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Sweet and Sticky Honey Sesame Chicken! A classic sesame chicken recipe made easy and no frying required! It’s one of our favorite ways to eat chicken on weeknights and such an easy recipe.
Takeout style honey sesame chicken, at home?
Sign this girl up.
Even my picky toddler gobbled this homemade honey sesame chicken recipe.
We’re talking about a sweet and sticky honey glazed chicken recipe. How could anyone not fall in love with that?
Toss crispy chicken tenders, breasts, or thighs in a little baking soda so that the chicken is tender. Then coat it in rice starch or cornstarch so the chicken is extra crispy. Pan fry and toss it in the most delicious honey sesame sauce spiked with garlic and ketchup.
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe!
If you’ve ordered a sesame chicken dish off the menu from any takeout joint, you are going to love this easy homemade version!
This is my version of the Panda Express famous recipe.
Ingredients for honey sesame chicken
- Chicken: use chicken breasts, thighs or tenders for this recipe. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces so that the crispy coating makes all the chicken extra crunchy.
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce: adds umami and flavor to the sauce and chicken
- Baking Soda: is an ingredient commonly used in Asian cooking to velvet the chicken. From my experience, baking soda raises the pH of the chicken and causes it to become tender and moist. It’s what I do for my gochujang chicken recipe too and it is so delicious!
- Egg Whites: I use white instead of whole eggs. The protein helps bind the chicken and the seasonings and makes it crunchy when pan-fried
- Seasonings: you’ll need kosher salt, white pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Cornstarch or Rice Flour: adds a crispy coating
- Honey: sweetens the honey sesame sauce
- Ketchup: adds color, tomato tanginess, and thickens the sauce
- Sesame Oil: Toasted sesame oil gives the chicken a deliciously juicy and slightly smoky flavor.
- Brown Sugar: adds sweetness
- Rice Vinegar: Adds just a hint of acid to balance the sweetness from the honey and brown sugar.
- Garlic: gives it flavor
- Sesame Seeds: is a garnish and adds nuttiness
- Serving suggestions: We like fluffy jasmine rice straight from the rice cooker with steamed broccoli on the side, but you could also make my din-tai fung inspired green beans, other steamed vegetables, charred scallion noodles, Cantonese pan-fried noodles, or garlic noodles topped with green onions.
Other takeout style recipes
- Faster than Takeout Fried Rice
- Lighter Orange Chicken
- Lighter Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Garlic Lovers Pepper Steak
- Buffet Style Jalapeno Chicken
Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1¼ pounds boneless skinless chicken tenders breasts, or thighs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons rice flour or corn starch
- Oil for cooking
Honey Sesame Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or more to taste
For serving:
- Sesame seeds for serving
- Prepared rice for serving
- Steamed broccoli for serving
Instructions
- VELVET THE CHICKEN: Cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces (roughly ¾ inch). To a large bowl, add the chicken, water, soy sauce, kosher salt, baking soda, egg white, white pepper, and egg whites. Stir to combine.
- COAT: Then add the rice flour or corn starch to the same bowl and stir to coat all of the chicken evenly.
- SAUCE: in a small bowl or measuring cup, combine all the ingredients for the sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of water and stir together until most of the brown sugar dissolves.
- FRY: add 2 tablespoons of oil to a deep large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ½ of the chicken ones the oil is hot and cook on one side undisturbed for 2-3 minutes before flipping and cooking the other side for another 2-5 minutes. When the chicken is golden and cooked, remove to a plate. Add more oil as need and cook the remaining chicken in batches. Remove all the chicken from the pan.
- TOSS: Drop the skillet temperature to medium low. Stir and pour the prepared sauce into the pan and when it starts to sizzle, add the crispy chicken pieces back to the skillet. Stir to combine so that all the chicken is coated in the sauce. Remove from heat. Top with tons of sesame seeds.
- SERVE: over a bed of fluffy rice with steamed broccoli on the side. Leftovers store well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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