Asian Jalapeno Chicken
Sweet and savory perfection in this quick and easy 20 min meal from start to finish. Better than take-out and so much healthier!
Sweet, savory and spicy goodness all come together in the easiest dish of all time. 20 minutes from start to finish. That’s all you need. Seriously.
And the chicken isn’t even breaded nor fried, so this is really more of a “skinny” dish, all smothered in a honey lemon sauce, a sauce that you’ll clearly want to guzzle down.
When ready to serve, you can throw this on a bed of brown rice or even quinoa, and you can also add in more veggies to your liking. It’s adaptable and just so stinking easy!
Asian Jalapeno Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, optional
- 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the skillet and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water; set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine honey, garlic, lemon juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, Sriracha and jalapeno.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in cornstarch mixture until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in chicken.
- Serve immediately, garnished with sesame seeds and cilantro, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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First time ever leaving a review on a blog here. This was excellent! We had leftover grilled chicken to use up so I just added that to the sauce. I have made several of your recipes and they have all been great! Thank you!
this is way better than the restaurant…love it
This is so delicious! I love love this recipe. Make it now!
We make this almost every week! We love spicy food so I put 2 jalapeños and add a red bell pepper in ours. Delicious and simple meal! Thanks!
Holy hot chicken . Mine was super spicy because I used a large whole jalapeno with all the seeds and the siracha too. Next time I will try scraping some of the seeds out first. Oh well. It was a good reason to have ice cream for dessert.
Hi Chungah, this is great!! I’ve missed the Jalapeno Chicken from my favorite restaurant in my neighborhood that closed last year, and this is almost identical. So glad I found this recipe. I only wish I’d made more! Thank you, and I’ll be coming back to this truly damn delicious recipe again.
Chungah this absolutely was Damn Delicious! I’m so glad I found your food blog and the recipes never disappoint. I’ve made several of your recipes and look forward to making many more . You’re making me look good as a cook and I’m having so much fun seeing the smiles on my family’s face when dinner turns out so , WOW ! Take a bow Chungah you deserve it . Now to figure out the recipe I make next . I can’t wait.
Loved this! I made one change to the recipe: I coated the chicken cubes with corn starch before frying them, and used a bit more oil, then drained them before adding the sauce. It made the cubes crunchy and really good.
Awesome flavor. I was so glad this recipe popped up when searching for jalapeno chicken. I really like the depth of the Asian flavor without a bunch of exotic ingredients.
Haven’t made this yet… but I googled “jalapeño chicken” to satisfy a craving, and sho nuff my favorite food blogger done set me up for it! Seriously, you are my food soulmate, keep killing it over there and cranking out awesome recipes!
I have apple cider vinegar with cinnamon in it. Will that throw off The flavor?
Love this recipe.
I made this for a friend over the weekend and we both thoroughly enjoyed it so much so we nearly ate all 4 servings between the two of us! So quick, easy and full of flavor. Thank you once again for sharing your delicious recipes. Yummo!
Not only was this quick and easy to make, it was also delicious! It was a nice balance of sweet and spicy. My 6 and 11 year old loved it too making it a winner in our house.
Am I missing something!? Where does the jalapeño come in?
Please refer to step 3:
3. In a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine honey, garlic, lemon juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, Sriracha and jalapeno.
Delicious! Just got done eating and it was amazing and easy. I added a habanero for a little more heat. I served over sesame sauteed shredded cabbage and shredded broccoli.
We will definitely make this again.
This was amazing!!!! I added pine nuts with my sesame seeds and no cilantro. over a lettuce wrap. SOOO GOOD~
This is truly the first recipe I have ever commented on, and for a good reason: this is the most incredible dish (and possibly the greatest way I’ve ever encountered to breathe some life into chicken breast). I tried this recipe out about 3-4 weeks ago and have made it about 5 times since. A couple tweaks I would make though (if you like spicier):
-Instead of 1 teaspoon sriracha, try 2. It will add a nice heat, that’s still subtle enough that it doesn’t overpower the other ingredients
-Also, consider doubling the jalapeno. It may be that jalapenos are not in season now (I am not a farmer, so no idea), but one just seems a bit too mild at the moment.
-Finally, serve this over rice (as several people have suggested)
Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
Great recipe! Thanks. The Honey actually ate chicken thighs, a miracle. Turns out I didn’t have a lemon (how can you not have a lemon??) so I used a clementine instead. Upped the vinegar a tad to compensate and it was fantastic. The sesame seeds were an inspired addition.
In your recipe you have the user stirring in honey , soy, etc, in a “small” sauce pan. Then you have us adding the chicken to this sauce pan. It would take a really small sauce pan to have those liquids fill it in any manner and said saucepan would probably be too small to add the chicken. Probably better to pout mixture over chicken in the other pan.
Very good. I just made it and it turned in great.
I enjoyed it and will make it again. Although my final product was a lot darker than your pictures.
Made this tonight adding zucchini and onion sans sesame seeds or cilantro. I also substituted the vinegar from the jalapeno jar since I did not have apple cider vinegar. I opted for the siracha… It was AMAZING!
Thanks for a keeper!
The picture shows jalapeños but the recipe doesn’t say how many?
Sorry. I just saw that it does
This dish was absolutely amazingly wonderful! For my husband and I, the spicier the better and this exceeded all of our expectations! Definitely will be making this again! Thank you for sharing!!!
Hi Chungah,
I want to let you know that I really enjoyed your recipe. It was great (especially because I was broke & hungry haha) and I had all the ingredients on hand, except for the lemon, so I used two small limes instead. I brought it to work for lunch the next day, and my coworkers raved about how good it smelled when I was reheating it. I served it over some jasmine rice. I definitely will be making this again; thank you for sharing,
We tried this tonight, less the sesame seeds, and it did NOT disappoint!! It was super easy and had just the right amount of heat and sweet. Will be making this again!
I have made this 3 times now. The last 2 times I have doubled the recipe and served with brown rice. It’s one of my favorite dishes, better than many restaurants. Thanks so much for this recipe!
I didnt have sesame oil…so i used olive oil,it worked fine! And didnt have cloved garlic,so i used a 2 tablespoons of the chopped up minced garlic in the jar,worked fine too…yummy !
I made this dinner tonight for my girlfriend and I. We like spicy, so I chose all the options including Siracha , the fresh cilantro and sesame seeds. I served it with chicken fried rice. They went together very well. Excellent meal. Definitely a “do-over”. Thank you
I made this dish tonight and it was damn delicious! My husband is super picky and hardly eats anything flavorful but this time he ate it up, and served seconds! I didn’t have apple cider vinegar but I had rice vinegar. I can’t even imagine it being possibly better. Glad I found this recipe. Keep up the awesome recipes! So yummy.
I made this tonight and it was super easy. I really enjoyed it. Definitely will make again.
I just had this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! I do think that next time I will add some water chestnuts and broccoli. Thank you for the great recipe!
Your photo show slices of lemon on chicken, when do you add sliced lemon?
Love your recipe, simple and tasty.
Thanks for all you do and share.
Iris, the lemon slices are added simply as a garnish.
hello! i was really hoping to make this for dinner, but would it be possible to replace the chicken with tofu? if so, do you think soft tofu would be okay or would it just fall apart?
Tofu sounds like a great substitute! But without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
So hard to find jalapeño in Asia. Any other option? Thanks!
Vanessa, here is a great list of various peppers that you can try using depending on your spice tolerance. Hope that helps!
Thank you it came out great!! I cracked up when my daughter (9) said it was SO delicious, I saw it as the kids equivalent language of “Damn Delicious”.. It was a total hit in our house and I think I’m going to have to stock up on honey while I make this to use up my Jalapenos!
I appreciate you posting this yumminess!!
Do you use toasted sesame oil or plain?
Either option will work just fine.
Thanks, do you have a preference?
Not really. It all depends on what I have on hand.
This is totally my kinda recipes! Love the no fried and no breaded take! Thanks for sharing!
Made this Asian Jalapeno Chicken tonight with rice and some steamed brocolli……….Absolutely wonderful! Fast, easy, and so much flavor. AND a real winner in this Texas heat! Whole family agreed that this HAS to become a regular dish. Thanks Chungah, you made me look like a rock star here tonight!
Mmm. Making this tonight. What other veggie(s) would you recommend with this?
Green beans and/or carrots would complement this dish very well!
OMGosh, just made this. Did doc it a tad. Used 1.5 lbs chicken tenders, so increased the soy a bit, the lemon juice and vinegar. This stuff is amazing. Nice heat balanced by the sweet and salty. Winner winner for sure. Thank you for the recipe.
Perfection!!! Cannot wait to shovel this goodness into my mouth!
Love, Love Love this dish. So much flavor. The added cilantro…perfect.
We just made this for dinner and served it over brown rice and broccoli. Yummy! I love how quick and easy this recipe was.
We have been making a Copy-Cat Panda Express Chow Mein recipe…… this would be amazing over quinoa with it. Yummmmmm! Thanks!
Looks delicious – Would canned jalapenos do the trick or would you recommend fresh jalapenos at all cost?
Canned jalapenos should work just fine.
This sounds divine!
This looks and sounds wonderful. Would you recommend serving it over rice, or just as is?
I’m going to make this tonight. (my husband’s gonna love it)
I recommend serving over rice, brown rice, or even quinoa.
Gorgeous chicken dish, Chungah! I love how vibrant and healthy it looks!