Grilled hot honey chicken thighs with crispy skin, sticky sweet heat, and bold backyard flavor. Simple to make, forgiving on the grill, and finished with a glossy hot honey sauce that delivers big payoff without overthinking it.
Hot Honey Grilled Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- Alpha Rub or your favorite SPG rub
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
Hot Honey Sauce
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 –5 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ cup honey
- 1 ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ¾ tsp chipotle chili powder
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes optional – adjust for your heat tolerance
- Zest of ¾ of an orange go bright, not bitter
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Coat chicken with oil and seasoning.
- Set up grill for 2-zone grilling. Start skin side down for 5 minutes, turn for another 5 minutes. Move chicken to indirect side and let finish until reaching an internal temperature of 170.
Hot Honey Sauce
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add garlic → cook 30–60 sec until fragrant, not browned.
- Stir in honey, vinegar, chipotle powder, pepper flakes, salt. Simmer 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat → stir in orange zest right at the end (keeps it bright and aromatic).
- Taste and adjust: more vinegar if you want sharper tang, more honey if you want it smoother.
- After chicken hits 170 add one coating of the hot honey sauce and let sit on grill 2 minutes. Remove from grill and add more sauce on serving plate.
