Hot Honey Chicken Plate (Sweetgreen Dupe)

The hot honey chicken plate at Sweetgreen is delicious, with blackened chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, quinoa, a carrot and cabbage slaw and crispy onions on top. But since Sweetgreen is pretty expensive, we decided to make our own at home!

This recipe is perfect for meal prep, and will save you money!

My husband always orders the hot honey chicken plate at Sweetgreen, so we set out to make our own. The entire process is pretty simple. The chicken is marinated in a spiced oil-balsamic mixture, then grilled until nice and charred. The chicken then goes atop a quinoa we cook in broth for extra flavor, alongside roasted sweet potatoes and a carrot-cabbage slaw.

The whole thing is then covered in a sweet, spicy, and tangy hot honey dressing, and a few frizzled shallots are sprinkled over the top for some extra crunch.

You can take any component of this dish and pair it with something else, too! For example, pair the chicken with this Mango Corn Salsa or use the hot honey dressing on our Edamame Crunch Salad. Or just roast the sweet potatoes by themselves (I know it's easy to roll your eyes at this, but they're the best sweet potatoes I've ever had).

Jump to:

• Hot Honey Chicken Plate Ingredients
• How to Make this Hot Honey Chicken Plate Recipe
• Substitutions and Variations
• Storage
• Tips and FAQ
• Top tip
• More meal preppable recipes to try
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Hot Honey Chicken Plate Ingredients

For the Chicken

• Chicken breast: We used chicken breast here, but Sweetgreen uses thighs. This is just a matter of personal preference, and breasts or thighs both work, just note that cooking times may vary between the two cuts. You can also use extra firm tofu to keep this recipe vegetarian!
• Olive oil: This forms the base of the marinade, so it's a key ingredient. You could also use avocado oil or another oil you have on hand, like peanut, sunflower, or safflower.
• Balsamic: Balsamic is key to giving the chicken a "blackened look" - you will get grill marks without it, but you won't get that crispy caramelized crust if you skip the balsamic.
• Kosher salt: To ensure correct salt levels, please use kosher salt! If using table salt or fine sea salt, you may want to start with less and add more to taste.
• Cumin: Cumin adds a smokiness to the marinade that you can't really get with any other spice.
• Coriander: Coriander adds an unmistakable fresh and citrusy flavor that's really hard to replicate - this is the secret ingredient that makes the chicken super flavorful.
• Black pepper: Black pepper adds smokiness and color, so don't skip it!
• Red pepper flakes: We only use a pinch here, but feel free to add more if you prefer a lot of spice.

For the Hot Honey Dressing

• Olive oil: This is the base of the dressing, and without it, the sauce ends up being too watery. We tried it a few different ways, and olive oil is the way to go!
• Apple cider vinegar: ACV adds a great tanginess to the dressing, but we understand it's something not everyone has in their pantry. You can try using a smaller quantity of white vinegar, just be sure to taste it as you go along.
• Dijon mustard: This gives the dressing a great tang and creaminess, and it's pretty much essential for any hot honey dressing.
• Honey: While honey is critical to this dressing, it can also throw it out of balance if you add too much, so be sure to follow the recipe and taste as you go along! If you added too much honey, you can balance it out with some more dijon or vinegar.
• Red pepper: Red pepper adds the heat that we need in the dressing.
• Kosher salt: Use kosher salt, not table salt, to ensure the the correct salt levels.

For the Slaw

• Red/Purple cabbage: This is super crunchy and forms the base of the slaw. We would definitely not recommend using another cabbage in its place, since the crunch is key and green or napa cabbage just don't have the same crunchiness.
• Carrots: Using pre-shredded carrots saves a lot of time, but you can also shred them, or cut them into matchsticks if you have the time.
• Mayo and mustard: Key to any slaw, mayo binds everything together and mustard adds tang.
• Honey: Since we're adding a lot of acid, we need honey to balance everything out.
• ACV: Adds sweetness and tang.
• Lime juice: Adds a freshness that really rounds out the slaw. You can also try lemon juice.
• Spices: Dried parsley, salt, and pepper all add flavor to the slaw.

For the Potatoes

• Sweet potatoes: We used red sweet potatoes since they have the best color, but you could also use any regular old potato you have on hand.
• Olive oil: To ensure your potatoes get crispy skins and don't stick to the pan, coat them in olive oil.
• Spices: We used salt, chili powder, onion and garlic powder, and nutritional yeast, but you feel free to use your favorite spices.

Everything Else

• Quinoa: This is the base for the bowl. If you don't have any quinoa, you could also use rice or any grain of your choosing.
• Broth: Cooking your quinoa in broth adds a lot more flavor. You can use vegetable or chicken broth. To cut down on costs, you can also just use water for cooking and add a little salt to season the quinoa.
• Shallots: We found it a bit wasteful to use a small part of an onion for this recipe, so we used shallots instead. They're a bit harder to cook, but are much easier to get crispy.

How to Make this Hot Honey Chicken Plate Recipe

STEP 1: Marinate the chicken. In a mixing bowl, combine olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and add in all the spices. Whisk to combine, then toss in the chicken and use tongs to get them evenly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and move to the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

STEP 2: Roast your sweet potatoes. Wash your sweet potatoes, then cut them into roughly 1" rounds and quarter each round. In a mixing bowl, toss with olive oil and spices until evenly coated, then move to a sheet pan and place in a preheated 400˚F oven for roughly 25-30 minutes, tossing them halfway through.

STEP 3: Make the quinoa. While your sweet potatoes are cooking, add quinoa to a pot and add broth or water, then cook according to package directions.

STEP 4: Make the slaw. Slice cabbage thinly. Grate carrots or use pre-shredded carrots, and combine cabbage, carrots, and the rest of the slaw ingredients in a mixing bowl.

STEP 5: Cook the chicken. At this point, your chicken should have been in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. We'd recommend marinating for about 2-3 hours for maximum flavor, but you can take it out now and move it to the grill or a grill pan over medium-high heat.

Make sure there's a high heat oil in your grill pan or that your grill grates are well lubricated. Cook until one side is blackened (about 6-8 minutes) then flip and cook for another 6-8 minutes. The chicken should reach an internal temperature of around 165˚F. Let it rest for a few minutes, then cut into roughly 1" x 1" pieces.

STEP 6: Make the hot honey dressing: In a mixing bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk vigorously to combine.

STEP 7: Make your crispy shallots (optional). This is bit tricky and takes around 10 minutes, so feel free to skip if you don't have the time. Slice 1-2 shallots thinly (a mandoline works great), and move to a cold pan, and cover with oil. Turn heat to medium or medium low, and watch the shallots closely.

Once they start to fry and bubble, maintain the heat on low or slightly above low (the oil should be around 220˚F-240˚F) - just make sure the shallots keep bubbling. Once they're a pale golden brown, pour them out into a sieve placed atop a mixing bowl. Then move the onions to a paper towel to siphon off any excess oil, and sprinkle generously with kosher salt.

STEP 8: Assemble. Add a cup of quinoa to a plate, add a few pieces of chicken and sweet potato, a half cup of slaw, pour over as much dressing as you like, and top with crispy shallots.

Substitutions and Variations

• Make it vegetarian: Substitute chicken with extra firm tofu. Make sure to let it marinade so it soaks up lots of flavor!
• Make it vegan: Use tofu instead of chicken, and sub in vegan mayo. You can use maple syrup or agave in place of the honey in this recipe. Cook the quinoa in water or vegetable broth.
• You can use chicken thighs instead of breasts, just make sure to cook them to an internal temperature of 165˚F.
• The old hot Sweetgreen honey chicken bowl used breadcrumbs instead of crispy onions (we used shallots), so feel free to use some well-spiced breadcrumbs instead!
• Grain choice: You can use orzo, couscous, rice, or any other grain of your choosing instead of the quinoa.

Storage

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• Assemble the bowls in airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 5 days. We like to store the sauce separately in a small container.
  • To keep these hot honey chicken plates super fresh, we suggest using vacuum seal containers. These are our favorite and we use them every day!

Tips and FAQ

More tips

• Don't use too much oil on the sweet potatoes - they will fry in place instead of getting a nice char. They'll still taste good, but they won't look like the pictures in this post.
• Meal prep it! Since this recipe has a lot of components, it's best for meal prep.
• Whisk the dressing vigorously: You need to emulsify all of the ingredients, so give it a strong whisk to make sure everything gets incorporated.

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