The hot honey trend is no stranger to fast food and fast casual menus — the sweet and spicy dish can be found from KFC and Shake Shack to Sweetgreen, taking taste buds on a flavor-packed ride. Now, it’s Chipotle’s turn to jump into the game with a new fiery addition: Chipotle Honey Chicken. Chipotle’s bold new take on the trend balances the savory heat from chipotle peppers with the sweetness of pure honey for a rich, flavorful addition to any Chipotle entree. Starting today, March 6, Chipotle Rewards members will have early, exclusive access to the new menu item through the Chipotle app or online. Starting March 7, the Chipotle Honey Chicken will hit menus across North America and Europe for a limited time, while supplies last.
To make ordering as seamless as possible, customers in the U.S. and Canada can simply order the “Most Popular Chipotle Honey Chicken Bowl.” The bowl is made with white rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and of course the Chipotle Honey Chicken.
According to a press release, Chipotle Honey Chicken is made with freshly grilled chicken, seasoned with savory Mexican spices, and marinated with seared chipotle peppers and a touch of pure honey. After it was offered in test markets in Nashville, Tennessee and Sacramento, California in 2024, it quickly became a fan favorite and Chipotle’s best-selling limited time offer in a market-wide test.
The hot honey trend is showing no signs of cooling off
After National Restaurant News’ annual “What’s Hot 2025 Culinary Forecast” crowned hot honey the top trending flavor of the year, it’s no surprise Chipotle would want to add a sweet and spicy protein to its menu. And while Chipotle’s Honey Chicken may be the latest addition to the “swicy” game, it’s hardly the only one available. Back in 2021, Shake Shack debuted its first ever “swicy” item, a Korean fried chicken sandwich made with a sweet and spicy gochujang glaze, and it quickly became a success. So much so that the burger behemoth brought the sandwich back in January of 2024, much to the delight of customers with a taste for that sweet heat. More recently, KFC introduced a collaboration with Mike’s Hot Honey in the form of Hot Honey Chicken, giving an extra kick of flavor and hot and sticky sweetness to an item that was already finger lickin’ good.
In an interview with QSR Magazine, Mike Kurtz, the founder of Mike’s Hot Honey, noted that the sweet and spicy is here to stay. “We’ve been named the flavor of the year and what’s hot by the industry press year after year; the growth of hot honey on menus backs it up,” he said. “This trend is not slowing down.”
