The invention relates to a method for generating nitric oxide, in particular for therapeutic applications, which comprises the steps of: guiding a process gas into a reaction chamber 3, wherein the process gas comprises nitrogen and oxygen, heating the process gas to a temperature which is sufficiently high to enable a reaction of oxygen and nitrogen to form nitric oxide, thereby forming a gas which comprises nitric oxide, and extracting the nitric oxide comprising gas from the reaction chamber 3, wherein oxygen is present in the process gas in the reaction chamber in an amount of