Best Honey Butter Chicken Recipe

Home-style chicken tenders and delicious, golden, flakey biscuits go together like… well, we can’t think of a better pairing. And the beauty of it is that you don’t need to be an ace in the kitchen to make this dish perfectly every time. 

Honey chicken biscuit is a dish that everyone loves for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and one of our favorite combos. So,  we’re going to share a recipe with you that delivers maximum flavor with minimal effort. 

Let’s jump right into the ingredients. 

Honey Butter Chicken Recipe – The Biscuits

Both the fried chicken in this recipe and the biscuits taste best when they’re freshly made. For best results, you’ll want to make these simultaneously. Luckily, the biscuits make this relatively easy because once they’re in the oven, the work is basically done. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the biscuits. 

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 ½  tsp salt
•  ½ tsp baking soda
• 4 ounces of unsalted butter
• 1  ½ cups buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 425℉ while you work on the biscuit dough with the rack in the middle position. At the same time, put your butter in the freezer because you’ll want to cut it into pieces, and it will help if it’s a little chilled. Don’t leave it in the freezer for more than 10 minutes. 

First, you’ll want to combine your dry ingredients. Put the flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a large sieve and sift it together into a large bowl. You can then cut the butter up into small cubes or grate it into the flour mixture. Mix the butter into the flour until it takes on a coarse texture but be quick to avoid melting the butter. 

Then, add the buttermilk slowly while stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue incorporating the buttermilk until the ingredients form a workable dough. If it’s too dry, you can add buttermilk one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency. 

To get some nice layering into your chicken honey butter biscuit, you’ll want to fold the dough several times. On a floured surface, pat the dough into a 10-inch square and fold into thirds. Do that two more times, and then pat it with your hands into an inch-thick circle. 

Stamp out circles with a biscuit cutter if you want the traditional shape. Or, use a dough cutter to cut them into rectangles that are about the size of a fried chicken strip. 

Honey Butter Chicken Recipe – The Chicken

Prepare the chicken before putting the biscuits into the oven. That way, you can fry it while the biscuits bake, and they’ll both be ready around the same time. 

• A quart of frying oil (peanut oil works well)
• 2 ½ lbs of chicken tenders or your choice of cut
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika, dried thyme, cayenne pepper, and onion powder
• 1 ½ cups of flour

First, combine the buttermilk with the spices in a bowl. Then, set a dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed skillet on medium heat and get the oil to 350℉.

At this point, put the chicken honey butter biscuit into the oven. They’ll bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. 

Dip your chicken pieces one at a time into buttermilk and then dredge them generously in flour before putting them in the hot oil. Cook it in batches to avoid cooling down the oil too much. Chicken tenders will take anywhere between 8 and 10 minutes to reach a perfect golden fry. 

Transfer the chicken onto a paper towel-lined baking tray and let it rest until the biscuits are ready. Once both have cooled a bit, it’s time to assemble your honey chicken biscuit. 

The final ingredients you’ll need are:

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• Pinch of salt
• Dill pickle chips

Let the butter soften, but don’t melt it. Stir in honey and whip lightly with a fork until they’re combined. Split biscuits in half and spread a layer of honey butter on each side. Place a piece of chicken into each biscuit, top with pickles and dig in. 

Chicken Honey Butter Biscuit Tips

Now, we’ll share some tips and tricks with you that will ensure your chicken and biscuits come out perfect every time. Let’s start with fried chicken. 

1. A lot of the flavor in fried chicken comes from the breading. So, you’ll want to make sure your flour is seasoned well before you start. Unfortunately, there’s no way to taste your breading until it’s done, so you’ll have to trust the quantities in recipes until you get the hang of it. 
2. Unless you have a deep fryer, a dutch oven is the next best thing because it holds heat so well and heats the oil from all sides. A cast-iron skillet with high sides also gets the job done, but nonstick aluminum skillets don’t usually work out too well. 
3. Once you dredge the tenders in flour, let them sit for a while, so the flour soaks in some buttermilk. You can even choose to double-dredge, and the gooey layer of flour will crisp up even better in the deep fryer. 

And a few tips for your honey butter biscuit. 

1. Use your hands as little as possible once you put the butter into the dry ingredients. The secret to perfect biscuits is never allowing the butter to incorporate fully into the flour until it’s in the oven. If you use your hands to mix the dough, you’ll melt it with your body heat. Along that same vein, it’s best if you can work on cold surfaces, such as granite or metal. 
2. You can cut and stack the dough instead of folding it. It cuts down on the contact time with your hands, and you can keep layering as many times as you want. In general, though, you’ll want to get those biscuits in the oven as quickly as possible. 
3. When you cut the biscuits, never twist the ring cutter or slide around your dough cutter. Push it down firmly and separate. Then, pull the cut biscuit straight out of the rest of the dough. If the layers get slanted and uneven while cutting, the biscuit doesn’t cook evenly or become as flakey
4. If you have leftover dough, don’t refold it to make another honey chicken biscuit. It will cook unevenly and be completely different from the first batch you make. Instead, save it to make bread pudding, strawberry shortcake, or any other dessert that calls for flakey pastry. 

The Best Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit You’ll Ever Try

Now, that may seem like quite a bit of work for some chicken biscuits, and to be fair, it is. But it’s worth the effort if you get them right. 

If you want to taste what a chicken biscuit is really supposed to taste like, we’d be happy to help. Reserve your table right now at Root and Bone, and we’ll treat you to the best darn chicken biscuit you’ve ever tried. 

Will you be trying out this recipe for your next family dinner or get-together? What other tips and tricks do you use to get perfect fried chicken? We’re always on the hunt for more and better cooking methods so let us know in the comments!