This Sweetgreen inspired Hot Honey Chicken Plate was a request after I made my favorite Salmon Fish Taco Bowl recreation from Sweetgreen.

The hot honey sauce in this dish is INCREDIBLE – it’s sweet, spicy, and this recipe makes enough to have leftovers. I topped it on a simple piece of roast salmon, and it was also so delicious.

Components and Substitutions

The Kale Slaw

• The simple kale slaw on this plate is made with massaged Dino kale, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and some of the hot honey dressing. If you prefer a less spicy version of this, feel free to just toss the slaw with balsamic vinaigrette instead.

Quinoa

• The carbohydrate of the dish, and a component that makes this hearty and filling. If you would like a substitution, feel free to use wild rice.

Blackened Chicken

• This blackened chicken is one of my favorite marinades – it’s a combination of salt, spices, and lemon juice and oil. I roast it in the oven as a quick and hands off approach, but you could also sear this in a cast iron or air fryer if you prefer.

Hot Honey Dressing

• A delicious dressing made with dijon mustard, honey, sriracha (or any hot sauce you like), salt, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Step by step instructions – For the Sweetgreen Hot Honey Chicken Plate:

1. In a small pot, add the 3/4 cup of quinoa, 1.5 cups of water, and pinch of kosher salt. Bring up to a boil, then stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. When finished, remove the lid, fluff, and let cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 425F. 

3. Marinate the chicken thighs. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, then place the chicken into an even layer on a baking sheet. Once the oven is preheated, roast for 15 minutes. After the chicken has been roasting for 15 minutes, remove this from the oven. If you’d like more of a char, you can broil this for an additional minute, just be sure to remove the sweet potatoes when you do so. Once the chicken is ready, cut each thigh into 3 pieces.

4. Prep the sweet potatoes – peel the potatoes, then cut them into 1” chunks. I typically quarter the potatoes, halve that lengthwise, then cut that final segment  into quarters. Add this to a sheet tray along with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a couple pinches of kosher salt, and black pepper. Give everything a toss, then roast at 425F for 15-20 minutes. This can roast in the oven at the same time as the chicken. 

5. While the chicken and veggies are roasting, prep the remaining produce – if you bought the pre-shredded kale, carrots, and red cabbage, first add the kale to the mixing bowl. Add a squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon) and massage the kale for 20 seconds. Add in the remaining shredded carrots and red cabbage and toss together.

For the hot honey dressing

6. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a food processor. The olive oil will emulsify with the rest of the ingredients once blended together. Taste, adjust with more hot sauce, honey, or salt as desired, then pour into an airtight container or jar.

7. Spoon ¼ cup of the hot honey dressing into the salad mixture. If you’re meal prepping this, just dress the salad portion you are eating for that day.

8. Assemble the plate – add some of the salad mixture, some of the quinoa, sweet potatoes, and chicken. Top the chicken with another spoonful of the hot honey dressing, and enjoy!

Video Tutorial Here: Sweetgreen Hot honey chicken plate

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The Cost Breakdown

For the plate:

• 2 cups of kale – $1.99
• ¾ cup quinoa – $0.75
• 1.5 lb chicken thighs-$7.49
• 1/4 head of red cabbage – $1
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots – $.25
• 2 sweet potatoes – $2
• Chopped almonds (optional) – $1.00

For the Hot Honey Dressing

• 1 lemon – $0.50
• Seasoning – salt, honey, hot sauce, mustard, oil – $1

TOTAL – $15.98 for 4 servings

Other Chicken bowls: