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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Equipment
- Non Stick Cookware
- Grater
- Color Cutting Boards
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
I am a college student and don’t have much time or money to make decent meals. With that said, this recipe is excellent. It is cheap, easy, and amazing. I will definitely be eating the leftovers and I am so excited I found this recipe!
You hit a home run out of the ballpark with this one Beth!
Made this last night and it was amazing. My husband kept saying how good it was about every other bit.
The chicken tasted better than delivery to me. The texture wasn’t the same on the outside but that’s not a bad thing. It was nice and juicy. I liked the sauce better too (more flavor and not so sugary) Next time I make this, I’ll double the sauce recipe so that we can have some for drizzling over the rice.
Anyone have any veggie suggestions to go with (or in) this?
Colorful Sweet Peppers, like the kind that come in a package that looks like a stop light. Or even an Asian mix. I would hear them before adding them to the pan and triple the sauce.
I made this and I was not happy with how it turned out. I would much rather do the egg and cornstarch step separably than together. The mixture didn’t stick to the chicken. It came out mushy and the sauce did not look like the picture.
Turn your stove higher next time, that’ll both brown the chicken and get the sauce glossy. You had your burner too low. I’ve made this recipe a dozen times easily, and the only time I had what you’re describing happen is when the pan wasn’t hot enough.
Very good! My husband doesn’t eat meat or poultry, so I made it with chunks of cod instead. It turned out great!
Hello. I cooked the sesame chicken last night, and it was really good. I felt like I was eating the real thing! Only thing is the minced garlic I didnt add in because on the part where you show the pictures, but when you say to add everything it doesnt say to add that,so that kinda confused me, but other then that delicous!
This was really good. I like that it wasn’t too sweet and had a good flavor (the ginger was a nice addition) and the chicken was fairly crispy. Having the cornstarch and egg mixed together versus having to dip the pieces in egg then cornstarch was a great time saver. I found out after I added the sauce that I forgot to put the soy sauce in and frantically added soy sauce to the pan after the fact. It still came out good!
This has become a weekly favorite in my house. I use chicken breast and only coat it with corn starch, no eggs. Turns out great! I usually end up making double so we can eat it for lunch the next day.
Second time making this. It is quick, but doesn’t really have a taste. I doubled the sauce recipe (having learned from the first time), but something is still off. It doesn’t even look the same color as the photos with the same ingredients. The only think I can think of is maybe halving the amount of corn starch. All the other recipes are fantastic though.
Anyone else’s egg start to scramble? :P come to think of it, I haven’t seen many sesame chicken recipes with egg. Maybe that’s why. Unfortunately, I gave up on this recipe after that.
Unfortunately I did not have everything on hand but i had most of the ingredients. I just lacked the sesame seed oil and sesake seeds (face palm)
And had to make my own soy sauce lol
It was my first time making it and it came out wonderful! Making double tonight and it is a great way to get rid of chicken. :) thank you
Not my favorite! I have tried many of your recipes, and a majority i liked. But the flavor of this sesame chicken was just too tangy for me. It might have been the rice vinegar, but it just wasn’t sweet enough. I feel like it needed orange juice or something to sweeten it up!
Delicious! I love your use of the humble green onion in many recipes. It really adds a tasty layer of freshness! I cooked this in a wok and turned down the heat before saucing. Turned out great! I have a feeling the leftovers will taste even better.
I can’t believe how rude some people are on here.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into making and sharing your experience with this recipe Beth! I just made it for dinner tonight. I unfortunately added the chicken to the oil before it got hot enough, so I don’t think it fried the way it was supposed to. I’ll had to be a little more patient when I make it again. Only comment I’d make is I’d definitely double the sauce next time, as I’m a glutton and love me that extra sauce on the rice! I love how much healthier this recipe tastes compared to the actual thing though. Definitely an easy dinner. I’ll be making it again. : ) Just discovered your website a few days ago and I’ll definitely be tackling a lot of other recipes on here!
Wow!!!! I am just baffled by the amount of positive reviews for this recipe….. The pictures look like a restaurant quality dish. I love sesame chicken and most any Asian inspired dish, I make them often and I always go for it in restaurants that offer. I had everything on hand and such high hopes for this recipe that I doubled the sauce and doubled the amount of chicken to have leftovers. It will all go to waste, this was so bad. I followed the recipe to the T, it wasn’t how it was made but the recipe in itself. I dare to say it was almost horrible… I feel so bad to have all this leftover chicken I can almost guarantee neither I or my family will have tomorrow….I haven’t a clue how anyone who knows Asian food liked this.
(forgot to add the five-star rating)