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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.
loved it! Picky husband is in love with it. Although I use half the sauce and save the rest for the next week. My MIL told me I have to cook it at the next family party.
This chicken is soooooo good! I use about half the sauce and save the rest for the next week. My picky husband and his family told me I have to make it at the next family party
I do love stuff like this and your recipe seems really simple and easy so will give it a go next time I am in the mood for something a little Asian in flavour 😀
Made this tonight. I didn’t realize I had run out of brown sugar, so had to substitute for white. My little picky family of 4 LOVED it! I on the other hand found it to be too sweet, for my taste. It was good. I’m just not much of a sweet food eater. Will definitely make again for my loves.
Am I able to get this recipe please It sounds so good but there is no “print” option and I am no techno! Thanks
Barbara
This was lovely! Was a little too sweet, so may reduce sugar next time. All the family really enjoyed this dish. Thanks for a great recipe.!
I made this last night and it was AWESOME!! I was going to get takeout because I was craving Chinese food but the place close to me has gone down. The food last time was disgusting. I do have a PF Changs pretty close but this was better! I followed it exactly. Well I messed up at the very beginning and forgot to salt/pepper the chicken. I just did it after I got the breading on. Worked just fine. It took me a bit longer than I thought to make but next time (and there will be many more times for sure!) it will be more simple for me. First time can be a challenge but this could and will be a quick and easy one for me. The one thing that I hated was putting my hands in the cornstarch. I cringed. I guess I don’t really ever cook with it and it was like scratching a chalkboard to me. I’ll just wear gloves lol. It all turned into a gloppy looking mess but I think that made it work out so well for me. Meaning, I wasn’t trying to keep the cornstarch out of the eggs when I was coating the chicken. I was worried at first because my sauce was thin when I poured it over the chicken. I was expecting it to be thicker. No problem there either. It thickened so nicely while in the oven. I tossed in the sesame seeds when it was done and added in some of the chopped green onions. Looked just like the restaurant! Better than takeout and the best part it tasted amazing. I just had leftovers and I still can’t believe I made this! I made your fried rice recipe with it. I thought it was good but I for one never cook rice and I think I overcooked it. I also had to add WAY more soy sauce. I think it’s because I messed up the rice. I’ll post over on that one and maybe I can get some tips lol. Thanks so much for sharing these! I already shared with my sister and plan to spread the good word!! 🙂
Just made this for dinner…all of my guests asked for the recipe to take home! I did cook it an extra 10 minso the sauce would be a bit thicker. amazing!
I made this last night and it was an enormous hit. My 98 year old mother-in-law loved it too and she’s super picky.
I made this last night and it didn’t taste right I used just under 1/2 a cup of rice wine vinegar and I put in extra hone and brown sugar and all it tasted like was vinegar. So not really sure what went wrong?
So glad I found you!! Your recipes are my families favorite. I had to google you. I don’t know if you know this, but you’ve been blocked on Pinterest!!! Not sure why?
I don’t have canola oil. Which would be better to substitute , canola oil cooking spray or olive oil?
Thanks for the recipe! I made this tonight and it was a HIT! I did change a couple of things: Substituted red wine vinegar for 1/4 rice vinegar + 1/4 apple cider vinegar. Plus I think I missed the fact that I was supposed to coat with corn starch THEN egg! LOL I dipped in egg then corn starch! plus I noticed I needed more cornstarch probably used 1 1/2. and corn oil was too little..so I just poured more, fried them, removed and baked in oven..and only baked for 15 minutes..IT WAS DELISH!!! I also made the Easy fried rice! Another success! Giving this 5 stars!
Tried clicking on stars but it doesn’t do anything:(
You think I can make it in the evening and take it out for lunch the next day??
Actually for all of the dishes (Firecracker Chicken, Baked Orange Chicken, Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Peppers and Pineapple etc) for that matter!
Or maybe brown the chicken in the evening and bake it with the sauce the next morning to save time??
This looks amazing…trying it tonight!
On a side note: Alyssa, do you get exasperated by some of the questions people ask on here? I understand the need for some clarification but it’s ridiculous that people can’t infer simple things! lol It’s almost as if they’ve never cooked a single thing in their lives. That might be the reason, but I just think it’s sad that someone can’t come to their own conclusion that sesame seeds were added as a garnish after the fact regardless if it wasn’t added in the directions. 😛
Oh trust me! You don’t know the half of it! I am currently hiring for a comment answerer if you are interested. 😉 😉
Hello!
I tried this recipe last night, and the final product was so tasty! I just have a question about the chicken breading. I followed the recipe, yet the breading fell off the chicken during the baking process. Do you know any possible reasons why? I’m think I might have dipped the chicken into the egg mixture too much.
Please let me know!
Alana