Crispy fried chicken tossed in a sweet honey sesame sauce. This quick and easy honey sesame chicken is made in 30 minutes with simple ingredients. A delicious main for a busy weeknight meal, saving you money on takeout!
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My honey sesame chicken features fried diced chicken coated in a sweet and savory sauce that will keep you coming back for more!
The taste of the crispy chicken and that honey sesame sauce is a match made in food heaven! It's best paired with steamed rice and your favorite vegetables.
This is a popular Asian chicken dish served at many Chinese restaurants and also known as "sesame chicken". At the restaurant, they batter and deep fry the chicken in a lot of oil.
But the best part about my recipe is that it's shallow-fried in less oil, not deep-fried, so you're not wasting a lot oil. I also share how to air fry the chicken in the recipe card below.
It's an easy chicken recipe that is made in little time in one-pan and it's great for the whole family! You'll save yourself at least $15 in Chinese takeout. I love making this for my husband who is a big fan of this dish.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Skinless Boneless Chicken Thighs: or substitute with diced chicken breast for a leaner alternative but reduce the cooking time or until an internal temperature of 165 with a digital cooking thermometer.
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. Avoid olive oil that has a low smoke point.
- Salt
- Cornstarch: or substitute with potato starch, arrowroot starch or rice flour. Avoid using tapioca starch as it causes the chicken to stick together.
- Green Onions: for garnishing
Sauce
- Plain Liquid Honey: avoid using flavored honeys.
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce.
- Sesame Oil
- White Granulated Sugar: or substitute with cane sugar.
- Sesame Seeds
- Cornstarch: or substitute with potato starch, arrowroot starch, rice flour or tapioca starch.
- Shaoxing wine: a Chinese rice cooking wine sold at many Asian grocery stores. Or substitute with Dry Sherry or dry white wine. For a non-alcoholic or gluten-free version, substitute with chicken broth.
- Garlic
- Rice Vinegar: or substitute with apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.
- Water: room temperature
Expert Tips
- Do not pat dry the chicken! You need some moisture on the chicken so the starch can adhere to it.
- Evenly dice the chicken so they fry consistently.
- Use a heavy bottomed pan if possible to maintain the oil temperature for crispy chicken.
- Make sure oil is hot enough before frying, around350 degrees F. To check if oil is hot, use a digital instant read thermometer or insert a wooden chopstick into the oil and look for bubbles. If you see bubbles, the oil is hot.
- Fry chicken in small batches as this will reduce the oil temperature causing less crispy chicken.
- Avoid stir frying the chicken because this prevents the chicken from forming a golden crust.
- Drain the fried chicken on a wire rack or paper-towel lined plate to remove excess oil which leads to soggy chicken.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make honey sesame chicken:
- In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients as listed and set aside.
- Dice chicken thighs into 1.5-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Season diced chicken with salt.
- Add cornstarch to the diced chicken and evenly coat each piece. Feel free to add more cornstarch if needed. Set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Fry coated chicken in small batches until golden brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes in total, flipping halfway. Remove and transfer fried chicken to a wire rack or a paper towel lined plate.
- Remove any excess oil in the pan and pour the sauce to simmer until thickened.
- Toss in fried chicken into sauce until evenly coated. Remove off heat. Garnish with green onions and more sesame seeds. Enjoy!
To Air Fry Chicken
- Lightly spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray or neutral oil.
- Place coated chicken into the basket in a single layer, without overlap. You may need to air fry in batches.
- Lightly spray the chicken with cooking spray or neutral oil.
- Air fry at 400 F for 10-14 minutes until desired crispiness. No need to flip over.
Storage
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat: microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot or reheat in a pan on medium heat.
- Freezer friendly? Honey sesame chicken can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze: let the dish cool down, then store into a freezer-safe bag, label and date the bag. To reheat, let it defrost overnight in the fridge and microwave or reheat in a pan on medium heat until hot throughout.
Pairing Suggestions
Honey sesame chicken serves well with:
- starters like egg rolls, crab rangoons, egg drop soup, hot and sour soup
- white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, or fried rice
- chow mein, lo mein, plain noodles
- cooked vegetables like bok choy, spicy garlic bok choy, choy sum, gai lan, garlic green beans or stir fried snow pea leaves.
- protein dishes like Mongolian Beef, Black Pepper Beef, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Bang Bang Shrimp, Shrimp Omelet, Soy Garlic Tofu, Mapo Tofu and more!
FAQ
Honey sesame chicken can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave or in a pan on the stovetop on medium heat until hot.
The chicken can be substituted with boneless pork shoulder, beef, extra-firm tofu or large shrimp.
Feel free to add any vegetables that are low in water content, such as bell peppers, snap or snow peas, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower before pouring in the sauce.
The chicken can be air fried in the air fryer and see the below recipe card for instructions.
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cornstarch or potato starch for coating chicken
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil or any neutral oil
- ½ green onion finely chopped
Sauce
- ½ cup honey plain liquid kind
- 2.5 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ tablespoon white granulated sugar or cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or potato starch
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or dry sherry wine, dry white wine or chicken broth for non-alcoholic version
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar or apple cider/white vinegar
- ¾ cup water room temperature
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients as listed and set aside.
- Dice chicken thighs into 1.5-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Season diced chicken with salt.
- Add cornstarch to the diced chicken and evenly coat each piece. Feel free to add more cornstarch if needed. Set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Fry coated chicken in small batches until golden brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes in total, flipping halfway. Remove and transfer fried chicken to a wire rack or a paper towel lined plate.
- Remove any excess oil in the pan and pour the sauce to simmer until thickened.
- Toss in fried chicken into sauce until evenly coated. Remove off heat. Garnish with green onions. Enjoy!
Notes
To Air Fry Chicken
- Lightly spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray or neutral oil.
- Place coated chicken into the basket in a single layer, without overlap. You may need to air fry in batches.
- Lightly spray the chicken with cooking spray or neutral oil.
- Air fry at 400 F for 10-14 minutes until desired crispiness. No need to flip over.
Rosa
Our whole family loved this - great flavour and easy to make. Served with steamed greens. Can see this being a regular in our house!
Christie Lai
Thanks so much for making my recipe and for sharing your positive experience with it, Rosa! Glad you and the whole family enjoyed it!
Vince
It was very good. Super easy even for a beginner like me. Wife loved it.
Christie Lai
This makes me so happy to hear, thank you so much for making my recipe Vince! Glad your wife enjoyed it 🙂
Anastasia
Loved it, super easy recipe to follow & family loved it. Will be adding this to the recipe book
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and for leaving this kind review, Anastasia! So glad you and your family enjoyed it!
Sal
Great recipe, easy to make
christieathome
So happy to read this, thanks for making my recipe!
Joelle
My husband and I enjoyed this. It was on the sweeter side even with leaving out the sugar because I didn’t have the wine and substituted mirin. But all around, you should be expecting a sweeter dish (as advertised) and therefore this did not disappoint!
christieathome
Great to hear and glad you enjoyed my recipe, Joelle! Thanks for making it!
Michelle
This was delicious! I made it for dinner and I'm already sharing it! It was as sweet as I thought it would be (so much honey!) but the wine and vinegar make a huge difference. Absolutely saving this recipe and trying your others!
christieathome
Thanks so much Michelle for making and sharing my recipe! Glad you enjoyed my Honey Sesame Chicken. Yes that wine and vinegar really help create balance 🙂 I hope you enjoy my other recipes too! Have a lovely day.
Christiana L
I tried so many of your recipes and all of them were amazing and so flavored and delicious, my kids love them too! Your recipes made family dinners happier and more fulfilling for us! Thank you 🙂
christieathome
This is by far the sweetest comment I've ever received here on my blog! Thank you SO MUCH for making my recipes and for sharing this kind message with me. One of my goals is to make family meals more fulfilling in taste and in joy 🙂 Have a lovely day Christiana!
Tim
Very tasty but far to sweet. I'd leave the sugar out next time for sure
christieathome
Sorry to hear it's too sweet for your liking. Thank you for making my recipe!
Rosemary Gainey
This is a wonderful recipe! Will def make it many times for family dinners with grands! I added the Chinese udon noodles and in a separate pan stir fried chopped red pepper, onion, shredded carrots with a cup of green peas to make a complete meal. SOOOOO good!! Thank you for sharing this!
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my Honey Sesame Chicken, Rosemary! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it with udon noodles in a delicious stir fry! I am drooling as I read your comment!
Melissa
I wish I could give this more than 5 stars!! The sauce is delicious and yummy, so easy to make. So many are tomato based and even just a little changes the sauce. This was SPOT on for an Asian sauce that we enjoyed. Now that I've made it, I'll do it again and add some heat, mushrooms and some water chestnuts, even though that changes the main recipe. I fried half in a pan with oil and the other half I did in the air fryer. Going air fryer all the way next time. Thank you for this!
christieathome
Thank you so much for these kind words and for making my recipe, Melissa!! I'm so glad you enjoyed the dish and happy you liked the sauce so much 🙂 Have a lovely day!
Jacquie
Fab recipe. Easy and delicious. Helps us avoid ordering takeaways
christieathome
Thank you for making my recipe! So glad to hear this Jacquie!
Rosemary
I have everything for this honey sesame chicken except for the Chinese wine! What could I use instead?
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
Mmmm, your honey sesame sauce is so perfect... and pairing this chicken with some steamed bok choy is so perfect!
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
This one looks so darn good Christie! The honey sesame sauce has my name written all over it!
Josiah - DIY Thrill
This Honey Sesame Chicken looks irresistible such a great weeknight meal idea!
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
This looks like the perfect weeknight meal! Way better than take-out! Yum! 🙂