chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with chicken seasoning.
- About halfway through cooking the chicken, add garlic and continue to saute, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- When chicken is completely cooked, sprinkle brown sugar over the top and allow to melt into the chicken.
- Stir it all together and serve up with a starch and veggie!
Brown Sugar Chicken Tips and Tricks
- This recipe intentionally uses a stove top method. I find that it gets a nice browned chicken. If you were to cook this in the oven, you’d miss out on the nice, browned outer layer of the chicken.
- It’s important to cut the chicken breast into equal pieces. They don’t have to be perfect, but staying similar in size will ensure even cooking and avoid undercooked pieces mixed in with overcooked pieces.
- Be careful about the heat and time you cook your minced garlic. If garlic burns (which it can easily), it gets bitter and will cause the chicken to taste bitter.
- A great shortcut is to buy pre-minced garlic. I buy it in a jar from either Costco or HEB. I find that bulbs of garlic are great if you’re making roasted garlic or need whole cloves, but for recipes like these, pre-minced garlic is perfect!
- My pan had a lot of extra moisture/water in it after cooking the chicken – usually this is directly from the chicken itself. If it was still partially frozen, or if you purchased a brand that adds water (it usually says on the package), sometimes you end up with a lot of water in the pan with the chicken. This will actually prevent it from searing the outside and it won’t give the sauce the right consistency. If this happens, just drain your chicken and add back to the hot skillet.
How to Serve Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken
Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken goes great with both starches and veggies. Some of my favorites include:
Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken Storage
Leftover garlic brown sugar chicken should be cooled completely before storing.
To store in the refrigerator, place the leftover chicken in an airtight container. It will remain fresh for up to 3 days.
To store in the freezer, place the chicken in a freezer safe ziptop bag. Push out any additional air from the bag and seal it. Store it flat in the freezer for up to 6 months.
To reheat garlic brown sugar chicken, I recommend using a skillet. Place it in a skillet over low heat on the stove with a splash of broth. Put a lid on top and let it slowly heat through. This will help to not overcook the chicken and dry it out.
Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken FAQ
The secret to juicy chicken breast is to not overcook the chicken. Chicken breast should only be cooked until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and no longer. Once you go past 165°F it will dry out.
You can use either light or dark brown sugar in this recipe. Both work really well. I tend to use light for less of a molasses taste, but either works great!
Sugar can help both tenderize and brown chicken.
This is a great go-to meal for weeknights. Super easy, super fast, and super good! Each serving is only about 153 calories and has 23g of protein!
Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic
- chicken seasoning I use Montreal chicken seasoning
- 4 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
- In a large skillet, add the butter and melt. Make sure burner is on medium-high/high. You want to get a good brown sear on the chicken.
- Add chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with chicken seasoning.
- About halfway through cooking the chicken, add garlic and continue to saute, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- When chicken is completely cooked, sprinkle brown sugar over the top and allow to melt into the chicken.
- Stir it all together and serve up with a starch and veggie!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I wish I could give this 10 stars. We literally have this once a week, sometimes even twice a week. The kids love it and always ask for seconds or sometimes thirds. It is such a simple recipe that when I forget about dinner and don’t think about it until the kids are hangry I can whip garlic brown sugar chicken up in like 20 minutes and everyone is happy. Seriously a favorite in this house, if you haven’t tried it yet, do it!
Thanks Mimi! Either actually. I usually serve it with Basmati rice or a really light pasta.
Love what you are doing. On this chicken recipe, what do you serve it with, like pasta or rice?