Hot Honey Chicken with Mushroom and Sesame Noodles
Meet your new weeknight hero: hot honey chicken, cooked golden and glazed sticky-sweet, piled onto a tangle of noodles that taste like you fussed for an hour. You did not. This whole bowl leans on two Chilli Chan's knife-cut noodle packs pulling double duty, their seasoning sachets whisked into one glossy sauce, plus a spoon of Crispy Hot Honey for that sweet-and-spicy finish. It is served with Chilli Chan's XO Mushroom and Chilli Chan's Sesame & Soy noodles, so you get two flavours in one bowl. Twenty-five minutes, one pan, zero guesswork.
Prep 10 min Cook 15 min Total 25 min Serves 2 Heat 🌶 2/5
Jump to
- Why this bowl works
- The two-pack sauce hack
- What you need
- The method
- Swaps and hard-to-find bits
- What goes wrong
- FAQs
Why this bowl works
Hot honey chicken is exactly what it sounds like: chicken strips turned in a savoury sauce, cooked until golden, then finished with Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey so every bite lands sweet, sticky and gently spicy. It feels like a treat and still comes together on a Tuesday.
Then we bulk it out with noodles, and not just any noodles. Chilli Chan's knife-cut noodles are sun-dried the traditional Guan Miao way and never fried, so they cook in about three minutes and stay springy. Using Chilli Chan's hot honey on the chicken, with both noodle sauces underneath, means the flavour is built in rather than bottled from a cupboard of extras.
The two-pack sauce hack
Here is the clever bit. Instead of measuring out five different sauces, you raid two noodle packs for their sachets. The Sesame & Soy pack gives you a nutty sesame paste and a soy sauce sachet. The XO Mushroom pack brings a deep, umami-rich XO mushroom sachet and its own soy. Whisk all of that together with a splash of rice vinegar and a spoon of Hot Honey, and you have a creamy, sweet-savoury sauce that pulls double duty: it coats the chicken and it dresses the noodles.
One sauce, two jobs, and both noodle blocks cook in the same pot of water. That is the whole trick.
All of it is natural, zero MSG and made in the EU, so you are not trading a bit of convenience for a mystery flavour powder.
What you need
The chicken
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 1 tsp Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey, plus a little extra to finish
- 1 tbsp butter, for frying
The noodles
- 1 pack Chilli Chan's Sesame & Soy knife-cut noodles (noodle block plus both sachets)
- 1 pack Chilli Chan's XO Mushroom knife-cut noodles (noodle block plus both sachets)
- 2 tbsp of the hot noodle cooking water, saved before draining
The sauce
- The sesame paste and soy sachets from the Sesame & Soy pack
- The XO mushroom and soy sachets from the XO Mushroom pack
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey
- 1 garlic clove, minced
To finish
- A handful of Bimi (tenderstem) broccoli
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- A knob of butter
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
The method
- Prep the chicken. Cut the chicken breasts into strips so they cook quickly and evenly.
- Build the one-bowl sauce. In a bowl, whisk together 1 tsp rice vinegar, both the sesame paste and soy sachets from the Sesame & Soy pack, the XO mushroom and soy sachets from the XO Mushroom pack, and 1 tsp Chilli Chan's Hot Honey.
- Split it in two. Divide the sauce between two bowls. Stir the minced garlic clove into the second bowl and set it aside: that one is for the noodles.
- Coat the chicken. Tip the chicken strips into the first bowl and turn them until fully coated.
- Cook the chicken. Melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat and cook the chicken until golden and cooked through. Drizzle with a little extra hot honey right at the end for that sticky glaze.
- Boil the noodles. Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook both blocks of Chilli Chan's knife-cut noodles for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally so they do not clump.
- Save the noodle water. Scoop out 2 tbsp of the hot cooking water, then drain the noodles.
- Make it creamy. Stir the reserved noodle water into the second bowl of sauce. It loosens everything into a silky dressing that clings to the noodles.
- Toss the noodles. Add the drained noodles to that bowl and toss until every strand is coated.
- Cook the greens. Melt a little butter in a pan, add the second minced garlic clove and the Bimi stems, and cook for about 4 minutes, until just tender with a bit of bite.
- Plate up. Pile the noodles into bowls, top with the hot honey chicken and the Bimi broccoli, and get stuck in.
The sweet-heat behind this bowl
Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey: sticky, spicy and made for glazing golden chicken. Natural, zero MSG, vegan. Pair it with our sun-dried knife-cut noodles for a bowl that looks like a takeaway and cooks like a shortcut.
Shop Hot Honey • Shop Knife-Cut Noodles • Shop the full range
Swaps and hard-to-find bits
Want it vegetarian or vegan? Swap the chicken for firm tofu or thick king oyster mushroom slices, coat and glaze them exactly the same way, and use plant-based butter. Both noodle packs and the Hot Honey are already plant-based, so the sauce needs no changes.
| Called for | What it does | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Bimi broccoli | Sweet, crunchy green with a tender stem | Broccolini, regular broccoli florets, or pak choi |
| Chicken breast | The protein and the sear | Chicken thigh (juicier), firm tofu, or king oyster mushrooms |
| Rice vinegar | A gentle tang that lifts the sauce | Any mild vinegar, or a squeeze of lime |
| Butter | Richness and a golden finish | Plant-based butter or a neutral oil |
What goes wrong
- Overcooking the noodles. Three minutes is plenty. Sun-dried knife-cut noodles carry on softening off the heat, so drain them a touch early.
- Forgetting the noodle water. That splash of starchy water is what turns the sachets into a creamy sauce. Save it before you drain, not after.
- Crowding the chicken pan. Give the strips room so they sear instead of steam. Cook in two batches if your pan is small.
- Adding the hot honey too early. Sugar catches and burns. Save the final drizzle for the last minute in the pan.
- Skipping the vinegar. That teaspoon of tang stops the sauce feeling flat and heavy. Do not leave it out.
FAQs
What is hot honey chicken?
It is chicken cooked until golden and finished with hot honey, a honey infused with chilli, so it tastes sweet, sticky and lightly spicy all at once. Here we make it using Chilli Chan's Hot Honey and serve it over knife-cut noodles.
Can I make it with just one noodle pack?
You can, but the magic is in combining both. The Sesame & Soy pack brings nutty richness and the XO Mushroom pack brings deep umami, and together they make a fuller sauce. With one pack, use that pack's sachets and add a little extra Hot Honey to round it out.
Is it very spicy?
It sits around 2 out of 5. Most of the warmth comes from the Hot Honey, which leans more sweet than fierce. Add a spoon of Chilli Chan's Crispy Chilli Oil if you want to push the heat up.
Can I make it vegan?
Yes. Swap the chicken for tofu or mushrooms and use plant-based butter. Both noodle packs and the Hot Honey are already vegan.
How long do the noodles take to cook?
About 3 minutes. Chilli Chan's knife-cut noodles are sun-dried rather than fried, so they cook fast and keep their spring.
What else can I serve it with?
A fried or soft-boiled egg on top is never wrong. A quick cucumber salad or an extra handful of greens balances the richness.
Keep reading
- Hot honey fried chicken, if you want more of that sweet-heat crunch
- Sri Lankan hot butter tofu, the same wok energy, meat-free
- Dan Dan-style noodles with Crispy Chilli Oil
- What is hot honey? (and 15 ways to use it)
- Browse all knife-cut noodles
Made it? Tag us. Bonus points for the glaze shot.
