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What Is Honey Sesame Chicken?
Honey chicken is one of the most popular Chinese recipes on Rasa Malaysia.
I created that recipe two years ago and many readers have requested variations of that recipe.
Today, I am creating a new recipe called honey sesame chicken, which is quite popular on Pinterest (remember to follow me). It features best of both worlds of sesame chicken and honey chicken.
The Best Way to Prepare This Meal
To make this chicken, all you need are a few everyday ingredients that you can get at any food store or supermarket. This recipe is super simple, and you can make it anytime you want.
While most people don’t like to do deep-frying at home, I strongly urge you to do so with this honey sesame chicken recipe and other Chinese recipes on Rasa Malaysia.
The reason why we all love Chinese takeouts and dishes so much is because of the deep-fried chicken coated with rich and savory sauce.
Eat them with some warm steamed rice and you have your guilty pleasure.
So I say forget about baked chicken, let’s fry the chicken and give your stomach and palate a treat.
We all deserve to indulge once in a while.
How to Fry the Chicken
The sweetest thing about this recipe is that you don’t even really need to deep fry the chicken, as a shallow fry works very well at home.
You don’t need a deep fryer, or 6 inches of oil to deep fry a batch of chicken for dinner.
You just need a small saute pan (non-stick preferably for ease of cleaning and frying), about 2 inches of oil, a pair of long chopsticks, and you are good.
There is no wastage of oil, no splattering oil, but gloriously fried chicken pieces ready to be cooked with the sweet, tangy, and savory honey sesame sauce.
Easy, breezy, and no fuss!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 416 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb. (500g) boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) cubes or long strips
- oil for deep-frying
- 2 garlic (minced)
- toasted sesame seeds to garnish
Frying Batter:
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup water (ice cold)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pinch salt
Honey Sesame Sauce:
- 1/3 cup pure honey
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Whisk all the "Frying Batter" ingredients together until smooth. Set aside. Drop in the chicken cubes, mix well until they are well coated. Set aside.
- Mix all the ingredients of the "Honey Sesame Sauce" together and set aside.
- Heat up a saute pan and add about 2-inch of oil on medium to high heat. When the oil is fully heated, gently drop in the battered chicken cubes, one by one, making sure it is spread out to prevent sticking together. Continue to fry until the color changes to golden brown. Dish out and drain on paper towels.
- Transfer 2 tablespoons of the frying oil in a wok or skillet, stir-fry the garlic until aromatic. Add in the Honey Sesame Sauce, and bring to a light simmer or until the sauce thickens.
- Drop in the chicken, stir-fry a few times to combine the sauce and chicken, add the sesame seeds, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice, or Chinese fried rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Hi Bee,
This is the most amazing honey chicken. We have Asian banquet night once a week where I try your different recipes. Who needs Chinese takeaway?!
Q- how do you keep the chicken crispy when you add the sauce?
Hi Nicole, thanks for your comment. You can double fry the chicken for extra crispiness.
Thank you very much Madam and I am indeed very pleased to see so many good recipes forwarded by you and just waiting to try them out. Would appreciate if you can send me the recipe of how to prepare thge exact way of Chinese Fried rice as well as Chinese Fried Pork and Duck Roast please. Thanks a lot. Wilfred
Love love love this. It was spot on like a real Chinese take away. We live in Denmark and options for lovely food like a proper Chinese meal are limited. So to be able to make this at home is fantastic. I served it with crisp fresh vegetables in a poke bowl.
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I made it twice already, once with the honey sauce and once with your lemon sauce. Everyone at home loved it! And I really appreciated the detailed instructions. ❤
Thanks.
This is so, so delicious and comforting! Thank you.
Tastes like take out! Thank you!
Oh my! Thank you, thank you, thank you ? I am intolerant to soy and I found this seeking a cramping free Chinese chIcken recipe. I didn’t have sesame seeds or oil but was delicious without and I’m sure it will be even better when I get them in for the next time.
Oh I love this recipe! So good! I used self rising flour and didn’t add the baking powder.. and it turned out so good! And I didn’t have to buy a thing. I had it all in the kitchen and honestly it was better than my favorite Chinese place! Very excited to add this to my meals planning!
What oil do I use to deep-fry the chicken?
Vegetable oil is fine.
Love this recipe and it tastes amazing.
Thank you so much x
Every recipe Ive tried for the honey sesame saúce always callsfor ketchup and all I ever taste is the ketchup. I have never tasted ketchup in a take out sauce is there a sauce without ketchup??
Made this tonight, i was so pleased with how it turned out.
The batter was perfect, crisp and fluffy.
We ate it with braised vegetables and rice and it was amazing.
Highly recommend using this as your honey chicken recipe.
All I have is self rising flour. Will that be okay to use instead of all purpose flour?
Made this twice. Both times were a HIT! The 2nd time I doubled the sauce and it turned out even better! Due to COVID we have lost some of our taste. I made some fried rice on the side. Thank you for this great recipe and instructions!
Hi Mama Nawa, please stay safe and get well soon!
I will never ever ever ever buy honey chicken again from a shop. Wow!!!!! Absolutely delicious!!!!!! ❤️
Awesome!
This was great. I screwed up the last step (got distracted) and put the honey sauce in after the chicken and stirred it up effectively removing all temperature batter. It was a pile of mush. However, it was still delicious and I’m planning on making it again soon.
Oh no, please try again!
Update: Tonight I made it without error and it came out perfect. That said, what oil temperature do you target. Lastly, I had some extra battery and thought how cool a giant blob of fried batter might be. Well, it was interesting but not a repeat thing! :)