Honey Lime Chicken is a family favourite! Using simple ingredients to create a zesty marinade, Air Fryer Sticky Chicken is the perfect winner, winner chicken dinner!
Recipes like my Sticky Asian Chicken, Air Fryer Chicken Legs and Air Fryer Roast Chicken are fuss free and delicious!
Serve with a simple Herb Salad or Air Fryer Potato Cubes.
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Recipe Highlights
This recipe is flavour packed!
Not only is it quick and easy to make, it only takes 30 mins to cook (if using the Air Fryer).
Either cook straight away or marinate the chicken to allow the flavours to develop.
Perfect for weeknights, this Honey Lime Chicken is family friendly and freezable!
Meal prep it on the weekends, to make the weekdays easier, take for work lunch, add chicken pieces to salads or sandwiches!
Ingredients
The photo below shows the ingredients needed to make the recipe. They are all simple and easy to find at the local shops. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements.
As you can see, the recipe calls for:
- chicken: my preference for this recipe is to use a whole chicken cut into pieces. This gives everyone the chance to pick their favourite part be it wing, breast, thigh or leg. Other options are to choose one part of the chicken and make as such OR marinade a whole chicken and then serve as is.
- honey: this ingredient makes the chicken so juicy and flavour packed! We use some accompanying ingredients to blend and make it sing. Sweet and sticky, it makes the perfect chicken marinade!
- lime juice: when I make this recipe, I juice my own fresh limes. I recommend you do this also. There is a lot to be said about fresh zesty lime and it only takes a couple of mins to prep this ingredient!
- soy sauce: we use this ingredient both for flavour, as a good pairing for the honey, as well as for the colour it permits when the chicken cooks
- sriracha sauce: this ingredient is optional. Some people might be worried about the 'hot or spicy' factor, in which case, leave it out. If you are game to try it however, it pairs extremely well with the honey, lime juice and soy sauce, giving the marinade an extra depth of flavour!
- salt/pepper: we add these to the honey lime marinade as we whisk it together for seasoning
As you can see from the photos above, I use 3 limes, but it is important to note that when I juice these, I measure the amount and add it to the marinade (ie ¼ cup of lime juice).
This is so that each and every time you make the recipe, you have a consistent taste and texture and a flavour you know works!
Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. As you can see, I am using the Air Fryer, but you can also use the oven.
- Juice the limes and keep ¼ cup (Photo 1)
- Gather the marinade ingredients (Photo 2)
- Whisk to combine (Photo 3)
- Cut the chicken into pieces (Photo 4)
If you have a mini whisk they are super handy when combining ingredients.
If you don't have one, you can use a fork.
The goal is to have the ingredients be consistently mixed together.
The marinade has quite a thin texture, however, there is also a stickiness thickness in it from the chicken.
Ensure you add the fleshy bits of the limes after you have juiced them as their texture is delightful!
- Place chicken pieces into baking tray (Photo 5)
- Pour honey lime marinade over chicken (Photo 6)
- Flip chicken to other side and brush with marinade (Photo 7)
- Cook chicken for 10 mins (Photo)
Honey Lime Chicken Marinade
I find kitchen tongs very handy when marinating chicken like this recipe.
It is easy to use then to move the chicken around and not have any sticky marinade or sauce get onto your hands!
The total cook time for the recipe is 30 mins.
That time is broken into 3 periods of 10 mins and you can recoat the chicken with the marinade in between cook times to make it extra flavourful!
- Pull Air Fryer basket towards you after the 1st 10 mins cooking (Photo 11)
- Use tongs to flip chicken to other side and cook for 10 mins (Photo 12)
- Flip chicken back to skin side up and cook for a final 10 mins (Photo 14)
- After 30 mins the chicken will be cooked! (Photo 14)
It is optional to recoat the chicken with the marinade in between the cook times.
However, it only takes a couple of mins to do and this ensures the chicken stays moist and tender.
This is such a simple recipe that works every night of the week!
This Sticky Honey Lime Chicken goes down a treat and you will never want to buy a roast from the supermarket again!
Sticky Honey Lime Chicken
If you don't have an Air Fryer (get one!), haha, nah, you can also cook this recipe in the oven.
Simply follow the same instructions, but instead of Air Frying the chicken, keep it in the baking tray and place it in the oven.
It will take longer to cook in the oven (40-50 mins) at a moderate temperature.
However seeing as we cut the chicken into pieces, it will still be a reasonably quick cook time compared to the hour or so it takes to oven roast a whole chicken.
As you can see from the photo above, I like to serve my cooked chicken with cucumber ribbons and fresh lime wedges.
It is simply delicious! Chips and gravy or Air Fryer Frozen Onion Rings are also good sides for serving!
Tips and tricks
- To cut the chicken into pieces, start with the legs, then wings, followed by breast and cut this free from the rib cage
- Use the marinade to roast a whole chicken if you don't want to cut it into pieces
- If you want to drizzle the chicken in sauce or juices, after making the marinade, reserve ¼ cup. This means there will be no raw chicken bits in it as you take this out before marinading the chicken
- Serve the chicken with fresh lime wedges
- Pair the chicken with a Herb Salad or Gravy Fries
- Pair with a yoghurt sauce such as my Herbed Yogurt Sauce or Garlic Yogurt Sauce
Frequently asked questions
What does lime juice do to chicken?
Lime is a zesty fresh ingredient that sings with flavour.
It helps to ensure that the chicken stays moist, juicy and tender when it is being cooked.
As well as ensuring a taste sensation with every bite!
If you can use fresh limes, this is best, simply juice them and add the juice to the marinade ingredients.
How long should I marinate chicken?
The fuss free nature of this recipe means that you can either cook the chicken as soon as you have marinated it OR marinade it for 15 - 30 mins to allow the flavours to develop.
You can also marinade the raw chicken and freeze in this state, then remove from the freezer and cook as a meal prep solution!
How long is too long marinading chicken?
It is best to not marinade the chicken for longer than 24 hours.
If, however, you marinade the chicken and don't wish to cook it straight away, you can freeze the marinated chicken and then cook when defrosted.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
If you love cooking chicken, there here are some suggestions from my chicken recipes collection you might like to try:
- Oven Chicken Kabobs
- Sweet Chilli Chicken Thighs
- Chicken Sausage Rolls
- Asian Chicken Pizza
- Air Fryer Spatchcock Chicken
- Air Fryer Chicken Skewers
- Italian Herb Chicken Thighs
I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below. Please let me know if you make the recipe.
Adrianne x
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📖 Recipe
Honey Lime Chicken (Air Fryer Sticky Chicken)
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Baking dish
- Pastry Brush
- Small mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 kg whole chicken free range Note 2
- 1 cup honey
- ⅓ cup lime juice Note 3
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ pepper
Instructions
- Turn the air fryer on to 180°C/350 F for 30 mins (preheat for 5 mins if your model requires it) Note 1
- Use a knife, kitchen scissors and chopping board to cut chicken into pieces (optional)
- Juice the limes and set aside ⅓ cup for the marinade
- In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sriracha sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper and honey. Whisk till mixed together
- Add chicken pieces to a large baking tray. Pour the marinade over the chicken, use tongs to flip each piece to the other side and use a pastry brush to coat
- Place in fridge for 15-30 mins to allow the chicken to marinate (optional)
- Spray Air Fryer basket with olive oil
- Use kitchen tongs and place chicken pieces into the oiled basket, in one flat layer
- Air Fry the chicken for 10 mins, then pull basket towards you, rest on heatproof surface, flip and use the brush the marinade over this side. Cook for a further 10 mins
- Pull Air Fryer basket towards you, flip chicken back up to skin side up and cook for a further 10 mins
- Serve with cucumber ribbons and fresh lime wedges
Notes
- Note 1 You don't need to heat the Air Fryer until you are ready to cook the chicken (unless your model requires pre heating). I have however, included this step at this point in the recipe as I find most cooks like to know this as the '1st step in the recipe'.
- Note 2 There are a lot of options with this recipe. You can use a whole chicken and cut it into pieces like I have done. Alternatively, you can use the marinade for cooking chicken breasts, chicken thighs, chicken wings, or chicken legs.
- Note 3 So that you have a consistent and reliable marinade you can use time and time again, I recommend that you measure the lime juice. The limes I used were a medium to large size and it took 2 ½ limes to make ⅓ cup juice.
- Note 4 One thing to consider is that you maybe tempted to pour/drizzle the remaining marinade over the chicken once cook. The issue with doing this is that you might have little tiny bits of raw chicken that came off when it was marinading. So I don't recommend you do this. As I understand the temptation however, my advice would be once you have whisked together the marinade, take out as much as ¼ cup and set that aside. Then you can use that to drizzle (raw chicken bits free!)
Susie says
We will be making this for dinner tonight. Can't wait.
Tania says
We made this for dinner last night and it is amazing! Thanks for a great recipe, we will make it again for sure.