Crispy Hot Honey Feta Chicken

This recipe is such a gorgeous combination of flavours. Spicy, salty, sweet and savoury – plus you get the contrast in textures of the creamy feta, sticky honey and crispy chicken. You’re going to love it! Follow me…

Hot Honey Chicken

I’ve been pretty late to the hot honey train, but I can say with my full chest that I’m absolutely on board. The sweet/spicy combo is almost too much to bear! Plus, you can drizzle it over just about everything. Today’s victim – feta chicken (which we’ll get to in just a sec).

How do you make hot honey?

I actually thought ‘hot honey’ just meant warm honey when I first saw the term flying around 😅. But no, the ‘hot’ refers to spice. In reality, you can make hot honey any way you fancy. Many recipes use chilli flakes, others use fresh chilli and some use various different spicy sauces. I’m opting for chilli flakes to pack in most of the heat, combined with a dash of hot sauce to add a vinegary flavour too, which in turn cuts through the sweetness of the honey. For best results you’ll want to combine the ingredients and gently warm them. This way the chilli flakes will be able to infuse the honey more efficiently, as opposed to just mixing everything together.

Can I use store-bought instead?

I see supermarkets now do sell hot honey, so if you have a favourite brand then go for it!

Crispy Chicken

My original plan was to make the feta chicken with non-breaded chicken, but I soon changed my mind when I imagined the joy of crispy chicken drizzled with hot honey. We’ll be using chicken breasts and slicing them through the centre to create 4 even-sized breasts. This will ensure they cook quicker and more evenly. The breading process is very straight forward and just requires flour, egg and Panko breadcrumbs.

Panko Breadcrumbs

These are Japanese breadcrumbs which you’ll find in most supermarkets. They’re perfect as they’re relatively large and airy, meaning they crisp up really nicely. Process shots: slice chicken (photos 1&2), dredge in flour (photo 3), dredge in egg (photo 4), dredge in Panko (photo 5).

Feta Chicken

To cook the chicken we are going to fry it, although it’ll only be in a small amount of oil. There’s certainly no need for deep frying! If you can get 4 breasts in at once then great, but if not just work in 2 batches. So long as the oil is hot enough that a breadcrumb rapidly sizzles and you’ve got enough to lightly coat the base of the pan, you won’t go wrong. For the feta chicken, you’re literally just crumbling over the feta and popping it under the grill. The feta will crisp on top and go gorgeously soft too. Process shots: fry chicken (photos 1&2), add feta (photo 3), grill (photo 4).

How spicy is the honey?

I’d say it’s relatively mild, but you can very easily adjust it to your preference.

Can I bake the chicken instead?

It won’t be quite as crispy and will take longer to cook, but I have added instructions for baking in the recipe card notes below.

Can I use a different cheese?

Feta is PERFECT because it already pairs with honey so beautifully (that salty/sweet combo!). It also has the perfect texture when cooked. I’d give it a go with feta first and then you could branch out after.

Can I make this ahead of time?

I wouldn’t make the chicken ahead of time, but you can certainly make the hot honey in advance!

Serving Hot Honey Feta Chicken

You can drizzle over as much hot honey as your tastebuds fancy. Here I’ve served with rocket/arugula and Potato Wedges, but check out my Side Dishes for more inspo! For more hot honey recipes check out my Hot Honey Butter Salmon! For another delicious dinner using feta check out my Baked Feta Orzo! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this hot honey feta chicken shall we?!