Sesame Chicken is both savory and sweet with soy, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and sesame seeds.
This dish is grat served over rice! Add in a side of steamed broccoli or some bok choy for an easy meal that’s both quick and delicious!
Sesame Chicken For a Quick Meal
Sesame Chicken is an easy and quick meal. Tender chunks of chicken are and pan-fried until crisp and tossed in a sweet and sticky sesame sauce.
- It’s a quick and easy meal, ideal for busy weeknights.
- Requires common ingredients found in most kitchens.
- Can be customized with your favorite veggies or sides.
- Great for meal prep and leftovers, and we love making take-out at home, so we know exactly what’s in it!
Chicken – I use boneless chicken breast in this recipe, but chicken thighs will work too. Marinating in a little bit of egg and some cornstarch helps tenderize the chicken and creates a crust.
Sesame Sauce – Chicken broth is the base of the sauce, while brown sugar adds sweetness. Soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and toasted sesame seeds flavor the sauce.
How To Make Sesame Chicken
- Marinate chicken in cornstarch, egg, and soy sauce.
- Combine sauce ingredients (per recipe below).
- Stir fry in batches until browned. Add sauce and simmer.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.
This recipe is great served with broccoli, snap peas, peppers, or other stir fried veggies.
Takeout Fake-Outs
Did your family love this Sesame Chicken recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Sesame Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 egg
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- green onions for garnish
Sesame Sauce
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup brown sugar or honey
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions
- Place the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, just until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside to cool.
- Toss the chicken pieces with egg, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, and soy sauce. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together broth, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.
- In a 10-inch skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the chicken and stir-fry until browned and almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the fried chicken to a bowl and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Whisk the sauce and add it to the skillet along with all of the chicken and cook over medium-high heat while stirring until thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the sesame seeds.
- Garnish with green onions.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian Fusion© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Made this tonight for my kids. I think my husband will like it too, the next time we make it. I will up the ginger and garlic next time, just cause we really like these flavors. It produced a nice sauce.
Looks great but I don’t have any fresh ginger but do have ground ginger. If I did use ground ginger about how much and if ground ginger is not a good substitute then can I omit it? Thanks Stephanie
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t tried but you can replace it with ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
So delicious and so quick and easy! Definitely will be making again!
I want to remember this because I like to make a lot of oriental meals and I can use this sauce for all of them thank you
We would love to hear how it turns out for you, Dee!
Sesame Chicken Sounds Awesome & Delicious To Eat For Dinner Any Day Of The Week!!! I Read Holly`s Recipe & Sounds Delicious!!! Everything About Sesame Chicken It’s Definitely & Absolutely Delicious!!! Thank.You Holly For Your Sesame Chicken Recipe!!! It Looks & Sounds Awesome & Delicious To Eat For Dinner Any Day Of The Week!!! Soy Sauce & Brown Sugar & All Of The Fixens That Go With Sesame Chicken !!! Sesame Chicken Is Delicious No Matter When You Want To Eat!!! Thank.You Holly For Your Sesame Chicken Recipe!!! happy New Year To You & Your Family!!! Happy 2024 New Year To You & Your Family
Thank you so much Charlie, Happy New Year to you as well!
Hi! This looks wonderful! I am just wondering if I can freeze this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Karen, the chicken might not be as crisp when reheating but otherwise this recipe should freeze well. You can also freeze the sauce separately and add once the chicken is browned. Enjoy!
I made this recipe for family, and it was delicious! I wanted plenty so I used 1 1/2 pounds of chicken and doubled everything else except the sesame seeds. I used 4 teaspoons of sesame seeds. I used 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger. Next time I may add a little red pepper flakes. Doing this there were 4 large servings and plenty of sauce to go with rice I made. Everyone voted this recipe as a “do over again”. It is worth the time, so try it out – you won’t be sorry! Thank you Holly. :)
I do a lot of canning and dehydrating and this is a wonderful dinner even if we are out of power. I pressure can chicken in pint jars which yields not only the right amount of chicken but also 3/4 chicken broth. I also tried using powdered eggs for the coating and it worked really well. Last night I did use frozen broccoli and dehydrated rice I prepared to have on hand. Dehydrated broccoli would also work. Since my husband is diabetic I used Splenda Brown sugar. Next time I make this I am going to try it with all dehydrated ingredients and I will let you know how it comes out. with a little planning ahead of time this dinner is going to become a go to for us. thanks so much Holly for sharing your passion and making life easier
This was a bit too “glucky” for me. The flavor of the sauce was delicious. Next time I will not sauté the chicken in the cornstarch/egg/soy mixture. Instead I will just toss it in a bit of soy and then pan sautée it. Then I will reduce the amount of cornstarch in the sauce to 1 tablespoon and then adjust from there. I may try a splash of rice vinegar as the other commenter suggested. But will definitely make again with these modifications.
Just wondering – shouldn’t the sauce mixture in the instruction part say 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, not 3? The 3 tablespoons is for the first part of the instructions for tossing the chicken in, am I reading that right? Thank you.
Sorry for the confusion Melanie! You’re correct, 3 tablespoons is for coating the chicken while 2 tablespoons is for the sauce. Enjoy the recipe.