Asian Honey Chicken
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A take-out favorite that you can easily make right at home – and the homemade version tastes a million times better!
Featured Comment
reasons to make asian honey chicken at home
- Takeout favorite
- Budget-friendly
- Saves time
- Made with fresh ingredients
Ingredients
Vegetable oil
A great all-purpose oil with a high smoke point and neutral flavor.
Chicken
Breast, thighs or even tenderloins can be used here depending on personal preference.
Flour and Buttermilk
Coating the chicken in flour, buttermilk and flour again will help achieve that crispy crust and tender meat.
Cornstarch
To help thicken the sauce.
Honey
The key ingredient for the sweet sauce.
Soy Sauce
Adding salty, savory, umami flavors, blending so well with the rest of the flavors.
Apple cider vinegar
A little bit of acid to add flavor, balance and a bit of sweetness to the sauce.
Sesame oil
Adds a nutty flavor.
Crushed red pepper flakes
For added heat. Sriracha can also be used.
tips and tricks for success
- Use a cast iron skillet. A cast iron skillet is ideal here for even heat distribution for the hot oil.
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Cook in batches. If too much chicken is added at once, the oil temperature will drop and the chicken will absorb too much oil, resulting in soggy chicken.
- Mix it up. Use pork or shrimp in place of the chicken.
- Double the sauce. Need extra sauce for sopping with rice? The sauce portion can easily be doubled or tripled for those saucy folks!
leftovers and storage
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating
Reheat on the stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Freezing
We do not recommend freezing as the crisp texture will not hold up well in the freezer.
what to serve with asian honey chicken
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Asian Honey Chicken: Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend using a neutral oil with a high smoke point such as vegetable oil, canola oil or peanut oil.
Absolutely! Chicken breasts, thighs or tenderloins can be used.
Coconut aminos is a great substitute that is also gluten-free.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Asian Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour, dip into buttermilk, then dredge in flour again, pressing to coat.
- Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet, 3 or 4 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water; set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine honey, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in cornstarch mixture until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Serve chicken immediately, drizzled with honey glaze.
Video
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Another delicious recipe. Used whole chicken thighs since that is what I had on hand. Also, I now double sauces amounts since I know they will be very good. This one is company worthy. I have to be gluten free instead of AP flour, I used Ying’s chinese Style batter mix that is Gluten free.
Looks delicious! I’ve added it to my menu plan. Question, Would I be able to substitute salmon in place of the chicken breasts?
Can you substitute almond milk or egg for buttermilk for dairy free version?
Just added also garlic and it was amazing!
Excellent recipe! Easy to follow and loved the little zing with the red pepper flakes. Thank you for another amazing recipe!!!
Just made this tonight and it was stupendous. A big hit with my 7 yr. old. She came back for seconds.
The only thing I did different was to deep fry the chicken rather than pan fry it. I also made fried rice to go along with it.
This looks amazing and i still have not try it , the recipe helps a lot !
Love this recipe. Tried it with shrimp as well. Would Chinkiang black vinegar work well in place of apple cider vinegar?
OMG! By far the BEST recipe I have even got off the internet! I made this tonight and it was to die for! Only suggestion, double the sauce recipe immediately because it is that good you will need more. Chicken was crispy and the sauce….OMG! This is a keeper for sure. Even my husband said to keep this recipe to make again and I will!
Anyone know the calorie count on this per serving? Best guess?
My husband and I made this tonight for our family of five. I forgot I didn’t enjoy sesame oil. It is a very strong, unique, flavor. I could easily taste it in the completed dish. Kiddos said the completed dish was, “Just ok”. Husband didn’t like it at all. I will 100% make this again as the chicken turned out perfect. The flour, buttermilk, flour coating is A+++. I give this a 5 star because it is a great dish. I will make it again without the sesame oil so it has more of a honey flavor.
We make this at least once a month! My kids ask me for it all the time and my husband says it is better than the Chinese buffett he goes to for lunch. We have it with homemade fried rice and steamed brocolli. Would be great with toothpicks as an appetizer served hot for football games or parties also.
Just finished this tonight for dinner. WOW, was excellent, very flavorful. We are currently under a “stay-at-home” order (in MA) due to Coronavirus, and this meal helped us feel like we were at our favorite Chinese restaurant (but even better!). The only thing I left out was the red pepper flakes (not fans). Served with brown rice and broccoli. Definitely made our long day a little better. Thank you for posting such a great tasting recipe. Already printed a copy.
I just finished making another version of this recipe and came here to look at other suggestions. the sauce recipe I made had only mayo, honey, and sweetened condensed milk. Your recipe sounds so much better. It havne’t actually made it, so I can’t give an honest review. For those asking about sesame oil, if you don’t have it, you could leave it out completely and/or just garnish your dish with some toasted sesame seeds at the end to give it that extra flavor. Sesame oil is a strong flavored oil… mostly used for the Flavor, so subbing olive or corn oil would add no benefit in my mind.
Why did you leave a rating if you haven’t tried it? Don’t mess up a recipes rating if you never made it.
I can’t wait to try this!! I’m a fan of P.F. Chang’s honey chicken, I can only imagine how much better at home is!
Question, can I use white vinegar as opposed to apple cider?
It was good! As someone with a nut allergy, it was nice to enjoy a Chinese meal. My only critique was how heavy it was- I could just feel it sink in my stomach.
Yummmmm it’s actually really good the best Asian food!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It was absolutely delicious.
Great recipe! Only thing I changed was low sodium soy sauce to regular soy sauce!
My boyfriend made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! We were both impressed with how well it turned out. He added some garlic powder and onion powder to the flour for dredging but that was the only alteration. So tasty!
I make this with tofu and it is EXCELLENT! Serve with steamed broccoli and jasmine rice, YUM. My one adjustment – as I am allergic to dairy, I don’t dredge in the buttermilk; I likely dust with the flour and it is good to go. My tip for chewy and not mushy or crumbly tofu: slice it, press the water out of it, and then cube and freeze it. Defrost before cooking it. It gets a nice chew to it, and I’ve had people who “don’t eat tofu” not even realize it wasn’t chicken.
Thank you for your take on a veggie version! Love it!
This was so yummy!! Does anyone know how many calories are in this?
Hi Amy! Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
this contains label minus the coating