Easy Sesame Chicken

$5.74 recipe / $1.44 serving
by Beth Moncel
4.57 from 449 votes
Pin RecipeJump to recipe โ†’

All recipes are rigorously tested in our Nashville test kitchen to ensure they are easy, affordable, and delicious.

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!

Three bowls of sesame chicken with rice and green onions.

This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.

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.

Overhead view of a frying pan full of sesame chicken with a wooden spatula.
Share this recipe

Easy Sesame Chicken

4.57 from 449 votes
This Easy Sesame Chicken recipe is faster and tastier than takeout. Tender chicken coated in a homemade sweet, savory, and tangy sauce.
Author: Beth Moncel
Overhead view of a frying pan full of sesame chicken with a wooden spatula.
Servings 4
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 15 minutes
Total 25 minutes

Ingredients

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)
Email Me This Recipe
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

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

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 530kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 30gFat: 18gSodium: 945mgFiber: 1g
Read our full nutrition disclaimer here.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!

Video

How to Make Sesame Chicken

Easy Sesame Chicken Sauce

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.

Toasted Sesame Oil

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.

Cubed Chicken Thighs

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.

Egg and Cornstarch

Add 1 large egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper to a medium bowl.

Egg and cornstarch whisked until smooth in a 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.

Chicken Thighs Coated in Egg and Cornstarch

Add the cubed chicken thighs and stir them to coat in the egg mixture.

chicken being fried in the skillet

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.

cooked chicken in skillet with light egg and cornstarch coating.

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.

Sesame Sauce Added to Chicken

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.

Overhead view of a frying pan full of sesame chicken with a wooden spatula.

Sprinkle some sliced green onions over top and serve with warm rice. :) Doesn’t get better than this.

Overhead view of three bowls of sesame chicken with white rice and green onion.

Easy Sesame Chicken – done in about 30 minutes, and NO DELIVERY FEE! :D

Share this recipe

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

Leave a Comment
  1. I love your website! This recipe is simple, quick and delicious. It is on a steady rotation at my house. I like to use it as an end of the shopping week meal since it doesn’t need a lot of fresh veggies. I’m making it tonight!

  2. This was excellent! My only complaint is that I didn’t get it to brown up the way I wanted. That’s probably my fault because I used two eggs instead of one. (Read the recipe wrong.) The result was less crispy and more creamy. Not always a bad thing…

  3. I made this for New Year’s and it was fantastic. It had so much flavor and was a huge it. I used breasts instead of thighs and increased the whole recipe evenly by 50% (one egg plus one egg white). Everyone loved it. I will be making it again. What a fantastic introduction to your wonderful blog!

  4. WE LOVED THIS RECIPE! You are a goddess ;) We plan on making this again this week with the leftover thighs and we’re adding steamed broccoli. Can’t wait!

  5. Made this tonite and eating it as I type. The results are in and…..OMG double OMG so good. I left out the egg and just used the corn starch. My smart alec 4 yr old would have definitely had something to say about scrambled eggs at the bottom. Cornstarch by itself worked fine. The family is silently eating 2nds. Thanks this was a hit!!

  6. Absolutely delicious! This was a real hit and I felt so professional making this :) Easy to follow directions, too. I served this with veggies prepared in my wok- yum! Thanks for a great recipe.

  7. My husband and I just finished this :) it was delicious! Next time I will probably double the batch of sauce as this barely covered a pound of chicken for me.
    Thank you!!!

  8. I made this for my family of four last night. It literally came out exactly as shown, each step of the way. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I’m definitely making this again! It is a crowd pleaser!

  9. Hi Beth, I just made this dish for dinner tonight (with a couple of minor modifications) and it turned out great. Like others suggested, I skipped the egg and doubled the sauce recipe. For the sauce, I put in one table spoon less of the soy sauce and half table spoon more of the brown sugar to get the perfect balance of sweet and salty. I love your blog! You’ve really inspired me to cook for my family which hasn’t been all that easy lately with a newborn.. Your recipes are so easy and delicious that even with a new baby I’m able to find time to make delicious meals and not waste money on inferior take out. Thanks and keep up the good work!

  10. Made this today for the first time. Used apple cider vinegar and it was still great. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes!

  11. Not sure how many times I’ve cooked this, but it’s great. Just cooked it again tonight, and it was my best batch!

    It’s perfect for settling a cheap Chinese food craving and is rated highly by my spouse!

    As with every recipe I’ve tried from your site. – it’s wonderful!

  12. Turned out perfectly! We will be making this again and again!
    Also, we used apple cider vinegar and regular olive oil since I had no sesame oil, and it was still awesome.

  13. I have no idea how anyone got ‘bland’ out of this- it was completely fabulous! And so easy to make, too! I’m still just learning to cook, and me and my bf love Asian food, so it’s wonderful to have a delicious recipe we can make without getting takeout! Thank you! <3

  14. Wow, where do you shop? There’s no way I can make this so cheap. It would be at least double the price.

    1. Just at my local grocery store (it’s local, not a national chain). Prices do vary across the country, but I’ve definitely gotten good at pricing over the last few years. :) It takes practice and a trained eye to make sure you’re getting good prices.

  15. Another delicious recipe! I had the “chicken omelet” problem as well, but I’m pretty sure it was because I didn’t let the pan/oil get hot enough before adding the chicken. (I was cooking while hungry and imagining delicious results). It still turned out really yummy.
    For those who are complaining about this dish being bland, the toasted vs. regular sesame oil really does make a big difference in flavor. I forgot the ginger and garlic, and mine still had a bunch of flavor from the toasted sesame oil.

    Thanks as always Beth!