This Easy Sesame Chicken recipe is seriously so easy that you’ll be tempted to toss those take-out menus. The deliciously sweet and savory sauce takes only a few ingredients, all of which you can keep on hand indefinitely (keep your ginger in the freezer). You know, just in case you need some sesame chicken like, now. Oh, and this take-out fake-out sesame chicken works great for your weekly meal prep, too!
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What is Sesame Chicken?
If you’re unfamiliar with this Chinese-American fast food classic, sesame chicken is small pieces of tender chicken that have been coated in an egg and cornstarch, deep-fried until crispy, and then coated in a deliciously sweet, salty, and tangy sauce. The sauce also has a light but toasty flavor thanks to sesame seeds. You’ll find this dish at most Chinese-inspired takeout restaurants across America.
Ingredients for Sesame Chicken
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy sesame chicken recipe:
- Chicken Thighs: We use chicken thighs for this recipe because they stay juicy and super tender without fear of drying out, and they’re very budget-friendly. You can use chicken breast, if preferred, just be careful to not overcook the chicken.
- Cornstarch and Egg: The combination of cornstarch and egg coats the chicken, keeping it tender and providing something for the sauce to grab onto. This technique of coating meat in a cornstarch mixture is called “velveting.”
- Soy Sauce: The base for the sauce is soy sauce, which provides plenty of salt and umami flavor.
- Toasted Sesame Oil: Toasted sesame oil gives the sauce a deliciously nutty flavor. Make sure to get toasted oil, which has a deep amber color and a much more pronounced flavor.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar provides sweetness to balance the salt of the soy sauce and the acidity of the vinegar. Brown sugar has a deep flavor, compared to the more one-dimensional flavor of white sugar. You can also use honey in place of the brown sugar.
- Rice Vinegar: Rice vinegar gives the sauce a nice tangy flavor. Rice vinegar is milder than other vinegar types, which keeps the sauce in balance and not too harsh.
- Fresh Ginger: Ginger gives the sauce zing! Be sure to use fresh ginger, not dried ginger, as it has a much more peppery flavor. Keep fresh ginger in your freezer to always have it on hand without it going bad.
- Garlic: Garlic provides a nice savory base flavor for the sauce.
- Sesame Seeds: Sesame seeds add even more sesame flavor to the sauce and a delicious visual appeal.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch thickens the sauce into a nice glaze with a translucent, glossy finish.
- Rice and Green Onions: Serve your sesame chicken over a bed of rice with sliced green onions on top for a well rounded meal.
No Deep Frying Required
I specifically wrote this recipe for those of you out there who hate deep frying as much as I do. This recipe uses a very small amount of oil to cook the chicken and because of that, you don’t get super crispy edges as you would with a deep fry, but the trade-off is well worth it in my opinion. No leftover oil to deal with, no cooking oil smell filling your house, and no splattering oil trying to kill you. So worth sacrificing crispy edges.
What to Serve with Sesame Chicken
I like to pair my Easy Sesame Chicken with jasmine rice and a little steamed broccoli. It’s a super simple meal that is very satisfying, and stores well for meal prep! It also goes great with Crunchy Cabbage Salad, Sesame Cucumber Salad, Easy Egg Drop Soup, Savory Coconut Rice.
Easy Sesame Chicken
Servings 4Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 large egg ($0.23)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.06)
- 1 pinch each salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs ($3.23)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
Sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.24)
- 2 Tbsp water ($0.00)
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil ($0.33)
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.12)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.12)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.8)
- 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.02)
For Serving
- 4 cups cooked jasmine rice ($0.70)
- 2 whole green onions ($0.22)
Instructions
- First, prepare the sauce. In a small bowl stir together the soy sauce, water, sesame oil, brown sugar, rice vinegar, fresh ginger, minced garlic, cornstarch, and sesame seeds. (Grate the ginger with a small-holed cheese grater). Set the sauce aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Trim any excess fat from the chicken thighs, then cut them into small 1 inch pieces. Toss the chicken in the egg and cornstarch mixture.
- Add the cooking oil to a large skillet and heat it over medium flame. Wait until the skillet is very hot, then swirl the skillet to make sure the oil coats the entire surface. Add the batter coated chicken and spread it out into a single layer over the surface of the skillet.
- Allow the chicken pieces to cook, undisturbed, until golden brown on the bottom. Then, carefully flip the chicken, breaking up the pieces into smaller clumps as you flip. Continue to cook the chicken until golden brown on the other side. Stir the chicken as little as possible to avoid breaking the egg coating from the surface of the chicken.
- Once the chicken is cooked through and golden brown on all sides, pour the sauce over top. Toss the chicken to coat in the sauce. As the sauce comes up to a simmer, it will begin to thicken. Continue to gently stir the chicken in the sauce until it has thickened, then turn off the heat.
- Serve the chicken over a bed of rice and sprinkle the sliced green onions over top.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Sesame Chicken
Make the sauce first, so it’s ready to go when you need it. In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 2 minced cloves of garlic, ½ Tbsp cornstarch, and 1 Tbsp sesame seeds.
Let’s just talk about this toasted sesame oil for a second. You must get the kind that is toasted to get the super vibrant nutty flavor that you want in your sesame chicken. Not all brands actually say “toasted” on the bottle, but you can recognize the toasted variety by its deep brown color. Regular sesame oil will be the color of straw, like vegetable oil. You want the brown stuff. ;) It’s usually in the international foods aisle, instead of the baking aisle with the other oils.
Next, trim any extra fat off of one pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, then cut them into small one inch cubes. One pound for me was about three chicken thighs.
Add 1 large egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper to a medium bowl.
Whisk the egg and cornstarch together until it is light and frothy. It may seem thick at first, but as the cornstarch dissolves in the egg, it will thin out and get nice and frothy.
Add the cubed chicken thighs and stir them to coat in the egg mixture.
Add 2 Tbsp cooking oil to a large skillet and heat it over medium. Wait until it is very hot. This is VERY important. The skillet must be very hot! Once very hot, swirl the skillet to make sure the oil coats the entire surface, add the chicken, and make sure it’s spread out into a single layer. Let the chicken cook, undisturbed, until golden brown on the bottom. It will kind of cook into a single round pancake, but don’t worry, we’ll break up the pieces next.
Then carefully flip the chicken pieces, breaking up them up slightly into smaller pieces as you flip. Cook on the other side until browned and cooked through. Make sure to not stir them too much, or you can cause the egg to come off the chicken. You can see that some of the chicken pieces are still kind of stuck together at this point. That’s okay. Just do not over stir.
Finally, add the prepared sauce and stir to coat. Continue to carefully stir the chicken as the sauce beings to simmer and thicken. Once it’s thickened, turn off the heat.
Sprinkle some sliced green onions over top and serve with warm rice. :) Doesn’t get better than this.
Easy Sesame Chicken – done in about 30 minutes, and NO DELIVERY FEE! :D
This turned out to be magnificent! I was skeptical about the egg mixture, every other recipe has the chicken dredged in egg then flour/cornstarch… however this was much easier and it worked out wonderfully! My tip is cut the heat down just a little and let the chicken get well browned! I only let it very lightly brown, and some of my pieces weren’t quite done. So I had to put them back in. Another tip is to put your chicken in the freezer for a few minutes so it’s partially frozen (not completely frozen!) before you cut it. Makes it easier to work with. And lastly, if you’re adding veggies and serving it over rice, double the sauce! I added broccoli, water chestnuts, and baby corn. Absolutely devine!!!!
This is fantastic. It’s like you’re reading my mind with the deep frying aspect. I made this last week, and accidentally fidgeted with the chicken even though the recipe said to let it cook through before flipping. Oops, sorry… This time, I’m going to slightly increase the sauce ingredients and throw in some broccoli, plus let the chicken cook.
I made Sesame Chicken for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I’m going to add this recipe to my dinner line up! I followed the instructions and it turned out great. Thank you!
Why do you hate deep frying? I literally came here TO LEARN abot deep frying this. Will go elsewhere. Next.
So you didn’t make the recipe yet you rated it 1 star?
I hope you’re happy with your life’s choices.
Tonight’s dinner! Really good. And I think next time I’ll add orange zest. Or lemon? It would go so great in this. Thank you for this recipe!
This stuff is AMAZING. Like, tastes like the sesame chicken from a local favorite spot that catered my wedding. I don’t like deep frying either so having such an amazing alternative is just plain awesome. This is hands-down my new favorite meal prep, and it’s obviously great immediately. So fast, so easy, so, so good.
I made two batches of this recipe tonight — for one batch I followed the recipe exactly (only substitute was that I used low-sodium soy sauce because that’s all I buy) and the second batch I substituted the soy sauce for coconut aminos because I have family members with hashimotos and they can’t eat soy sauce. Turns out, none of us cared for the recipe with soy sauce but LOVED this recipe substituted with coconut aminos. We found that the recipe with soy sauce was too salty and too strong, but the recipe made with coconut aminos was delicious, just like you’d get from takeout.
Have you used chicken tenders for this recipe?
I haven’t, but they would probably work alright.
This got 6 thumbs up in our family, even the pickey eater said, after one bite, “This is a make again one!” It’s such a different way to cook the chicken. Thank you!
This is genuinely one of my favourite meal ever. I think I’ve cooked it every week for the past year. It is so nice! Somedays I just fry the chicken with the cornstarch, bake it till it’s cooked and then simmer in the sauce in the pan. Such a great feed/
As usual Beth saves the day. Chinese takeout has seen steep prices increases so I thought I would give this a shot. It was amazing! My toddler and husband finished their meals quickly. I used a large pan to allow the chicken to spread out, handled the pieces delicately. Cornstarch always seems intimidating but I followed the instructions and it was perfect. Next time I might add a side of broccoli or an Asian vegetable. Thank you BB!!
I love this with chicken, but, I made it with pork cubes tonight. Just as delicious! I did not change anything else, I just subbed pork and it is yummy!
Oh my gosh I just made this and it was delicious! Super easy, and so tasty, even without garnishes. I almost always have all these ingredients in the pantry so this is going into the rotation for sure!
I’ve done it twice now with good results both times. I added a little more ginger than suggested the second time and liked it better. I reserve 1/4 of the sauce and after the chicken’s done I take it out and put broccoli florets in the same hot pan, with a few TBSP water, a little oil, and the rest of the sauce and stir fry it. I have been using a non-stick wok, and it works well.
Can you marinate the chicken in the sauce before you cook it?
I don’t advise that. It will probably interfere with the way the cornstarch coating adheres to the chicken. Mmarinades that have been used on raw chicken need to be boiled for a solid ten minutes to make them safe for consumption and this sauce will thicken way too much before ten minutes is up.