With my Panda Express Honey Sesame Chicken Breast copycat recipe, you will always be able to enjoy this sweet crispy chicken entree.
We love food court Chinese Food Recipes like Orange Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken and this crazy popular twist on a Sesame Chicken recipe from Panda Express is finally back for it’s time in the sun again!
Sabrina’s Panda Express Honey Sesame Chicken
It’s not often that Panda Express comes out with an amazing new entree but when they do, it quickly becomes a viral hit before it disappears indefinitely. When the Sesame Chicken Breast entree first came and went, I missed out on a golden opportunity to recreate it and I got dozens of emails asking for a copycat version. So when they brought it back, I got work to recreate it as closely as possible – hence this amazing recipe! It will definitely hit the spot in case they every decide to pull it off the menu again.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1 pound chicken breast , boneless skinless, cut into 1" chunks
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- vegetable oil , for frying
Honey Sesame Sauce:
- 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
To Finish:
- 1 pound string beans , trimmed
- 1 yellow bell pepper , sliced thinly
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Add the egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil into a medium bowl and whisk together well.
- In a second bowl, add ½ cup corn starch and ¼ cup flour and mix.
- In a large dutch oven or a wok, heat oil to 375 degrees (about 2 inches of oil).
- Dip chicken pieces in the egg mixture, then dredge in the flour mixture.
- Fry the chicken in batches for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden and crisp then remove with a slotted spatula, draining the oil well.
- To make the sauce combine the sweet chili sauce, honey, water, white vinegar, lemon juice, salt, soy sauce and cornstarch in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil and cook until it thickens (don’t make the sauce in your chicken pan).
- When you are done with the chicken, drain most of the oil from the pan (leave about 2 tablespoons).
- Stir fry the string beans and bell pepper strips for 30 seconds, then add in the cooked chicken, sesame oil and the honey sesame sauce and toss quickly to combine.
- Remove from heat and garnish with sesame seeds before serving.
Nutrition
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Table of contents
About this Recipe
My Sesame Chicken is slightly healthier because it uses chicken breast instead of thighs, but it is still deep fried. Want to make this even healthier? There’s nothing to say you can’t simply stir fry the chicken without breading and deep frying it. This cuts down the vast majority of the fat and leaves just the sweetened sauce as the only unhealthy part. I also love using ground meat as a healthy alternative.
Chef’s Note
To save time, buy a frozen Orange Chicken bag for the chicken alone, then make your own sauces for a quick semi-homemade version. I like the Trader Joe’s Sweet and Sour Chicken one as it is white meat chicken. You can also use the popular Orange Chicken from Trader Joe’s, but the sauce is already so good in that product, why waste it?
Nutrional Facts
Cooking Tips
- Fresh vegetables are best in any stir fry. If you can’t find a yellow bell pepper, use another sweet variety like red or orange vs buying a frozen blend that includes yellow.
- Don’t make your sauce in the same pan you cook the chicken in. It’s important to cook the vegetables tender crisp, and the sweet sauce will prevent that.
- If you are determined to make the sauce in the same pan, you can remove your vegetables after cooking them, and keep them near the chicken. Then make the sauce in that pan, then when thickened and the vegetables and chicken and sesame oil back into the pan all at once.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t leave the chicken out for longer than about 2 hours without refrigerating it.
- Store: Place leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 3 days. The chicken will not remain crispy, so if you are not enjoying this dish right away, consider just stir frying the chicken instead of breading and frying it.
- Freeze: Always allow the chicken to cool down to room temperature before sealing it up or you’ll just store bacteria in with it. You can freeze chicken for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Panda Express Recipes (Copycat)
It’s very good but it’s not exactly like panda. More like sweet and sour chicken. Next time I’ll dial back on the vinegar and lemon juice, I think that will make it more like panda.
Good to know Krista! Thank you.
What can be substituted for the chili sauce? I know it would not truly be Panda Express but that’s ok
Is it the heat you’re trying to avoid or something else? Not sure what to offer you as a substitute.
Delicious! Definitely way more than 30 min to prep and prepare. Adding a bit of garlic to sauce is great. Would be better if in the instructions for the sauce, it should read to dissolve the corn starch in the 1/3 cup (warm) water to make a slurry. Definitely one of the favourite sauces I’ve made.
Absolutely delicious! I served it over rice. The sauce is superb and I’m considering making this without chicken, just more veggies.
Have you tried it with the panda premade sauce (Honey Sesame Sauce) that you buy at the store
I haven’t. Have you?
Have u tried it with that sauce???
Perfect, it was spot on and amazing! My family loved it even better than Panda Express! Thank you!?
Great to hear and thanks so much Nicole, for the 5 star review.
What brand of sweet chili sauce did y’all use?
We’ve tried a number of Asian chili garlic sauces, chili sweet sauces and others. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific.
Wow, this was incredibly easy to make and tasted delicious! My husband always gets the honey sesame chicken from Panda Express, and he said he liked this so much better because it tasted the same, but didn’t make him feel terrible after eating it. haha
I have to avoid gluten, so I crushed up a few plain rice cakes in a food processor and used that instead of all purpose flour in the breading. It came out crispy and delicious! I served it alongside some white rice and sesame ginger roasted broccoli with a side salad.
We will definitely be adding this into our recipe rotation!
I’m so glad you took the time to comment Cassidy. All our readers who avoid gluten will appreciate you! And thanks so much for the 5 star rating!
It’s okay, but the honey is way to overpowering in my opinion.
Everyone seems to have a unique reaction to honey. Thank you for trying the recipe!
Family loved it!
Omg, this was so delicious! Thank you so much for this great recipe! I did add 1 tsp of soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp of baking soda to the marinade. And for the flour coating, I used half corn starch and half course sweet potato starch for extra crunch. My 7 & 4 yr old loved it. You are a genius, Sabrina!
Aww, thanks Ayaka!
SO GOOD. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of breading and frying my own chicken so I used some frozen popcorn chicken instead that I baked per package directio lbs (a little longer to get extra crispy) while I cooked the peppers and green beans, made the sauce and cooked some rice. I LOVE honey sesame chicken from Panda Express and this hit the spot for that craving at a fraction of the cost.
Glad your shortcuts worked out for you!
My family loved it! The battered chicken was awesome! I used a large frying pan and flipped the pieces when they were ready. I may try noodles next time instead of rice ?
Recipe tasted good but did not taste like the real stuff from Panda Express. I am obsessed with the sesame chicken and was so excited to try this but was sadly disappointed. The sauce did not taste authentic
Hi Chasity, what felt different for you? This recipe came to me from an inside source so as far as we’ve tested it’s been spot on.
Thanks Sabrina. Can you please please make New copycat recipe for Pandas brand new Crispy Almond Chicken with that delicious Honey Soy Ginger sauce topping that just came out in Aug? I just tried it for the first time this weekend abs is DA BOMB. my all time new fave from Panda even better than the Honey walnut shrimp.!!!! Please please. Thanks
is there a video on how to make this?
That would be awesome.
Seems pretty easy, but i’m a noob at cooking…
Thanks!
Hi Sabrina,
I will be making this as well as your chow mein and sweet and sour sauce recipes for dinner tonight. By chance, is distilled white vinegar and white vinegar the same? Or similar enough to where I can just use distilled white vinegar? That’s all I have on hand.
Thanks! 🙂
Yep go for it, it won’t hurt it much. Some white vinegar can be the kind it is calling for and some is white wine vinegar which is different but again it won’t change too much.
Wow! This was delish!
I didn’t have sesame oil in the house, but it didn’t take away (used a tiny splash of avocado oil instead). Otherwise I cooked it exactly as mentioned and the family LOVED it! I have never posted a review, but because we enjoyed it so much I thought I should 🙂 . Well deserved… bravo!
Thanks so much, Jennifer! I love it when someone enjoys the dish that they want to leave a review. I’m honored.
This turned out amazing. Definitely keeper for when craving Panda but want a fresher flavor. Whole family loved it (including a 6 and 9 yr old girls). YUM!
Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you all enjoyed it, Brooke.
OMG…….the honey sesame chicken was just like getting it at Panda. Awesome. Thank you for posting that. I send them emails several times every year asking them to keep it on the regular menu. I dont have to do that a anymore!!!!
Glad to have been a help, Sharon. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Can you sub frozen popcorn chicken?
I’ve not tested it but if it already has a breading, you might be able to just make the sauce and go from there.
Better thank Panda Express. Best recipe! You have to try this. So delicious!
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed it, Kate.
This recipe was easy and delicious! I swapped out the chicken for tofu and even the kids ate it.
Absolutely the best can’t believe it finally found the recipe of one of my husband’s favorite dish from Panda… And don’t my goodness I never thought it would taste this good…
So glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve made several of your recipes and have enjoyed them all. I have never been to a Panda Express so I can’t speak to authenticity but I can speak to amazing taste. This is my favorite yet. It tastes incredibly similar to my favorite take-out place’s version and got the wonderful stickiness I love so much. Thank you. We will probably make this regularly
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes, Robin. I appreciate the 5 star rating.
I have to agree with you because You took the words right out of my mouth! you’ve put in words, which described it Best, thumbs up & out of five stars I give it six stars. It was my first time that I cooked from her recipe and I just had to bookmark her and added to my home screen… Thank you and thanks for sharing.
What is meant by white vinegar?
Did you mean the plain vinegar or rice vinegar? Sorry if this is an dumb question to ask!
I cannot wait to make this for Christmas
Also, In step 4, you said to put dip chicken pieces in egg mixture? Is there a small bowl where we should have a whisked egg in? It wasn’t specified earlier? Thanks again in advance.
It’s in step 1 🙂
Just plain white vinegar. Enjoy!
We made this for my mother in law because its one recipe that all of my kids will eat and she loved it too!
So happy to hear that it’s a dish everyone can enjoy!
Delicious! What a great copycat! You’ve saved us some money with this awesome recipe!
So glad you liked it! It is a money saver for sure!!
This recipe was great. I love the honey Sesame chicken and this tasted pretty dang close. I think after a few tries I can have it down good. Only thing is I’m trying to keep track of calories etc and I know it says yields 6 servings but what is a serving size? Thank you!
Hi Becka, The issue is that people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.
Oh, I am craving this chicken right now! SO excited to try this recipe tonight, I know it’s going to be a hit!
Enjoy!
This is such a great copycat recipe. Easy to make and tastes even better!
Thanks!!
This recipe was such a hit! I made it for a family dinner and I got so many great compliments!
So happy to hear that! It’s a huge hit with our family too!
what brand of chili sauce did you use? Does it matter?
I usually use Thai Kitchen or the Panda brand. Either will work 🙂
Panda Express recently discontinued a shrimp stir fry. Any chance of us getting that recipe?
I can definitely add it to my list, what is the stir-fry that they discontinued (hopefully I’ve had it so I can recreate it!)
I make every Panda Express copycat recipe you publish. They are always better than the drive thru and we have a Panda Express across the street from our home. Haven’t been out since St. Patty’s Day so just asking did they discontinue the Honey Walnut Shrimp? That’s ok as you published that recipe and it is a favorite at our home. Keep up bringing us the best food that is so simple to make!!!!!
I don’t think they’re discontinued it but I haven’t really been out either. So glad you’re enjoying all the recipes.