Honey Sesame Chicken is one of those meals that seems much, much harder than it actually is.
Actually, this paleo honey sesame chicken makes an awesome weeknight dinner option. It's much faster than you'd expect, and these succulent chicken bites are a welcome change of pace from chicken thighs or roast chicken!
I've been tweaking this recipe for months now, working out the ideal measurements for my tastes. But that's just for the blog... One of my favorite features of this recipe is that I can make it from memory. The ingredients don't have to be super exact. You can adjust the honey and coconut aminos as you see fit.
And when you don't need to continually revisit a recipe to make dinner, you instantly shave precious minutes off of your prep time. I know, I know, we're talking minutes. But those minutes add up, and suddenly dinner's ready 10-20 minutes sooner than it would have been.
That's exactly what I love about recipes like this. Honey sesame chicken is now one of my back pocket recipes — a meal that's quick to make, uses ingredients that are pantry staples of mine, and I don't need to dig up the recipe to make it. Arm yourself with 4-5 back pocket recipes, and suddenly the week's meals are entirely more manageable.
My man spouse is thrilled whenever I make honey sesame chicken. He calls it "chicken with the white dots". I think he appreciates that it's a chicken recipe that doesn't quite taste like chicken. I mean, it's slathered in a simple honey-tomato sauce, so it's a bit different from roast chicken or cast iron chicken thighs. We love our chicken, but when you're eating it for 4+ meals a week, this recipe is a nice variation.
When serving, dish this up with cauliflower rice or white rice, if that's your jam. Sprinkle with a generous amount of sesame seeds and sliced green onions. Aw, yeah. This is a meal to remember!
Paleo Honey Sesame Chicken
Paleo Honey Sesame Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: pan-fried
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- ¼ cup - ⅓ cup raw honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ¼ cup coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized, 2-inch chunks and add to a medium bowl. Add the arrowroot flour, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat each piece of chicken in the flour.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, honey, rice vinegar, coconut aminos, ginger, and garlic until smooth. Taste the sauce to see if it's sweet enough for you - if not, add additional honey a tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired level of sweetness. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet, browning on each side for about 2 minutes. Work in batches if necessary—they won’t brown properly if you pack ‘em in there too tightly.
- Once all the chicken is browned, return to the skillet. Pour the sauce mixture into the skillet and stir to coat the chicken. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it cook until thickened, about 10 minutes or longer based on your preference. Add the sesame seeds and stir to coat.
- Serve over white rice or cauliflower rice. Garnish with extra sesame seeds or sliced green onions, if desired.
Notes
Be sure to taste the sauce before adding it to the chicken and adjust to your tastes! My spouse and I are pretty sensitive to sweetness, so we start off with ¼ cup honey, but others may prefer ⅓ cup honey.
Keywords: Honey Sesame Chicken, paleo honey sesame chicken
Karly says
Looks absolutely delicious!
Chelsea says
Thank you, Karly! 🙂
Ashc says
This was awful. I threw up.
Chelsea says
I'm sorry to hear that, especially because it's one of our favorites around here! Can you tell me specifically what you didn't like about this recipe?
Sarah says
This was DELICIOUS! I did a few things a little different and I'll tell why. First, I was a bit hesitant because of the "I threw up comment" but then I thought about it and realized that maybe they just don't know how to cook or maybe they aren't great with improving a recipe to taste how they like it. With that being said, I decided to try this recipe despite the pretty rude comment with no explanation. Better yet, I cooked this for the first time and for my in-laws. It was a complete hit! My father-in-law went back for seconds. Now, they really aren't hard to cook for, but the first time I make a dish and I'm sharing it just gets me a little on edge hoping everyone will like it.
So for the changes I decided to use cornstarch instead of arrowroot flour. So I've cooked Paleo, Whole 30, gluten free, etc. So that's why I really liked what all was in this recipe in the first place. However, arrowroot flour can sometimes leave a sauce a little of what I call "clear gooey-ness" that really isn't appealing. Once I made this recipe I realized that probably wouldn't have happened here because of how it was being used. I mixed the cornstarch with just a tiny bit of flour. Honestly, it didn't even do anything so if I make the recipe again (and I will) I'll use the arrowroot flour.
As the chicken was cooking I started making the sauce. Here's where I did use some of my own chef skills (disclaimer: I'm not a real chef, but I know my way around a kitchen). I combined all ingredients as stated above and in the amounts as stated. Like all good chefs I tasted the sauce before I poured in on the chicken and I wasn't a fan of the tomato taste that was coming in strong. So, I added a bit more honey, tasted... a bit more honey, tasted... a bit more honey and ahhh yes just right! I also added a touch more coconut aminos, but not sure that it was much more than suggested or that it actually made a difference.
Next, I threw the broccoli in with the chicken as it finished up cooking then added the sauce and let it come to a boil and thicken.
I love a good cauliflower rice to be honest, but since I was cooking for the in-laws I made Basmati rice (long grain goodness). This was wonderful. The biggest change I made was just adding in more honey than what was suggested. I was really craving the honey in "Honey Sesame Chicken" that I just felt like the flavor needed to come out more!
Overall thank you so much for sharing this recipe and I'm really glad I stumbled upon your page!
Chelsea says
Thank you, Sarah! I appreciate it! Yes, I think I should add a note to increase the honey as you see fit - my husband and I just aren't fans of anything super sweet and we're both pretty sensitive to sweetness, so it's never a top priority to me. That said, I know that's not the case for most people! And you're totally right about the arrowroot - that clear gooeyness can be a real turnoff, but it's not a problem here. (Still, good to know that cornstarch works just as well!) Oh, and your addition of broccoli? What a great idea!
Anyway, thanks for giving the recipe a try and sending some feedback despite that other comment. I'm not one to delete comments unless it's very obviously spam, so unfortunately it's going to stay up!
Sarah says
Oh lastly, I didn't have access to fresh ginger so I used about a tablespoon of ground ginger.
So good 🙂
Kristie says
I think it was just ok. I think one 8oz can of tomato sauce would have been enough. I think it tasted to much like tomato sauce. I didn’t want to add much more honey because of the sugar content.
★★★
Chelsea says
Hey Kristie! I appreciate your comment. Bummer that it wasn't up to par for you! I definitely prefer it pretty saucy and since I don't track my sugar intake, it doesn't bother me much to add extra honey if I need to make it sweeter. It's all up to the eater, I suppose!
Allison says
Hi! This looks SO GOOD! But is it possible to make it without tomato sauce? I’m allergic 🙁
Chelsea says
Hi, Allison! Unfortunately, I can't think of anything you could substitute for tomato sauce in this recipe.
Sam says
Can you substitute a different kind of vinegar
Chelsea says
Yes. You could use red wine vinegar or even white vinegar. It may affect the taste a bit, but only slightly!