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.
Heena says
I didn’t add any egg whites but it turns out perfect and crispy . Thanks for the recipe.
Kona Bella says
Made sesame chicken last night. Double fried the chicken as instructed in your comment section. It was crunchy and delish! My husband loved it!
Khin says
Very glad that you enjoyed it, Kona. Thank you for trying out this recipe and leaving the comment.
Nola says
Great, easy recipe. I’m going to increase the sauce volume next time as it was a bit dry…. But a great dish all round.
Gill says
This was such an easy recipe my daughter and I made it was absolutely delicious will definitely be making it again just like the well known American restaurant Chain.
Khin says
So happy to hear it, Gill. Thank you for trying out this recipe and sharing your feedback.
Jacob says
Would i be able to deep fry the chicken a second time for extra crispy chicken?
Khin says
Yes, definitely. Fry the coated chicken pieces in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes or until they start to float. Remove from heat and let them cool down for 4-5 minutes. Then fry it back again in the hot oil for super crispy coating texture.
Susan Phillips says
I made this tonight after seeing how easy it seemed to prepare. I kept eating the chicken before making the sauce. This is so good and my picky eaters really enjoyed it as well. Thank you. I am going to make the fried rice tomorrow night. So excited.
Khin says
So glad that you and your family enjoyed it. Thanks for trying it out and sharing your feedback.
Gloria says
The recipe was easy to follow n the results were great. My family and I enjoyed the taste n they wanted me to cook it again. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Khin says
You are welcome, Gloria. Glad that you enjoyed this recipe.
Beverley Kahnt says
love this recipe! easy and fast:)
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Beverley. Thanks for trying it out and sharing your feedback.
Thalia says
I have tried this dish multiple times in restaurants and always loved it! I never expected that I could make it at home and that it would be SO good!!! Highly recommended!
Khin says
Yay! Very glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Thalla. Thanks so much for taking the time and sharing feedback.
Gary says
Can I shallow fry the chicken rather than Deep Fry?
Khin says
Hi Gary, deep frying tastes best but you can shallow fry or air-fry them too.
sebastian says
very yummy thank you
Khrisna Morgan says
This dish did not disappoint!! Even though I was worried at first cause I thought the sauce wasn’t gonna be good then I tossed it in the wok and omg it was amazing!! Loved it my husband did too!!
Paul says
Delicious 👍🏼😋👍🏼 served it with mushroom and egg fried rice 😋
Alicia says
This recipe was amazing! I added some veggies to it, otherwise I made it just as the recipe states. Thanks for sharing recipes for us to try.
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Alica! Thanks for sharing feedback with us.
Kieran J says
This is delicious and I’ve changed it up a bit by adding half a tablespoon of Gochujang to the sauce to give it a bit of heat. Another excellent recipe.
Khin says
Sounds delicious with Gochujang. Happy that you enjoyed it, Kieran!