Baked Honey Sesame Chicken
Skip the take-out and try this easy homemade version instead – it’s unbelievably crisp-tender and packed with so much flavor!
Forgive me if I have been making too many chicken thigh recipes lately. It’s clearly become an obsession of mine, and this Asian twist has quickly become my favorite one of all.
The chicken turns out to be wonderfully crisp and tender, packed with a sweet-savory goodness to it all – the absolute perfect flavor combination.
And it goes beautifully over a bowl of rice, especially when you mix in that leftover sauce. But you should be warned that with this sauce, you’ll just skip over the chicken and make a meal out of the rice!
Baked Honey Sesame Chicken
Skip the take-out and try this easy homemade version instead - it's unbelievably crisp-tender and packed with so much flavor!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
For the sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- To make the sauce, whisk together honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, ginger, Sriracha, sesame oil, cornstarch and pepper in a small bowl; set aside.
- Melt butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Stir in honey mixture.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes. Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until caramelized and slightly charred.
- Serve immediately, garnished with sesame seeds and green onions, if desired.
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Your recipes look so exciting! I can’t wait to be trying this receipt out this weekend!! May I ask where you buy the bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs? I don’t seem to see this in the grocery stores that I go to… I guess what are the brands that carry these kinds of chicken thighs? Thanks so much!!!
-Roxanne
Roxanne, most grocery stores should carry bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. There really isn’t a particular brand that I use.
Can this be done in the crock pot? I really want to try this tonight!
It is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
OH MY!! Was this ever good!!!!! Family of 5 here …husband and teens simply loved it too!! All I heard was Mmmm…No leftovers either lol !!! As far as the rice….YES you will find it makes a dinner in of itself with the awesome juice from the chicken!!
Easy and quick recipe…definetly one I will make over and over again!! Thank you for sharing it with us!! Simply delicious!! Very tasty and full of flavor!! Will recommend to friends and family. God Bless!!
What temperature is the chicken cooked at? 350 degrees?
Just found this site and want to make all the foods now!!!
The temperature is listed in the recipe.
Saw the temperature immediately after I posted.
As easy as delicious. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you for these AMAZING asian inspired dishes, Chungah! You have some of the best recipes and pics on the net!!!
mmm….looks and sounds GREAT. i only have skinless, boneless breasts on hand though…how long do you think i need to bake it?
Sari, that really depends on the size of your chicken breasts. Please use your best judgment to ensure they are completely cooked through, using an instant digital cooking or meat thermometer for the proper temperature of 165 degrees F.
Most definitely cooking those heavenly-looking chicken thighs this week, as I’ve accidentally been buying each of the ingredients during the last couple of weeks…
Just made this and had to comment immediately – it was SO good! I followed the recipe exactly and it looked just like the picture. The only disappointment was that my pan was only big enough for 5 thighs, because I wish I had more leftovers! I love to cook but am super critical of myself and usually find some flaw that I focus on (I’m working on that:). But tonight I wasn’t afraid to say this was one of the best tasting things I’ve ever made. Going to look around on the site for more good recipes! Thanks!
Made this last night, and son had the leftovers for lunch today. He said it was the best sesame chicken he had ever eaten.
I made this delicious recipe two weeks ago. I made six thighs and thought my husband and I would have a few left over for lunch. No such luck. Honestly, one of the best and simplest recipes I have prepared. The flavors were perfect together and broiling the chicken at the end gave the chicken a nice crispness that complements the sauce. Mmmmm, the sauce was so tasty!
I also made the shrimp spring rolls to accompany the chicken thighs. Although the rolls were tasty, I had some trouble working with the rice paper. The rolls were good but not terribly attractive. I will keep practicing and I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.
Hi, I am really new to cooking and I really want to try this recipe. The only question I have is what did you use to bake this in? I have a glass Pyrex 3-qt dish. Is that good enough or should I invest in something else? Also, when you seared it on the pan, did you then have to transfer the meat and sauce over to whatever you used to bake the chicken thighs in?
I am so sorry, this is all probably really simple but I like to be precise in these things.
Deanna, I used an oven-proof skillet to sear the chicken first so I did not have to transfer the chicken to a baking dish. But if you do not have an oven-proof skillet, you can simply transfer the chicken thighs to the glass Pyrex dish.
This. Was. AMAZING. Thank you so much for the recipe! My family doesn’t like dark chicken, so I substituted chicken breasts for the thighs. Even the pickiest eater (my sister) loved it!!
Delicious! Easy to make! Only thing I didn’t have on hand was fresh ginger, I added ground dry ginger (just threw some in, probably not quite a tbsp). Thanks again for a great recipe!
This dish looks great – will make tonight. Quick questions… I usually like to marinate or season my chicken in advance. Could I let it marinate it in the sauce, then take it out of the sauce to sear it and then add it back in when it goes in the oven? Also, I don’t have Srirachi sauce, what would be a good substitute? I have some garlic, chili and ginger paste – could I use that?
Yes, the marinade sounds like a great idea! As for a Sriracha substitute, sambal oelek (chili garlic sauce) would be a more appropriate substitute or you can omit it as needed.
Yum! I have everything for this except the green onions and sriracha. If I don’t get to the store I will have to skip the green onions and just use hot sauce. Is sriracha and hot sauce pretty much the same thing?
Sriracha is an Asian-style hot sauce – I highly recommend stocking up on this. It’s truly the best kind of hot sauce to have on hand 🙂
Sriracha is SO much better than regular hot sauce! It adds such great flavor to dishes. I used to hate spicy things, but sriracha adds all the flavor of spice without the pain. Grab a large bottle next time you go to the supermarket. It’s so popular now, everyone carries it. You’ll
Thank you SO MUCH for including nutritional information! There are so many yummy sounding recipes that never make it to my table because I don’t have all the info. You rock!
Chungah thank you to you and the wonderful people who tried this recipe and took time to comment on it.
Because of these two points I had to try this recipe. The recipe was so easy to follow and I managed to get my dish to nearly resemble your picture… Whoop Whoop!
I cooked this for my friends last night and I paired it with Savoury Vegetable Rice and as I dished up, the initial comments were, “WOW this smells gorgeous”
However as they tucked in, all went silent… as I slowly dished up my plate with ear slightly leaning back to see if I could hear what was being said.. nothing was being said… then suddenly the silence broke and they were “Nish you are just getting better and better”. LOL
I am a novice cook, my response was, the full credit goes to the person that created and shared this recipe and the wonderful comments left. Everything was wiped clean.
Thank you (BIG HUGS)
Nish
I never post comments but I have to say this chicken was awesome!! The flavor is amazing. I paired it with veggie fried rice. Yummy!
Yet another amazing meal! I am slowly working my way through all (yes ALL) of your recipes and they never ever disappoint. For this one even though I ran out of cornstarch I used a bit of tapioca instead. Fantastic. Thanks so much for the wonderful easy to follow recipes.
Sincerely,
a new mom with a big appetite. 🙂