Family favourite Honey Lemon Chicken recipe loaded with crispy chicken tossed in sweet and tangy honey lemon sauce. Preparation takes only 30 minutes and is much quicker, easier, and better than takeout!
This recipe shows you how to make a perfect sweet, sour, savoury Chinese lemon chicken recipe with our simple tips.
If you are a fan of PF Chang's crispy honey chicken or Panda Express's style Honey Sesame Chicken, you will definitely love this Chinese lemon chicken recipe, too!
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Ingredients & Variations
For Honey Lemon Sauce
- Chicken Stock: Instead of chicken stock/broth you can add water.
- Honey or sugar
- Fresh lemon juice: Add fresh squeezed lemon juice for the best flavour.
- Lemon zest
- Ginger
For Chicken & Coating
- Chicken: I used chicken breast in this recipe, but you can substitute it with chicken thigh or a choice of protein.
- Chicken Marinade: regular soy sauce, baking soda, sesame oil, ginger-garlic paste.
- Coating: egg, cornstarch or potato starch.
Other Ingredients
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
- Cornstarch slurry ( cornstarch + water ) to thicken the sauce
Expert Tips
- You can add this honey sauce to various dishes and make it crispy honey prawns or squid or even taste great with crispy tender steak.
- If you prefer your sauce with a kick of chilli taste, add a bit of sweet chilli sauce or crushed chilli flakes to the sauce mixture.
- Baking soda in the marinade keeps the meat moist and tender when deep-fried at high heat.
- If you wish to make it with beef like Sesame Beef, use a steak cut like rump, sirloin, tenderloin, or rib-eye steak.
- You can test the temperature of deep-frying oil with a wooden chopstick. The oil is ready to fry when the bubbles start to fizz steadily.
Instructions
Prepare Chicken Marinade and Coating
- Cut the chicken into small bite-size pieces. Place the chicken pieces in a large mixing bowl and marinate with baking soda, sesame oil, ginger garlic paste, and soy sauce. Mix well and set it aside for 10-15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, break one egg into the marinated chicken pieces and mix it well. Then add the potato/corn starch and coat each piece evenly with flour. Toss the excess flour out before frying.
Fry the Chicken Pieces
- Heat the oil to high heat, about 350° F. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
- Remove from oil and transfer to a paper towel or cooling rack.
Toss with Honey Lemon Sauce
- Heat the wok, and add chicken stock, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt to taste. Bring it to a boil with medium-high heat. Add the fried chicken pieces. Pour in cornstarch slurry and stir well until the chicken pieces are coated and glossy.
FAQs
How to serve honey lemon chicken?
Serve over a bed of steamed rice, Garlic Fried Rice, or stir fry noodles like Plain Chow Mein. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and lemon slices.
Can you reheat it?
Yes, you can reheat it in the microwave or in the saucepan but the coating texture won't be as crispy as freshly cooked.
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📖 Recipe
Crispy Honey Lemon Chicken
Crispy Honey Lemon Chicken with lightly coated chicken tossed in classic lemon sauce. This easy recipe can be made in less than 30mins and made with simple ingredients.
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Servings: 2
Calories: 543kcal
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 250 g Chicken breast or thigh, cut small cubes
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Potato / Corn starch
- Cornstarch slurry Corn flour½ tsp + 1 tbsp water
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Oil for frying vegetable or neutral flavour oil, canola, sunflower, etc
Marinate for Chicken
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tsp Light Soy Sauce or all-purpose soy sauce
- 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste ( grated ginger and garlic )
Sauce mix
- ½ cup Chicken Stock Or water
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Honey or sugar
- 1 tsp Lemon zest
- 1 Lemon about 3 tbsp of lemon juice
- 3-4 slices Ginger cut thin strips
Instructions
- Cut chicken into small bite size pieces. Add baking soda, sesame oil, ginger garlic paste and light soy sauce mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
- Cut ginger into thin slices. Squeeze lemon juice out from one lemon and set aside.
- Break one egg into the marinated chicken pieces and mix it well. Then add the potato/corn starch and coat the chicken pieces toss the excess flour out before frying.
- Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F. You can test oil temperature with wooden chopstick, its ready to fry when the bubbles start to fizz steadily. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins until the chicken turn into crispy golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
- Heat the wok, add all ingredients from the sauce mixture and bring it to boil with medium high heat.
- Add the fried chicken pieces. Stir well with medium high heat to few seconds.
- Add corn starch and water mixture in the sauce and stir well until the chicken pieces are glossy and coated well with the sauce.
- Serve immediately with a bowl of steamed rice or a stir-fry noodle. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and lemon slices. Crispy Honey Lemon Chicken is ready! Enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken stock/broth - instead of chicken stock/broth you can add water or vegetable stock. If you are adding water you can add 1 tsp of chicken bouillon powder/cube for extra umami flavour.
- Honey - Instead of honey, you can use brown sugar or regular white sugar as a substitute.
- Customize the sauce - If you prefer the sauce sweeter, you can add more honey, or if you like it tangier, you can add more lemon juice.
Nutrition
Calories: 543kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 1157mg | Potassium: 664mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 2mg
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Sasha says
can I fry in airfryer for a healthier version?
Khin says
Yes, definitely. You can fry in air-fryer. Spray generous amount of oil over the coated chicken pieces then fry with pre-heated air-fryer until crispy.
Karen Jane Davis says
Hi Khin, adoring all your recipes! never made so much chinese food. recently made crispy honey chicken. can I simply double sauce ingredients for more sauce. thanks
Adrian Donlan says
Great recipe, my kids loved it. I've made this a few times with different recipes and this is definitely the best
Khin says
Thank you so much Adrian! So glad that you enjoyed it!