Sesame Chicken

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! )
• Crispy Shredded Chicken ( Our viewer’s favourite! )
• Chinese Salt and Chilli Chicken ( Most popular recipe on our website! )

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