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Honey Sesame Chicken is sweet, savory, and perfect for any night of the week. This is so good, it is even better than take out!
Serve this restaurant worthy meal on a bed of rice and with sides such as Wontons, Egg Rolls or Fried Rice for the complete take out from home.
Homemade Honey Sesame Chicken
There are recipes that I make that I hope that everyone tries. This is one of those recipes. It all began with my sweet and sour chicken that changed my life. It is actually possible to make the same quality Chinese food as P.F. Chang’s at home. Then came a spicy version of this delicious chicken, my firecracker chicken. I had died and gone to Chinese food heaven with these recipes. I didn’t think that it could get any better than this. Since I love Chinese food so much my life was complete. But then I created honey sesame chicken. Let me tell you this. This is the best of them all!
It first starts with the breading. The cornstarch and egg combo makes it taste straight from a restaurant. Then there is something about baking this chicken that makes the sauce thicken, the chicken brown and absolutely blow your mind. Seriously I could hardly believe how amazing this was while I was eating it. The sauce has a sweet honey flavor to it and is absolute honey sesame perfection. If you love Chinese and make one thing from my blog, make this!
Sesame Chicken Ingredients
These simple ingredients are probably sitting in your pantry right now. I love that this comes together so easily. You are going to love the luscious sauce.
- Chicken Breasts: About 4 chicken breasts
- Cornstarch: Needed for the breading
- Eggs: The binder
- Salt and Pepper: To taste
- Canola: Just enough to fry in
Honey Sesame Sauce
- Honey: The queen of the sauce
- Soy Sauce: Adds a bit of salty and flavor to the sweet
- Ketchup: Adds a good balance to the sweet
- Brown Sugar: Helps bring out the sweetness of the honey
- Rice Wine Vinegar: The zing to the sweet, you’ll want the tang to balance it
- Sesame Oil: Adds perfect sesame flavor
- Garlic: A necessity in asian food
- Cornstarch: This is the thickener for the sauce
How to Make Easy Honey Sesame Chicken
This could not be any easier. Remember you are just flash frying the chicken, it will finish cooking in the oven.
- Cut: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper
- Bowls: In one bowl place the cornstarch. In the other bowl place the eggs and beat them slightly. Dip the chicken into the cornstarch first, then into the egg mixture.
- Flash Fry: In a skillet heat the oil over medium high heat. Cook the chicken till just golden brown on all sides. Place in a greased 9×13 pan.
- Mix: In a medium bowl mix all of the sauce ingredients till thoroughly combined. Pour over the chicken.
- Bake: Bake the chicken for 45 min stirring every 15 min to evenly coat the chicken.
Trust Me on these Pro Tips!
This is the same method as my Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken so it shares my same tips.
- Method to the Madness: Make sure you first coat your chicken in the cornstarch and then the egg. This method makes the perfect breading for the chicken. You can also use a large gallon ziplock bag to coat the chicken in the cornstarch.
- Fast: Do not cook the chicken all the way through before baking. You just want to get the chicken lightly brown on the outside, and then it bakes to perfection.
- Low and Slow: Baking the chicken at a low temperature will not over cook the chicken. This helps to cook the chicken all the way through and thicken up the sauce.
Tips for the Best Honey Sesame Chicken
Besides taking time to cook in the oven this baked honey chicken comes together really quickly. Cut your chicken when it is still partially frozen to make it easier to cut. But wait to bread and cook them till thawed.
- Chicken: You can use chicken thighs if you like. Just make sure your pieces of chicken are cut evenly so they cook at the same rate.
- Vinegar: If you don’t have rice wine vinegar you can easily substitute apple cider vinegar without ruining the taste.
- Vegetables: You can add in broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini or other vegetables to round out the meal a bit more.
- Serve: This is definitely delicious on its own but we love to serve it over rice. You can also try quinoa, brown rice or ramen noodles.
- Side Dishes: Serve this luscious dish alongside Air Fryer Egg Rolls, Grilled Pineapple, and Vegetable Stir Fry.
- Sauce: If you want more sauce, make a double batch of the sauce. Pour half over the chicken to bake and heat the other half in a small saucepan over medium heat till thickened. Pour the extra sauce over the chicken once done, or over individual portions. This will help it not get soggy while it cooks, but gives you extra sauce.
Storing Leftovers
Leftovers are some of the best. The sauce really melds into the chicken. The breaded chicken will lose a bit of its crispy tender outside, but the taste is still amazing.
- Fridge: Place leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
- Freezer: This can be frozen too. Just place in a freezer safe container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Reheat: Sweet and Sour Chicken is best reheated on the stove. Reheating it in the microwave can make the chicken rubbery and overcooked. Place leftovers in pan on the stove top and heat on medium heat, stirring often, till heated through.
More Asian Inspiration for Dinner
Asian food is a staple around here at our house. We love to make our favorites at home, instead of getting take out. It always tastes ten times better and when making it at home you can customize it to your tastes. Cooking these take out favorites is actually easier than you think too. I have plenty of tried and true favorites here on the blog, but these favorites are a good place to start.
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
- Skillet Sesame Chicken and Broccoli
- Sesame Orange Chicken
- Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken
- Slow Cooker Honey Teriyaki Chicken
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Baked Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 3 large eggs
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup canola oil
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoons cornstarch
- additional sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture then back into the cornstarch. I have also found that you can put the chicken pieces in a gallon size bag and shake to coat.
- Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, and 1 T cornstarch. Pour over chicken and bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Alyssa, I just wanted to double check that “T” is tablespoon..and not teaspoon ?
Thanks!
yes Tablespoon. 🙂
Still waiting to see how it turns out but the first part seemed to just be like I was cooking eggs with chicken in it. My place smells like eggs right now. hoping this works because my son loves chicken from a Chinese place but when I make it at home not so much.
Yes! It is kind of weird but trust the process! It is so amazing!
Made this tonight. I will admit that I am not the most exact at measuring, so I don’t know if my attempt should really count. Bit of a pain the butt to fry up all those little pieces of chicken; however, my main difficulty was with the sauce. It tasted kind of excessively vinegar-y and ketcup-y. Again, this may be my hurried measurements at fault, and reluctance to use that much sugar (yikes!). All in all it came out pretty good, but not spectacular. If you make this, don’t be scared of the sugar.
I was looking for new ways to prepare chicken to help me lose weight. I wrap the chicken in a tortilla, filled with all kinds of veggies, cooked fruits, and spices. This with exercise works wonders. Thanks
Looks delicious! Will this work with shrimp?
I’m giving this one 5 out of 5! This recipe is so amazing! I really don’t like eating take out because I’m sensative to colours and preservatives, but my partner loves it. This honey sesame chicken totally saved the day. Now we can both enjoy a bit of ‘take in’ with all the ‘take out’ feel without having to worry about hidden additives. Thanks for the perfect recipe, it is one of the few online recipes I haven’t had to change at all (which is super impressive). I’ve made this twice now and it works great! I’m adding this to my list of new favs!
can I make this and freeze it? Thanks
I made this today and omg its so good. Sweet but delicious. I would reduce the brown sugar and/or honey next time. I also did it in a hotter oven for shorter time. The sauce thickened nicely. I cooked it in a high fan forced oven at 200C, which converts to 392F , for 15 mins, then added another 5. So a total of20 mins. Chicken was still soft and not dry
Now i’m looking for a Chicken Lo Mein recipe 🙂
Thanks for Sharing !!
This is delicious and my family’s new favorite. Thank you!
I was wondering if you knew what the measurements were in grams not cups, I tried converting it online but it seems really complicated?
Well – not quite sure what to say about this. Looked good but the first bite was a bit of a surprise … thought it would be sweet. It really wasn’t. Like Cyndi said – it was kind of strong. I am not sure if its the 3/4 c. of soy sauce or the vinegar. Surely, I shouldn’t have to add more sugar but actually, I did. Just found it surprisingly not sweet. It was much better after I added several heaping tablespoons of brown sugar. I think I’d make it again … just maybe use less soy sauce and perhaps vinegar. Some people enjoyed it but only after I added the extra sugar. The chicken part was great – but maybe I’d make the changes to the sauce or just use a different sauce.
We made this for the first time tonight. Way too much vinegar it overpowered everything! I would use 1/4 at the most, maybe even 1/8… rice vinegar is even stronger than rice wine vinegar in the vinegar taste… we used the rice wine vinegar as per recipe…love the batter the cornstarch and egg made for the chicken! We added another cup of honey and 1 1/2 cup of brown sugar after baking to try to cut vinegar, and still could not taste the other flavors but the vinegar and sugar….perhaps the ketchup acid contributed to it as well… will try it again with the the much less vinegar…
Sounds amazing!! What does T mean tho? “1 T of corn starch”…?
Tablespoon
Made this last night and it was delicous! Thank you so much, the recipe is amazing. I left out the sesame seed oil as I did not have any, and it was still amazing. Might leave out just a bit of honey next time though. Plan on trying your firecracker chicken next!
Thank you so much!
I made this last night for dinner and found that it was a bit on the salty side.My wife and 3 year old son loved it. It’s weird how many people had trouble with the breading, once browned, it shouldn’t fall off. I would definitely use less soy sauce.Use a low-sodium soy sauce, maybe add some tomato sauce instead of ketchup.
I just made this tonight as I was craving something Chinese and really get freaked out by the “chicken” they often use at our local restaurants. It is really good!
I did find that it is too salty. I think next time I will use a low-sodium soy sauce. Also, I would like to spice it up just a little bit. What do you think would be the best way to do that who this recipe? Add some sezchuan, or just some red pepper flakes?
Yes try low sodium soy sauce next time…. you definitely need to try the firecracker chicken! That one has a little kick and it is awesome!