If you are looking for a quick, but extremely flavoursome dinner recipe, look no further! Our quick and easy Crispy Honey Chicken recipe comes together in under 20 minutes and is a real crowd-pleaser! Served on a bed of fluffy rice, this sticky, sweet and spicy fried chicken is a great substitute for a pricey takeaway, and you will make it quicker than your takeaway would have arrived! Equally delicious made with tofu if you are looking for a vegetarian option!

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Perfect Weeknight Meal
Being one of the quickest and most delicious meals is not the only benefit of this dish. Yes, it may not be a healthy option for dinner, but the good thing is, you may not need a dessert after this Honey Chicken meal.
If you’ve ever had Crispy Shredded Chicken in Honey sauce in any of the Chinese Restaurants or ordered it from your local takeaway, you will probably know how sweet the dish can be. And whilst some people frown upon so much sweetness in a savoury dish, we love it! However, our sweet honey sauce is made deliberately a little bit less sweet. We added the juice of one orange to introduce a little bit of sourness to the sweet sauce, which makes it a little lighter and with a bit of extra flavour (a perfect balance of sweet and sour, in our opinion).
Overall it is an easy recipe that will please the whole family and satisfy your cravings for Chinese takeout flavours!
If you are looking for more ideas, visit our article on Top 10 Best Chinese Fakeaway Recipes.
Ingredients and Substitutes
- chicken breast: boneless and skinless chicken breasts. It can be substituted with boneless skinless chicken thighs or even thinly sliced sirloin steak.
- cornflour: also known as corn starch.
- honey: clear runny honey will work best.
- soy sauce: both light and dark soy sauce will work in this crispy honey chicken recipe. If you are looking for a gluten-free option, use tamari.
- garlic cloves.
- orange: only orange juice will be used, and we highly recommend using freshly squeezed orange juice.
- red chilli flakes: can be replaced with fresh red chili pepper, if you wish.
- sesame seeds: for topping.
- spring onion: also known as green onions.
- long-grain rice: to serve. If you don’t have any white rice, brown rice will work well too, but it is more filling, so you may want to adjust the quantity.
We tried to make this recipe as easy as possible and only included the main must-add ingredients, but if you are looking to add even more flavour to your dish, add a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of rice vinegar to the sauce.
If you’re looking to make a hot honey sauce, add a teaspoon of sriracha sauce or a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. To add more spice to the dish, you can also mix in a teaspoon of chili powder into the cornflour coating for the chicken. Similarly, you can add some crunchy vegetables, like stir-fried red pepper and carrots alongside the chicken for extra nutrition.
Watch How To Make It
How to Make Sure Your Chicken is Crispy?
One of the main elements of this dish is CRISPY chicken. There are a few tips and tricks to achieve the best results without having to resort to deep-frying:
- Don’t be stingy with cornflour if you want a crispy texture.
- Make sure every single bit of chicken is coated in cornflour before it hits the pan.
- Whilst we are shallow frying the chicken in this recipe, make sure the bottom of the pan is fully covered with oil and it is hot before you add the chicken.
- Use a large frying pan, so that the chicken strips are spaced out and have space to crisp up, rather than stew in steam.
- When you’re adding the chicken to the pan, add them bit by bit, ensuring the strips don’t clump together.
- Fry the chicken quickly on high heat. Don’t let it stew and absorb the oil.
- Once cooked, add the chicken to the sticky honey sauce only long enough to cover it all, don’t let it sit in the sauce for longer than 2 minutes, or you will lose most of the crispiness.
How to Make Crispy Honey Chicken?
Cut the chicken breast into strips (about 1 cm thick).
Mix 2-3 tablespoon of cornflour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Put the chicken in the corn flour mixture and mix well to cover.
Cook rice following the instructions on a packet.
Heat 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large frying pan (large skillet) on medium heat. Add the pieces of chicken to hot oil and fry for approx. 10 minutes until the chicken is golden brown, crispy and cooked through. Take it out of the pan using a slotted spoon. If they look oily, place them on a plate lined with a sheet of paper towel.
In the meantime, make the sauce. Chop up the garlic cloves very finely. Squeeze all the juice from one small orange. Place honey, soy sauce, garlic, chilli flakes and juice of an orange in a medium sauce pan on low heat. Stir to combine. Mix the remaining cornflour with two tablespoon of water, then add this cornstarch slurry to your honey chicken sauce and stir to combine. Heat until the sauce thickens.
Slice the spring onion thinly on the diagonal for the garnish.
Add the cooked chicken pieces to the sauce and mix to coat. Serve your Chinese Crispy Honey Chicken on a bed of white rice with sesame seeds and spring onion scattered on top.

Other Chinese Inspired Recipes
Everyone loves a good Crispy Chicken recipe, right? That’s why we love Crispy Lemon Chicken (a family favorite) and Crispy Chilli Chicken just as much for a quick and easy dinner.
Some of the other Chinese-inspired meals that we simply adore include:
- Chinese-Spiced Beetroot & Sweet Potato Salad
- Tofu Kung Pao
- Salt and Pepper Chicken
- Crispy Chilli Beef | Home-Made Chinese Take-Away Favourite
Recipe Card

Quick & Easy Crispy Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- 250 g chicken breast cut into strips
- 3 -4 tbsp cornflour
- 3 tablespoon runny honey
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic chopped finely
- 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 spring onion sliced
- 180 g long-grain rice
Instructions
- Mix 2-3 tablespoon of cornflour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Put the chicken in the cornflour and mix well to cover.
- Cook rice following instructions on a packet.
- Heat 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken and fry for approx. 10 minutes until the chicken is golden brown, crispy and cooked through (see tips above on how to get your chicken crispy).
- In the meantime, make the sauce. Place honey, soy sauce, garlic, chilli flakes and juice of an orange in a medium pan on low heat. Stir to combine. Mix the remaining cornflour with two tablespoon of water, then add this mixture to your sauce and stir to combine. Heat until the sauce thickens.
- Once the chicken in cooked, add it to the sauce and mix to coat the chicken.
- Serve on a bed of rice with sesame seeds and spring onion scaterred on top.
Video
Nutrition

Dannii
This is our go-to for a quick and easy meal. So good!
Ieva
Thanks, Dannii! It’s exactly what it is for us too – quick and easy! 🙂
Beth Sachs
Such an easy chicken recipe and most importantly very tasty!
Ieva
Thanks, Beth! 🙂
Sharon Chen
Yummy chicken! Perfect for the entire fam 🙂
Ieva
Thanks, Sharon! 😍
Claudia Lamascolo
this was so delicious just the right sweetness and loved how tender it was!
Ieva
Thanks, Claudia!
Gina
Honey and soy sauce are such a great match. Big flavor with just those two ingredients. Love this easy takeout-esque meal!
Ieva
Thanks, Gina! It’s a great dish when you’re looking for an alternative to takeaway! 🙂
Emily
The flavors were amazing! I tried a vegetarian version with tofu and it was so good!
Ieva
I agree, we regularly make it with tofu too! Just as delicious!
Beth
My mouth is watering just looking at this crispy honey chicken. Going to have to try this very soon.
Kushigalu
Honey chicken is one of my favorite. Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
Ned
This really was the perfect weeknight meal! Thank you for such an awesome and easy recipe!
Ieva
You are most welcome! So glad you like it!
Lily
OMG- yum! This recipe was fantastic and definitely on our repeat list. I’m considering trying it with some shrimp and possibly a little bit of fresh ginger. It was easy to make and delicious- the recipe video was super helpful too.
Ieva
I bet it would be really good with some crispy coated shrimp! Glad you liked it!