Honey Sesame Chicken – One of the easiest takeaway dishes you can replicate at home, not to mention fresher and tastier than ordering in.
Honey Sesame Chicken is one of those dishes that is synonymous with Chinese takeaway. It’s easy to see why – it has a perfect balance of sweetness, saltiness and the comforting taste of sesame that all great Chinese takeaway has. But whereas certain takeaway dishes are tricky to replicate at home, Honey Sesame Chicken is one dish that’s easily improved in your home kitchen. A lot of people can be put off by the process of battering and frying the chicken, but the process here is so simple anyone can do it! That’s not to say that there won’t be clean-up required – trust me! 🙂
Ingredients You Will Need
Chicken Breasts
We used chicken breasts for this recipe so that the nuggets themselves would be more uniform, but chicken thighs would also work well. There’s no reason you couldn’t use steak strips here instead and make honey sesame beef.
Vegetables
For our honey sesame chicken recipe we use chunks of green pepper and onion, but you could make this more vegetable forward by adding baby corn or broccoli. If you want to go full vegetarian, sub out the chicken for aubergine.
Honey Sesame Sauce
Making your own honey sesame sauce with honey, sesame oil, soy sauce and ketchup is the best way to ensure a flavourful sauce that gives all the signature flavours of this classic. Instead of having to add cornflour, the coating on the chicken thickens the sauce and makes it nice and glossy.
Cornflour & Egg
The cornflour and egg batter is what gives this honey sesame chicken its distinctive crunch, and also gives it the batter that the sauce is able to cling to. Coating the chicken in the cornflour first and then the egg seems a little weird, but trust me, it works!
How To Make Honey Sesame Chicken
Batter The Chicken
This bit involves getting your hands dirty! Once your chicken is cut up into sizeable chunks, you’ll need to coat it in the cornflour mixture, before adding the egg. This seems a bit strange, but once you try this method you won’t go back.
Make The Honey Sesame Sauce
The sauce for the chicken is actually very straightforward – soy sauce, honey, mirin, ketchup, and sesame oil. You could try using maple syrup instead of honey, although it seems strange not to use honey in honey sesame chicken! You don’t need to use too much sesame oil as a little goes a long way.
Prep The Vegetables
We like to use green pepper and onion in this recipe, and cut them fairly chunky in the style of a classic Chinese takeaway. Alternatively, you could slice them fine and have them mixed throughout the sauce, but it’s important to have them ready as everything comes together pretty quickly here towards the end.
Bring Everything Together
Once everything’s ready to go, you just have to bring it all together and enjoy! The vegetables don’t take long to took, and once the sauce is bubbling you can add the already cooked chicken. Garnish liberally with sesame seeds and you’re done!
If you’re making this Honey Sesame Chicken recipe at home, be sure to tag @KeevaEats on Instagram and let us know about it!
Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
Sesame Chicken
- 500 g Chicken Thighs; diced
- 150 g Cornflour
- 1 whole White Onion; chopped
- 1 whole Green Pepper; chopped
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 300 ml Vegetable Oil
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 whole Egg
Sesame Sauce
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- 2 tbsp Water
- 3 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 knob Fresh Ginger; grated
- 3 cloves Garlic; minced
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Black Pepper
Instructions
Sesame Chicken
- Cut up the chicken and place in a large bowl. Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil, the sugar, five spice, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 egg to the bowl and mix in.
- Add the cornflour – plus a pinch of salt and pepper – and rub it into the chicken. This gets messy – the chicken will become gloopy and start to stick together, but make sure each piece is coated and they should separate. Add a little more cornflour if necessary.
- Mix the ingredients for the sesame sauce together in a small bowl.
- Prep the veg and set aside.
- Add vegetable oil to a wok or large pot over medium high – it'll depend on the size of wok/pot you are using, but around 300ml of oil, or enough to shallow fry the chicken.
- Add the marinaded chicken to the oil and fry until golden brown – around 6-8 minutes. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon or slice and place on kitchen towels/over a wire rack.
- In a separate pan or pot, heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil over a high heat until smoking. Add the onion and pepper and stir fry until lightly browned, then pour over the sauce and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the chicken pieces and sesame seeds, and stir through to mix. Serve immediately.
NOTES
Honey Sesame Chicken goes great with Salt And Chilli Chips! Check out our recipe and let us know what you think!
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