Lemon, Honey and Sesame Chicken

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Lemon, Honey and Sesame Chicken is deliciously tender with a sticky crunchy coating. A quick weeknight staple which is a million times better than a takeaway.

this recipe

Valentines Day means Chinese to us. There have only been a couple of times where we have bothered booking somewhere smart and fancy, but set menus, surrounded by other couples don’t really signify romance to me. On Valentines Day you will either find us holed up in Chinatown where you can always get a table, a huge dinner and unobtrusive service or at home cooking a banquet together where the emphasis is not on the end result but the act of cooking as a couple.

In fact one of my most memorable Valentines nights was when we decided to cook ourselves a night out in Chinatown. We mixed over-the-top cocktails that insisted upon using every alcoholic drink in our cabinet and was tantalisingly aqua marine with umbrellas and glace cherries. We drank these far too quickly whilst pouring over Chinese cookbooks and making a royal mess as well as sesame prawn toasts, char siu pork, egg fried rice and broccoli in oyster sauce. We finished with the requisite deep fried bananas, which always ensures a blistered tongue, and vanilla ice cream which melted as soon as it hit the bananas.

Spending hours in the kitchen isn’t as fun as it normally is at the moment with my increasing bump getting in the way of the kitchen counter, my lower back threatening to give out at any minute and bending down to get my bottom kitchen cabinets requiring about five minutes of recuperation time. So, we need to make haste with our Valentines preparations and there is no quicker and more delicious Chinese dish to make at home than this Lemon, Honey and Sesame Chicken. It’s a meal that I can happily make for the two of us, or if Luke is away then just me on my lonesome, it really is that little bother. Not to mention it tastes a million times better than the bland and greasy MSG filled takeaway at the end of the phone.

Lemon, Honey and Sesame Chicken

Georgina Hartley

Lemon, Honey and Sesame Chicken is deliciously tender with a sticky crunchy coating. A quick weeknight staple which is a million times better than a takeaway.

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Servings 4 people (or 2 with plenty of yummy leftovers so you can have cold Chinese the next morning)

Calories 413 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 boneless chicken thighs with skin - diced (or 3 chicken breasts)
• ▢ 1 lemon
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cornflour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• ▢ 2 tablespoons honey
• ▢ 1 tablespoon coconut aminos* - or tamari
• ▢ 3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions

 

• Place the cornflour, five-spice, garlic powder, zest of the lemon and salt in a bowl and whisk together until evenly mixed.
• Toss the diced chicken into the cornflour mixture until thoroughly coated.
• Heat up the coconut oil in a large wide bottomed saucepan or wok until hot then add the chicken, cooking on a medium to hot temperature until crispy and cooked through.
• Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
• Whisk the honey, coconut aminos and juice from half of the lemon together until combined then pour into the pan. Bubble up for a minute then add the chicken back in along with the sesame seeds and cook for a further minute until piping hot.
• Serve with rice stir-fried with beansprouts, spring onions and extra coconut aminos drizzled over.

Notes

*coconut aminos is a gluten-free and soy-free alternative to soy sauce. You can use soy sauce or tamari if you are not gluten-free

Nutrition

Calories: 413kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 20gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 111mgSodium: 465mgPotassium: 311mgFiber: 2gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 90IUVitamin C: 14.5mgCalcium: 81mgIron: 2.2mg

Have you tried this recipe?Head to the comment section and let me know what you think!

SHOP THE RECIPE

Coconut aminos is a larder staple for me which is a gluten-free and soy-free alternative to soy sauce. I personally prefer the taste of coconut aminos to tamari (which is gluten-free but does contain soy) but it is a little pricier. The brand of coconut aminos I love is Cocofina Organic Coconut Amino - Alternative to Soy Sauce 250ml which has a delicious flavour and is what I used in this recipe.

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