Honey Sesame Chicken Recipe - A Crispy, Sweet And Sour Asian Meal (2024)

“What is in this honey sesame chicken recipe?” you might ask. Nothing more than bite-size chicken chunks coated in a savory sauce with crunchy toasted sesame seeds on top.

However, it’s not the same as the chicken batches from chain restaurants or street vendors. With this recipe, you get 100% control over what’s going into the dish.

If you’re worried about having double the work making everything at home, worry no more! We promise the familiar taste of sesame chicken is easily achieved with only a few simple steps.

What Is Honey Sesame Chicken?

Honey sesame chicken is a dish of distinct taste and consistency. It involves a batch of fried chicken and a sauce mixture.

Sesame chicken is made simply with a few basic requirements. The chicken should be juicy and tender, while the coating should be smooth with a silky texture.

In this honey sesame chicken recipe, chicken takes center stage. Working in the background is the spicy-sweet glaze made of cornstarch, honey, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.

Honey Sesame vs General Tso Chicken

Though having similar features, sesame chicken and General Tso chicken are not the same. Sesame chicken is sweet, savory, and less spicy than General Tso chicken.

While sesame seeds are a must for sesame chicken, they are only one of the toppings in General Tso chicken.

The difference between these two is not so significant, and it’s mainly the sauces that tell them apart. You would need only a few ingredient replacements to turn sesame chicken into General Tso chicken.

Many people also find that sesame chicken sauce is similar to teriyaki sauce. Truth be told, teriyaki chicken is actually sweeter and less nutty as it has no sesame seeds or sesame oil.

We also have a great recipe for teriyaki chicken. Take a look at it to spot more differences if you want… or just enjoy it’s deliciousness!

Is This Recipe Healthy?

At HealthyRecipes101, we strive to create healthier versions of every recipe we come across. Honey sesame chicken is no exception.

The color and flavor of this dish are amped up by organic and low-sodium ingredients only. Moreover, these basic ingredients can easily be found in your kitchen and very quick to pull together.

1. Calories

One serving of this sesame chicken delivers you 496 calories. If you wish to cut down on the calories, simply skip the coating and omit cornstarch from the sauce.

2. Carbs

You’ll get 57 grams of carbohydrate from one serving of this sesame chicken. In which, there are only 6 grams of sugar coming from honey, making this an ideal choice for low-carb dieters.

Substitutions

Chicken thighs and chicken breasts can be used interchangeably in this recipe. The same goes for oil— you can also swap avocado oil with olive oil or coconut oil.

1. Chicken Breast

Chicken breast will make this dish leaner as it’s white meat. However, as chicken breast is low in fat, it dries out faster than chicken thighs.

For that reason, you might have to adjust the frying time and minus a minute or two. Otherwise, the chicken could be overcooked and become rubbery.

2. Chicken Wings

If it’s chicken thighs or chicken breasts, the chicken must be cut into bite-size pieces to cook with the sauce. However, the preparation would get a bit simpler if chicken wings are used.

You can leave chicken wings as they are without chopping them small. Other than that, simply treat them as chicken thighs as these two cook in an equivalent amount of time.

Final note: as the skin is on, chicken wings will certainly add up calories and fat to the dish. Be careful not to let the nutrition values skyrocket.

For more delicious chicken thigh recipes, check out our amazing chicken thigh roundup.

Sauce

There are countless variations of this sauce as it’s completely open for people to make alterations to suit their taste.

In this recipe, the sauce calls for garlic, ginger, olive oil, soy sauce, honey, chicken broth, and apple cider vinegar. We carefully tested and observed the ingredient ratios to ensure that the sauce consistency is just right. For a variation of this sauce, check out our Instant Pot Sesame Chicken Recipe.

How Can You Thicken the Sauce?

We get that sometimes it’s hard to get the right consistency for the sauce. It can easily end up being too thick or too runny.

Therefore, we’ve come up with a couple of ways to adjust the sauce as you go.

If you want to fix a watery sauce, simply blend it with a mixture made of cornstarch and cold water. We suggest your cornstarch to water ratio should be 1:1.

Trying to fix a sauce that’s too thick? Then you’ll need to whisk in a few spoonfuls of water or chicken broth to dilute it.

Please note that you should make adjustments while the sauce is still cooking. Make sure that you go gradually with one spoonful of liquid at a time to avoid over-thickening or over-thinning.

How Long Does It Last in the Fridge?

Sesame chicken starts absorbing the sauce right from the moment you remove it from heat. If left too long at room temperature, it will get soggy.

Therefore, our advice is it’s good to gauge the meal size to cook just enough sesame chicken for one meal.

However, if you find yourself with leftovers, rest assured that it’ll remain edible and tasty within 2 days under refrigeration. Though the crisp could hardly be the same as when it’s newly cooked, its marvelous flavor still stays unaltered.

How to Freeze

To freeze sesame chicken, simply transfer it to an airtight container and cover tightly with a lid. Pop it into the freezer and the leftovers can last up to 2 months that way.

To have perfectly cooked chicken every time, this healthy and delicious chicken roundup have a bunch of ideas.

What to Serve with

We added extra flavors to sesame chicken by serving it alongside miso soup and a refreshing milk and orange juice. We hope that you’ll find this combination as enjoyable as we did!

1. Miso Soup

To make it an Asian-style combo meal, miso soup is our top choice of side for sesame chicken. This traditional Japanese soup is warm, comforting, and bursting in flavors with soft silky tofu, seaweed, salmon, and shrimp.

2. Milk and Orange Juice

There are a lot of different flavors coming together in this dish so far. Though it may sound odd, this milk and orange juice really can round them off nicely.

Try it and tell us what you think!

Sprinkled with lots of sesame seeds as well, these honey-glazed chicken nuggets are also to die for. The sauce is thickened soy sauce, honey, and ketchup for that red-ish, delicious color. The whole meal of chicken, cooked rice, and steamed bok choy comes together in just 20-30 minutes.

This recipe also cooks chicken and serves it with rice, but it’s a curry. A Thai curry, with not just spices but also tons of Asian aromatics. It’s got all the flavors, and when it cooks, your kitchen will be all warmed up.

In case you want more rice and chicken but cooked together, we have this fried rice collection you may find interesting. It also has chewy sausages, all tossed in plenty of flavors.