Gluten Free Chinese Honey Chicken
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This Chinese Honey Chicken Recipe is healthier and better than takeout. It’s easy to make at home in only 29 minutes, and it’s one of the best gluten free recipes ever!
A lot of inspiration for new recipe creation comes from suggestions by friends or family members. “Oh hey, I really love this dish, but can you make it healthier?” or “I’ve been looking for a good recipe for this or that.”
When it comes to gluten free recipe inspiration, I always turn to my brother, Tyler. He is gluten-intolerant and my original inspiration for adding gluten free recipes to the blog!
While on a recent road trip together, I asked my brother what new gluten free recipes he’d like to see on the blog. He said that he would love to see a Chinese Honey Chicken Recipe, as his favorite recipe of all time on the blog is this Gluten Free Orange Chicken.
His wish is my command! Today I’m excited to introduce this Gluten Free Chinese Honey Chicken recipe with a delicious honey sauce. It’s guaranteed to become a new family favorite!
This delicious recipe is very lightly pan fried in olive oil, instead of deep fried. It’s lightly battered in cornstarch, instead of flour, making it a healthier, lighter, and of course, gluten free version of the Chinese Honey Chicken you would get from your local takeout spot!
How do you make Chinese honey chicken sauce?
To make this scrumptious gluten free honey sauce, combine honey, gluten free soy sauce
, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes.
How do you make battered honey chicken?
To make battered honey chicken gluten free, use cornstarch instead of flour to batter the chicken breast. First, coat the chicken pieces in egg, then in the cornstarch. Next, lightly pan fry the battered chicken in olive oil with garlic and chilies.
Is honey chicken healthy?
This gluten free honey chicken is only 476 calories per serving and provides 27 grams of protein per serving, making it a great addition to a healthy diet.
To add more vitamins and nutrition to the dish, stir fry in some veggies, like broccoli, sugar snap peas and bell peppers or serve roasted veggies on the side.
Instead of serving the honey chicken with white rice, serve it with cauliflower rice for another healthy twist on the dish!
Is this honey chicken recipe spicy?
This dish is both sweet and spicy. If you’re sensitive to spice, remove the crushed red pepper flakes in the sauce and omit the chili pepper when pan frying the chicken.
This honey chicken recipe is another win for the “better-than-Chinese-takeout” gluten free menu I’ve built up over they years!
Grab all of these gluten free recipes to build your own Gluten Free Chinese Food menu at home!
- Gluten Free Orange Chicken
- Sweet & Sour Chicken Fried Rice
- Gluten Free General Tso’s Chicken
- Honey Walnut Shrimp
- 20 Minute Kung Pao Chicken
- Shishito Shrimp Stir Fry
- Healthy Chinese Turkey Lettuce Wraps
- Gluten Free Kung Pao Beef & Noodle Bowl
I would like to tell you which one is my favorite, but that would basically be impossible, because I love all of these gluten free recipes!
Do you have a favorite? If so, comment below and let me know!
Gluten Free Chinese Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts , sliced into cubes
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 thai chili pepper, seeded & sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp green onions, diced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the honey, gluten free soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil and red pepper flakes together, set the bowl aside.
- Combine the cornstarch and brown sugar in a shallow bowl or on a rimmed plate.
- Place the whisked egg in a separate shallow bowl.
- Add the chicken to the egg, then coat it in the cornstarch mixture.
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the chili pepper, garlic and coated chicken.
- Cook the chicken until slightly brown on all sides.
- Pour the honey sauce over the chicken, sauté 2-3 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and simmer for 6-8 minutes.
- Top with the diced green onions and serve.
Video
Nutrition Facts
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36 Comments on “Gluten Free Chinese Honey Chicken”
Looks great!! I don’t typically fry chicken but I can see the kids loving this. I will likely use coconut oil to fry but otherwise this looks perfect
Wonderful Renae, I can’t wait to hear what you and the kids think!
This was a hit tonight! I am gluten and soy free, but really miss dishes like these! Totally loved this and my teenage boys even had seconds! Definitely will add to our monthly meals!
Wonderful!! I’m so glad the whole family enjoyed it Heidi! Thanks for sharing!
this is an awesome recipe! My three grandkids are totally gluten-free and I happen to come across this recipe and they devoured it. They thought I had ordered it and were thrilled when they found out I had made it. I didn’t have gluten free soy sauce so I use maple steer instead. I also didn’t have sesame oil so I used avocado oil. I did not use the Thai chili pepper, other than that I stuck to the recipe. My husband who is not gluten-free also absolutely loved this and I will be making it many more times!!
I LOVE to hear comments like this Terry!! My brother is gluten free & I’m so excited to provide gluten free recipes that everyone can enjoy! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Can’t post the photo, but I used the sauce in this to make a honey soy stir fry instead. Absolutely amazing!
Awesome Tanika! If you’re on Instagram you can share the photo there and tag me @WhitneyBond, I’d love to see your creation! I’m so glad you enjoyed the sauce 🙂
I made an EoE friendly version (Dairy Free + Gluten Free + Soy Free) of this for young children by replacing the soy sauce with Cocomino Original which is a coconut based soy sauce replacement for those allergic to soy. I also left out the chilli, chilli powder and green onions for my plain eating boys. Instead I added steamed & diced broccolini and topped with seasame seed. Served with plain steamed rice. Thank you
I made this last night and really enjoyed it! When I first saw the picture on Foodgawker, I thought this was a shrimp dish. SO, I used shrimp instead of chicken. I decided to skip the dredging (I didn’t want to overcook it) and just stir fried fried the shrimp in some olive oil and added the sauce with a little corn starch to thicken it up. I also added ginger to the sauce and sprinkled some cayenne pepper on the shrimp as they were cooking. Yummy! I shall try it with chicken the next time! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Tina, love hearing about your spin on the dish! I’ll have to try the sauce with shrimp sometime!
The honey chicken is the first recipe I tried and it is a firm favourite in our family. However mine doesn’t look like the picture as I can’t get the batter to stick. Nevertheless, still tastes amazing. Thank you
I’m so glad to hear it’s a family favorite!
Make sure to let all of the extra egg drip off before dipping the chicken in the cornstarch, then make sure to shake off any excess cornstarch before adding the chicken to the oil, hopefully that will help with getting the batter to stick!
Still one of my all-time LLB, I mean WB favorites!!! I’m hungry just looking at the pictures! 🙂
It’s a classic! I’ll have to make it for you again soon 🙂
I could not find fresh red pepper at the store. Is it ok to use dried?
Hi Jennifer, yes, you can leave out the fresh red pepper or replace it with dried. Either way will work!
Can I substitute the GF Soy Sauce with Amino Acids? They taste the same, I’m just not sure how the amino acids would break down in the cooking process.
Came across this recipe trying to find gluten free recipes for my husband and I just finished making it(of course had to do a taste test for myself) and it is freakin amazing! Didn’t have the crisp but is still so delicious! ?
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed in Jenavieve!!
Love this recipe & so easy. I substitute the honey for maple syrup after all the press reports on heated honey & it tastes great if not better. I also add green beans instead of green onion.
Love your recipes
Thanks so much Becki! So glad that you’re enjoying the recipe 🙂
It is tasty but I am failing to get the crispy texture I would like when I fry the chicken. Any tips?
Hi Tabitha, I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it! For a crispier texture, I would recommend more oil or cooking at a slightly higher temperature.
This was super easy and seriously good!! I am a terrible cook but I made this no problem. Tasted like it came from chinese restuarant 🙂 So hard to find GF recipes that are good. This is a keeper. Thanks!
Hi Diane! That’s so great to hear! Thank you for sharing!
What’s the nutritional value of this meal?
Hi Penny, according to the website Yummly where I go for nutritional information for my recipes. This recipe is 460 calories, 16g fat, 27g protein and 55g carbs per serving.
For how many servings is this?
Hi Naomi, this serves 4. Enjoy!
Made this for the first time today, a last minute idea…can I say “oh my Wiw”…this is delicious! Will be making this again!
What would you suggest to use instead of corn starch? Tapioca Starch? Arrowroot? Potato Starch?
I would recommend Arrowroot as it’s a great one-to-one substitute for cornstarch!
Just wanted to say I made this last night and it was great! I made a couple swaps to fit it into my caloric restrictions (less oil, no brown sugar) but it was seriously delicious and my husband loved it too. It’s a special treat for him as he can’t eat Chinese food (anaphalactic shellfish allergy).
The only problem I had was that the garlic & pepper burnt badly while I was waiting for the chicken to cook – I would definitely add it in in the last minute of cooking the chicken next time.
Onto the general tao’s next!
Your recipes are awesome. Pinned!
Thank you so much Jane!!