Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken with Hot Honey Sauce

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Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken is a quick and easy weeknight-friendly stir fry recipe loaded with flavor. We’ll add tender green beans and make a sauce from hot honey that is going to make your tastebuds sing!

turmeric black pepper chicken in skillet

Golden brown Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken!

This is the easy weeknight dinner recipe you didn’t know you needed.

It starts with slightly crispy pan-fried chicken pieces that we’ll season with ground turmeric, kosher salt, garlic powder, and of course, black pepper. We’ll pan fry the chicken and then toss it in a sweet and spicy honey mixture.

The green beans simmer in that hot honey mixture and have that perfect crisp-tender texture with just a bit of the tangy sweet sauce clinging to them.

It doesn’t hurt that the ingredient list for this recipe is pretty straight forward and uses mostly pantry and refrigerator staples. You can even use frozen green beans if you usually keep a stash in your freezer. Just be sure to defrost them first so that the sauce doesn’t get watered down!

It’s colorful, healthy and flavorful – all the makings of a crowd-pleasing and quick weeknight meal!

turmeric chicken and green beans over rice

Ingredients for Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken

Chicken: Feel free to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs or boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. Chicken tenders would also work. Just be sure to chop the chicken into ¾-1-inch pieces so that they all cook up in the same amount of time.
Green Beans: I’ve adapted this recipe so that it can be made year round with green beans. The original recipe that inspired this one uses 12 ounces asparagus in place of the green beans.
All-purpose flour: We’ll toss the chicken in flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, ground turmeric, garlic powder, and adobo seasoning so that the chicken has plenty of flavor on its own! It’s even better tossed in that hot honey sauce!
Seasonings: You’ll need black pepper, turmeric, and garlic powder. These ingredients are also in the adobo seasoning we’ll use but you’ll need more of them so that they stand out a bit more!
Adobo Seasoning: Adobo seasoning is different than adobo sauce! This isn’t like the flavors that chipotle peppers come packed in. Adobo seasoning is made with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, oregano, and turmeric. It’s a seasoning that just enhances the flavors of whatever you use it in! You can find it in most grocery stores and you can also purchase it online here.
Oil: I like to use coconut oil for this recipe as I love the delicate coconut flavor that it adds to the dish. Vegetables or canola oil or any other kind of cooking oil you like will work though!
Rice Vinegar: You’ll need unseasoned rice vinegar just at the end to help cut through some of the sweetness from the honey. The acid in this recipe helps cut through the salt, honey, and spicy elements. This just really wakes up your palette!
Hot Honey: I like to use homemade hot honey when I have some in the pantry. You can also use store-bought hot honey or regular honey will work too. I find that hot honey is a better ingredient because it adds a bit more complexity to the dish, however, regular honey does work.
Lime wedges: I like to hit the stir fry with a little bit of lime juice when I serve it over rice. You can also use lemon juice here instead if you’d like. The hot honey will pair beautifully with it!
Prepared rice for serving: You can use any kind of rice you like for this recipe. Homemade basmati rice, cauliflower rice, brown rice, or white rice would all work. I usually let the rice cook up in my favorite rice cooker and it’s ready in as little as 40 minutes!

How to Make Turmeric Chicken Recipe

Make the hot honey sauce. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the hot honey, black pepper, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and a couple tablespoons of water. This helps thin out the hot honey a little so that the flavor carries throughout the dish.
Toss the chicken with the seasonings. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, turmeric, garlic powder, salt, adobo seasoning and give it a whisk so that the flavors are mixed. Add the chicken and toss to coat until all the chicken is coated in the flour mixture. Set this aside for now.
Sauté the chicken. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes, flipping as needed to brown all sides. If you have a smaller skillet (8-10-inch), I suggest doing this in batches so that the chicken has a chance to sear and doesn’t end up steaming in the pan. This recipe is much easier to make in one batch if you have a large skillet (12-14 inches.)
Add the green beans. Once the chicken is done, add the green beans and sauté them for a couple of minutes or until they turn vibrant green in color.
Toss it in sauce. Stir and drizzle the prepared honey sauce over the chicken and green beans. Let the sauce thicken in the skillet for a couple minutes so that it clings to the chicken and beans.
Serve it up. Remove the stir fry from the stove and drizzle it with rice vinegar. Serve the chicken stir fry in bowls with rice and make sure to serve with the limewedges so that everyone can squeeze them on top!

FAQs about this recipe

How do you store leftovers?

Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator

Is this a good recipe to use for meal prep?

Yes, you can add ½-1 cup of rice to each meal prep container along with ¼ of this recipe. Meal prep should be consumed within 4 days

Can you swap the chicken for something else?

I think the flavors in this recipe will work well with shrimp. You will need to use a little less salt though. I haven’t tried this with tofu, but I do think it could work. I’d probably swap the flour for cornstarch like I do in my tofu stir fry recipe.

How can I serve this other than over rice?

You can make lettuce wraps!

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Yield: Serves 4

Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken is a quick and easy weeknight-friendly stir fry recipe loaded with flavor. We'll add tender green beans and make a sauce from hot honey that is going to make your tastebuds sing!

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ¾ inch pieces
3 tablespoons homemade hot honey or store-bought
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon adobo seasoning
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or olive, avocado, etc.)
12 ounce green beans, trimmed + cut into pieces
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

MIX: In a glass measuring cup, combine the hot honey, with black pepper, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and 2 tablespoon of water.
TOSS: Combine the all-purpose flour, ground turmeric, garlic powder, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, adobo seasoning in a bowl and toss. Add the chicken to the bowl and toss until all of the chicken is coated in the flour mixture.
SAUTE: Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces (do so in batches if you have a smaller skillet) and cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes flipping about halfway through. Add the green beans and sauté for another 1-2 minutes or until the green beans turn a vibrant green.
POUR: Stir and drizzle the honey sauce over the chicken. Toss the chicken so that it's evenly coated in the sauce. Let the sauce thicken in the skillet for a 60-90 seconds.
SERVE: Remove the chicken from heat. Drizzle with rice vinegar and serve in bowls over rice with lime wedges to squeeze on top!

Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken with Hot Honey Sauce

Ingredients for Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken