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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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 haven’t had Chinese since lockdown because all the good places are by my work 40 min away. This was absolutely perfect! Just like takeout, but better and not that difficult surprisingly! I’m going to try it with half tofu next time since sesame tofu is my absolute favorite, but the husband needs meat. I cheated and used uncle bens microwave jasmine rice and we air fried up some egg rolls in the side too!
This was so wonderful ! ! ! ! I needed a recipe to use a pkg of chicken thighs so I picked this one for sesame chicken, and I actually had all of the pantry items. After cutting up the chicken I checked the recipe again before starting. When I read that the recipe was made for the equivalent of three cut up chicken thighs, I did some very quick ingredient multiplying, because I had 8 boneless thighs cut up ! The best tip I can give is follow what it says in the directions and don’t stir/break it up too much during the browning process, it won’t always look like an omelet. As it gets properly browned you can separate it in pieces without having the coating fall off. It was sooo delicious !
P.S. I always use coconut aminos as a “one to one ” substitution for soy sauce.
Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow !
Would this work with chicken wings?
I have made this recipe several times now. It always turns out wonderful! My whole family loves it!
Made this last night instead of ordering takeout, it was delicious! Next time I will double the recipe, my husband loved it and we wished there was more leftover!
Quick, easy, & flavorful, but too salty even though I used low sodium soy. I would sub 1/4 chicken broth for the soy, and use 2 Tablespoons soy in place of water. Maybe I’ll add a little sherry (not cooking sherry) as previously suggested, and leave out the salt from the chicken mix. I will try this again with tweaks because it is quick & easy, my family like it, and I liked that it used chicken thighs instead of breasts. I served it with the jasmine rice and some flash-fried broccolini and red pepper for an asian-style side.
I don’t know what I did wrong but I cook all the time. I consider myself a pro and I try recipes new all the time… this was terrible. Couldn’t eat more than 1 piece of chicken. I followed the recipe to a tee! My husband tells me that when I fail at least it’s edible but this time we threw away a pound of chicken
I made this for dinner tonight because the local Chinese restaurants have been disappointing lately. It was delicious and so easy to make! We will definitely be making this again. (I used ground ginger instead of fresh ginger.)
I literally just experienced the same thing. I definitely do not want to discount the 4.5 stars this recipe has earned, but it just wasnt for me. It made me feel incredibly unwell
I made this last night and I’d have to say that while I liked it, it was a little too salty for my wife (I have a higher tolerance for salt but probably should go easy on it as well). I noticed that an earlier comment is also about this, but I’m not sure that coconut aminos is the answer. If I make it again, I think I might cut the soy sauce in half to ¼ cup and replace that with perhaps a bit of Sherry (not cooking Sherry, which is also salty) and perhaps s touch of lemon juice.
I made this last night, followed recipe exactly. It was easy and delicious!!!
We made this yesterday. We steamed some broccoli and carrots and threw in some chopped fresh spinach at the end. So yummy!
Sadly, I have to limit my sodium intake. :-( Since this virtually eliminates take-out in general, & I miss Asian food the most, I’m eager to try adaptations! Even switching to low-sodium soy sauce doesn’t decrease the sodium content enough. CAN YOU OR ANY CLEVER HELPFUL READER SUGGEST A PARTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR SOY SAUCE that would work well with the other flavors? [Apologies for the caps; I’m hoping to catch other readers’ eyes if they read the comments.] Thank you!
I hope the following is permitted:
https://simplygluten-free.com/blog/2017/02/theres-no-salt-in-this-gluten-free-soy-sauce.html
I I think it’s ok bc it’s still here. That’s very thoughtful of you to share. I also love Asian foods, but have to watch my salt intake. THANK YOU!!!
Have you tried coconut aminos? 90 mg sodium/teaspoon. I actually prefer its flavor to soy sauce.
You could try coconut aminos. It’s a popular substitute for soy sauce for people who are gluten free or eat a wheat or soy free diet. It has about 90 mg sodium per serving. 🙂
Hi, I hope this helps. I looked on The Spruce Eats Website and it came up a Recipe for Low -Sodium Soy Sauce Substitute that you can make Sodium free because it uses Beef Broth it has other ingredients as well in it. They also have a Paleo 30 Soy Sauce Substitution online as well that uses Coconut Aminos which might work I’m am not sure how much Sodium is in Coconut Aminos. Coconut Aminos are a substitution that is used a-lot in Vegan cooking.
Blessings,
Gina
This looks really good! I would like to make this vegan, thinking I could try it with seitan or tofu instead of chicken but not sure about the egg. Any suggestions for what to use in the batter in place of egg? Also, would tapioca starch work instead of corn starch?
Yes tapioca starch would work great! You could use egg replacer or just water to help coat the chicken.
Coconut milk works in replace of the egg
I love your website! It is my go-to for all things easy my, especially for weeknights! I crave this sesame chicken recipe all the time! Curious as to why you cook the chicken like a pancake though? It didn’t work for me the first time, so the second time I just did it normal, and it turned out really good!
I made this Sesame Chicken recipe and it turned out perfectly delicious! My local stores were out of Sesame oil, so I lightly toasted 1/4 cup of sesame seeds, then saturated the seeds in 1 cup of sunflower oil and strained the seeds which made delicious homemade sesame, oil. I also used low sodium soy sauce and doubled the recipe for the sauce, This dish is so quick & easy to prepare and turned out better than any take out Sesame chicken I’ve ever tried, thank you!
I have yet to try this recipe, but from the looks of it it seems to be so yummy!
I was just wondering if it’s possible to substitute the cornstarch for plain old flour because in my country I’ve never seen cornstarch available anywhere. any ideas if it would still turn out good?
Hi Julia! Where are you located? Arrowroot starch is a good substitute. Flour could work in a pinch but won’t quite give you the crunch.
Thanks for the quick reply! I’m from Germany but maybe I’ve just always looked in the wrong aisles, so please don’t stone me if I’ve simply overlooked it :D . But since cornstarch seems to have so many uses I’ll try to locate a store or buy it online :)
They definitely have corn starch in Germany. We lived there for a year and I accidentally bought that instead of powdered sugar when making a cake. That was the worst frosting I ever made! :) Check the baking aisle if you’re having trouble finding it. I think I got it at REWE or Penny.
Hi Julia, you’ll have no problem finding it in Germany. It might already be in your pantry. Corn starch is Mondamin
I thought the sauce was perfect! I did a little less soy sauce and a little more sesame oil, just knowing that the brand of sesame oil I have on hand isn’t as potent. I was hoping to have some leftovers, but nope! My boyfriend demanded seconds! :)