Honey Sesame Chicken
My New Takeout Fakeout: Honey Sesame Chicken
My husband and I aren’t super big into eating out. We’re pretty conservative with the way we spend money (that’s a polite way of saying sort of cheap), so extra things, like restaurants and ordering in aren’t really our thing. Even after a long day of working, I generally just head to the kitchen and start experimenting. Last week, I started thinking I would like to have Chinese food. The local Chinese restaurant is super good, but the last time we ordered, it was about $60. That goes against my life philosophy of, “Just because you can afford something, doesn’t mean you should buy it.” So instead of ordering, I tossed together honey sesame chicken. It was amazing!
The Easiest Honey Sesame Sauce
I have been fiddling around with different Asian inspired dishes for the past couple of years. Mongolian beef and chicken and broccoli are two of my favorites. It seems like the sauce for most of these has a really similar base: soy sauce and brown sugar. After that, you can change things up. For Mongolian beef I add ginger and for this recipe, of course, honey. You can also experiment and fix it up to suit your taste.
I Have a Confession
So deep frying. Deep fried things are certainly delicious but, obviously, they aren’t super healthy. Also, I have a confession to make: I am a little afraid of deep frying. I have gotten used to burning myself on a regular basis, but I could set my whole kitchen on fire! That said, the chicken in this recipe could use a nice crispy coating, so I try to go middle of the road and lightly fry them before finishing the recipe in the oven. The honey sauce goes over everything before heading to the oven and the heat thickens it up nicely.
Honey Sesame Chicken to Save You Cash!
After thirty minutes at 350 degrees, the honey sesame chicken is ready – without the sesame. That comes after the baking. I transferred the chicken to a serving dish, ladled a big scoop of honey sauce on top, and finished it all off with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and sliced green onions. Serve a hearty helping on top of some rice (I like jasmine rice), making sure to add extra sauce. This honey sesame chicken is definitely going to take the place of our $60 takeout!
Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 3 tbsp extra light tasting olive oil or canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- non-stick cooking spray
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 4-5 green onions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch chunks. Pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Prepare the sauce. Add the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisk it all together thoroughly, making sure to break up any lumps in the cornstarch.
- Set the sauce aside.
- Break the two eggs into a shallow dish (I used a glass pie plate) and beat them well with a fork.
- Place the 1/3 cup of cornstarch into a Ziploc bag. If you don't have that, you can use another pie plate or shallow dish.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the egg, turning to coat.
- Place the coated chicken into the cornstarch. If you are using the Ziploc, close the top and then shake the chicken vigorously until completely coated.
- Using medium high heat, heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan.
- When the oil is hot ("shimmering" is the technical term, I think), carefully add in the coated chicken using tongs. It will sputter and can easily burn you, so be very careful!
- Turn the chicken every few minutes until it is browned on all sides, about seven minutes.
- Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- If you feel that your chicken has excess oil on its surface, remove it from the frying pan and let it sit on a plate lined with paper towels for a minute or so.
- Place the chicken into the prepared baking dish.
- Stir up your sauce again in case the honey has settled.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Carefully place the dish in the oven and let it cook for about 30 minutes.
- When it's done, remove the cooked chicken to a serving dish. Pour the sauce over the top.
- Slice off the bottom of the green onions and discard.
- Slice the green onions – the white and tiny bit of the green.
- Sprinkle the chicken with about 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds.
- Sprinkle with the sliced green onions.
- Serve over your favorite rice.
- Be sure to give yourself plenty of sauce!
