Hot Honey Glazes for Grilled Meats: Elevate Your BBQ Game

Hot honey combines the sweetness of honey with chili heat. On the grill, you can use it in a marinade, brush it on as a glaze, or drizzle it over the finished food.

Here is how each approach works, followed by recipes for meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit.

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The photographs are illustrations. They do not establish the use of hot honey, show the linked recipes, or represent dishes photographed or tested by Teddy Danielson.

An intro to grilling with hot honey

Honey sugars brown quickly over heat, so keep a close eye on a glaze. A light coating near the end of cooking gives you more control than an early, heavy pour.

Choose the approach that fits your recipe and the ingredient you are grilling.

The marinade route

A marinade coats the food with honey, seasoning and acidity before it goes on the grill.

For chicken, beef or pork, the original suggestion is a mixture of hot honey, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and minced garlic for about 30–60 minutes, with an overnight option in the refrigerator. Follow your recipe’s timing for the cut you are using; longer is not automatically better.

Keep raw food in the refrigerator throughout marinating. Before adding it, set aside any sauce you want for the cooked food. Use clean utensils and a clean platter for serving. The FDA’s outdoor food-safety guide explains these precautions.

Put a glaze on it

A glaze adds flavor to the surface. We like it with salmon, sweet potatoes, carrots and zucchini.

Whisk hot honey with apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and, if you like, Dijon mustard. Brush it on according to your recipe’s method, watching for scorching. Keep a clean brush and untouched sauce for any finishing coat.

For a simple finish, brush on plain hot honey near the end of grilling, or drizzle it on after cooking.

Just a drizzle. Thanks!

Drizzle hot honey over cooked food when you want its flavor without risking a scorched glaze. Try it with corn, bok choy, asparagus or broccoli.

Tips for grilling success

• Follow the grilling method in your recipe. Move glazed food away from strong direct heat if it starts to scorch.
• Check doneness with a food thermometer. Poultry, including ground poultry, needs 165°F. Ground beef and pork need 160°F. Whole beef and pork cuts need 145°F plus a three-minute rest; fish needs 145°F. See the FoodSafety.gov temperature chart for the food you are cooking, including separate shellfish guidance.
• A little lemon juice or vinegar brings tartness to a sweet glaze.

Our favorite recipes

Here are the recipes from our original list. Follow each recipe’s full method and cooking guidance.

Sweet and savory meats

Choose chicken, pork or steak:

• Hot Honey Grilled Chicken Thighs
• Juicy Grilled Pork Chops with Hot Honey
• Hot Honey Marinated Flank Steak

Salacious seafood

Start lightly with hot honey on seafood, then adjust the flavor to your taste.

• Hot Honey Salmon Bites
• Hot Honey Shrimp
• Try hot honey in place of the honey in this Grilled Scallops Recipe. This is a flavor variation on the linked recipe.

Veggies gone wild

For vegetables, try skewers, carrots or zucchini:

• Hot Honey Veggies Skewers
• Swap half of the honey in this Glazed Grilled Carrots Recipe for hot honey as a flavor variation.
• Hot Honey Grilled Zucchini with Savannah Bee Company’s Honey Hot Sauce.
• Check Savannah Bee Company Honey Hot Sauce, one 5-ounce bottle on Amazon (paid link). The manufacturer and retailer ingredient descriptions differ; check the current bottle label if ingredients matter to you.

Sweet tooth central

Fruit belongs on the grill too. These recipes pair warm fruit with honey:

• Hot Honey Grilled Peaches
• Grilled Fruit Salad with Hot Honey
• Grilled Figs with Honey Mascarpone, with hot honey in place of the honey as a flavor variation.

Choose your next recipe

Pick one recipe, follow its cooking method, and watch the honey closely as it browns. Happy grilling!