Think Twice Before Ordering This Popular Chicken Dish From Panda Express

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If you lack mom-and-pop Asian restaurants in your neck of the woods, Panda Express is a good alternative. The fast food chain is credited with changing American Chinese food, as quite a few Americans have discovered Asian-style cuisine thanks to Panda Express. It's true that the menu is packed with comforting dishes like Kung Pao chicken and black pepper sirloin steak, but in our opinion, there is one dish you may want to avoid during your next visit. We ranked Panda Express menu items from worst to best and found the Honey Sesame Chicken seemed tasty in theory but was disappointing in execution.

Making its debut in 2013, Panda Express's Honey Sesame Chicken features breaded strips of white meat chicken, bell peppers, and green beans slathered in honey sesame sauce. If you find that description tempting, be prepared for a harsh, cold dose of reality. "There was nothing crispy in the Honey Sesame Chicken," our reviewer states, from the "thick, pasty, generally unpleasant" breading to the "withered" green beans that "weren't immediately identifiable as string beans." The sauce was less offensive, but "the lack of the titular sesame seeds" was a real problem. Consider that Honey Sesame Chicken only landed in second to last place because we were compelled to place the saddest side, Super Greens, dead last.

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In contrast to Panda Express' underwhelming Honey Sesame Chicken, we're big fans of the Orange Chicken because of its "nice, crispy breading" and "gooey and sticky [orange sauce] with some tang and some acidic zip." These factors make Orange Chicken a best-selling item at Panda Express, but it's worth mentioning that the Honey Sesame Chicken is also quite popular. The latter disappeared from the menu at one point but came back to the chain in 2018, much to the delight of its fans. It has remained a permanent fixture since and is so popular that it even has its own line of merch, including a Honey Sesame Chicken Onesie.

In a Reddit thread pondering whether Honey Sesame or Orange Chicken reigns supreme at Panda Express, a few commenters heaped praise on the sweet, sesame-tinged dish. "The honey sesame is SO good," said one person. Another gave it a slight edge, stating, "2x Honey Sesame, 1x Orange." On Yelp, a reviewer expressed love for both Honey Sesame and Orange Chicken: "I love how sweet they are, and they pair well with the savory chow mein." Other patrons are less appreciative of the dish, with one Redditor likening it to "soggy bread." Also, it's possible that your mileage will vary based on which Panda Express you patronize, or even the time of day. For instance, a commenter refuted the allegations of sogginess by saying, "It's usually crispy and sweet. When it's soggy it's because it sat for a while."