The Best Crispy Honey Sesame Chicken Recipe - fried coated chicken glazed with a sweet and savoury sticky Asian sauce. This is our better than takeout recipe, which you can easily at home with simple ingredients.
Origin of this dish
You can find Chinese-style crispy chicken with sesame seeds in almost all Chinese restaurants and takeout in the US and UK. Originated in Chinese-American restaurants like the popular General Tso's Chicken and Orange chicken.
Also known as Sticky Honey Sesame Chicken because the crispy chicken is tossed in sweet, glossy, and sticky honey sauce. It's usually served over a stir fry noodle or steamed rice.
Every family and restaurant has its own version of it. Even American restaurant chain TGI Fridays has its version of TGI sesame chicken strips and Panda Express's one is very popular too.
With our easy recipe, you can create restaurant-quality at home with minimum effort. Super delicious and incredibly easy to make at home.
What makes this dish so special:
- A perfect crowd-pleasing dish for any party or gathering. Serve as a starter or pair it with other dishes and make it the main meal.
- The coating is super light and crispy, but the meat inside is moist and tender.
- Super addictive and satisfying dish all kids and adults love. Unstoppable to take another bite!
Ingredients you can swap or add extra:
As this is a versatile dish, you can adjust or swap the ingredients according to your preference.
Protein: We usually make it with boneless chicken breast but you can also make it with boneless chicken thigh, fish fillets, or tofu. If you wish you make it with beef, use tender beef steak like ribeye, rump, sirloin, flank steak, and cut into thin strips.
Vegetables: I love to make without many veggies. But for veggies lovers, you can add extra onions, bell peppers, snow peas, or any of your favourite stir fry vegetables.
Honey Sesame Sauce: To achieve the perfectly balanced sweet and sticky honey sauce, you will need honey, sesame oil, sugar, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and water. If you prefer less sweet in the sauce, omit sugar or substitute sugar with honey.
Sesame Seeds: Use toasted sesame seeds to bring more nutty flavour and crunch texture to the dish.
What goes with this dish?
These crispy chicken bites are fantastic as a savoury snack. You can also serve with steamed rice, simple egg fried rice, noodles, potato chips, or wedges. Especially great with a Chinese tea or a can of cold drink.
Simple Cooking Process
First of all, cut chicken breast into medium bite-size pieces. Marinate with sesame oil, light soy sauce, garlic paste, baking soda, sugar and black pepper for 10-15 minutes.
Gather all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside for later use.
Break one egg white into the marinated chicken and mix it well.
Coat the chicken pieces with corn/potato starch and toss the excess flour out before frying. Make sure to coat each chicken pieces and separate each pieces.
Fry with pre-heated oil about 350° F. Add the chicken pieces and deep fry 2-3 mins until crispy golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
Pour the sauce mixture into the wok/pan and bring it to boil with medium-high heat.
Add the fried chicken pieces. Stir well with medium-high heat for few seconds.
Add the toasted sesame seeds and spring onions and stir well.
Remove from heat and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped spring onions. Serve immediately!
More delicious takeout favourite crispy chicken recipes on our website:
- General Tso’s Chicken ( Crispy chicken in a spicy, sweet, and savoury sauce. )
- Crispy Orange Chicken ( Finger licking good tangy, sticky orange sauce! )
- Mongolian Chicken ( Our viewer's favourite! )
- Chinese Salt and Chilli Chicken ( Most popular recipe on our website! )
If you enjoy our recipe, please leave a comment and give us a rating! If you’ve tried this recipe, tag me on social media, I would love to see your creations! Follow me on social media Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for the latest updates.
📖 Recipe
Easy Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 0.70 lb Boneless chicken thigh/breast ( about 300 gram )
- 1 cup Potato /Corn Starch
- 2 tbsp Toasted sesame seeds
- 2-3 Spring Onions
- 1 Egg white
- Oil for frying
Marinate for Chicken
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Garlic paste
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Sugar
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
Sauce
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 2 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Brown/white sugar
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- 3 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Cut chicken into small medium bite size pieces. Add all the ingredients from the chicken marinate list, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
- In a small mixing bowl add all the ingredients from the sauce mix and mix well. Set aside.
- Add one egg white into the marinated chicken and mix well. Coat the chicken pieces with Corn/potato flour and toss the excess flour out before frying.
- Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins till chicken turn into light golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
- Heat the wok, add the sauce mixture and bring it to boil with medium high heat.
- Add the fried chicken pieces. Stir well with medium high heat for few seconds.
- Add the tosted sesame seeds and spring onions and stir well.
- Garnish with extra sesame seeds and cut spring onions.
- Crispy Sesame Chicken is ready! Serve immediately.
- Perfect with a bowl of steamed rice or a stir-fry noodle. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Which oil is best for deep frying? Use neutral flavour oil like sunflower, canola, grapeseed, peanut, or vegetable oil for deep frying.
- Baked Sesame Chicken? Can you air fry the chicken pieces? Deep frying tastes best but you can spray or brush cooking oil on the coated chicken pieces generously. Fry it in an air fryer or bake in the oven until crispy golden brown.
- Making for a crowd? You can simply double or triple ingredients.
- Corn/Potato Starch - Use corn starch or potato starch instead of regular plain flour to achieve a crispy coating texture.
Marietta Spry says
Love all your easy to follow delicious recipes, thanks for always sharing!
Juliette ASHMORE says
Wow..My son loved it!
Natalie says
Exact flavor replication of Chinese takeout I was looking for! Very simple! I subbed garlic powder for garlic paste
Karen says
One of the best chicken dishes I’ve made I awhile!
Khin says
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it, Karen.
Mini Szasz says
I made this last night and it turned out soooo good! Thank you! I like the way you detail every step making it easy to follow. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Christy says
I have made a couple Sesame Chicken recipes and this by far was the best!!! My family absolutely loved it! It is definitely my go to recipe. Thank you so much for sharing! Made it with fried rice. Absolutely amazing!!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Christy! Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Sheryl Kiesewetter says
Totally better than carry out! I tripled the sauce because we are sauce people and added Szechuan Red Dried Chilis in the sauce which was just the touch of heat we enjoy! It’s easy and truly ranks as restaurant quality!
Khin says
So happy to hear it, Sheryl! Thanks for trying it out and sharing your feedback with us.
Angela says
We loved it. Doubled the sauce because we are a saucy loving family. Will definitely make again!!
Arlene says
Made this for serving size of six and had plenty of leftovers. My family loved this recipe! I used corn starch and added a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of spice.
Sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds are a must; they added the authentic Chinese flavor. This was better than fast food take out.
Leftovers: I quickly whipped up 1 serving of the sauce when I warmed up the leftovers to add more sauce.
Katelynn says
I’ve made this many times and it’s a hit every time! I’m actually making it tonight, but I don’t have rice vinegar so can I use apple cider vinegar?
Khin says
Yes, you can use apple cider vinegar as a rice vinegar substitute. Glad you enjoyed it, Katelynn.
Marwa says
I made this dish 3 times and my family loves it and so do I. it easy to make 👍
Khin says
Happy that you enjoyed it, Marwa. Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Kona Bella says
Aloha Khin,
I made this last night and my hubby loved it. I would double the sauce as suggested above next time. I did add 1 “ shredded ginger in the sauce, 4 dried, whole,red chilis and 1/8 tsp of chili garlic sauce to the sauce. I double fried the chicken as my hubby likes it crispy.(I haven’t mastered this yet and may buy a Fry Daddy to get the crisp.)
Khin, how much oil do you put in the pot when frying the chicken? I may have over crowded or cut the chicken chunks too large so as not to get the crisp that I wanted.
As mentioned, I double fried the chicken but still not crunchy enough.
Thoughts?
I cut coin size of yellow and green squash and then quartered the coins. I tossed the chicken, scallions and squash coin quarters in with the sauce while stir frying. Wow, good!
Kona Bella
R says
Great recipe. Sauce was yummy!
Khin says
Glad that you enjoyed it, R.
Lauren says
I doubled the sauce and used a mix of gluten free flour and cornstarch for the chicken. Also threw some spinach in to add some veggies. Next time I make it, I'll throw some heat in if my kiddos aren't around but still so easy and soooo good! Thank you for sharing!
Khin says
I am so happy that you enjoyed it, Lauren. That sounds so delicious with extra veggies. I add a drizzle of chilli oil or crushed chillies for a kick of heat.