Sesame Chicken
Although I didn’t eat a lot of it in college, I’ve definitely made it up for lost time when it comes to my consumption of Chinese food. As much as I love the ease of ordering take-out, I’ve been trying to tackle some of my favorite menu items one at a time. So far, I’ve cooked up sweet and sour chicken, cashew chicken and General Tso’s Chicken, and I’ve loved each rendition. Next on my list was sesame chicken, but I was surprised that there weren’t more recipes available when I did some researching online. I absolutely adored the General Tso’s recipe I made last year, specifically how crunchy the fried chicken was and how the overarching flavors carried through all of the recipe components. I decided to use that recipe as a template, while changing up the flavors to make a sesame version. The end result was fabulous – thick-coated, crunchy chicken tossed a sesame-flavored sauce that had just the right amount of sweetness. Another homemade take-out success!
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This recipe isn’t exactly a 30-minute meal – it takes a little bit of time and preparation, but if you have a few extra minutes, this sesame chicken is 100% worth it. I love how crunchy the chicken is and that the sauce thickens beautifully to coat the chicken. It’s not too thin, but not gloopy either; just right. Toss the chicken on a bed of white rice and top with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions, and you’ll be in dinner heaven. Trust me, you’ll want to hoard the leftovers (if there are any!) all to yourself.
I have a long list of take-out favorites that I can’t wait to recreate; what are some of your favorites?
One year ago: Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
For the Marinade:
- 1 cup (240 ml) chicken stock
- ½ cup (125 ml) water
- ½ cup (116 ml) soy sauce
- ¼ cup (84.75 ml) honey
- ¼ cup (63.75 ml) rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1½ pounds (680.39 g) boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon chili paste, can substitute a couple pinches of red pepper flakes
For Coating & Frying:
- 3 egg whites
- 1½ cups (192 g) cornstarch
- ½ cup (62.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- 6 cups (1.31 l) vegetable oil, for frying
- Sesame seeds, to garnish
- Scallions, sliced, to garnish
Instructions
- To make the marinade, whisk the chicken stock, water, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch and sesame oil in a bowl. Of this mixture, place 6 tablespoons into a zip lock storage bag and add the chicken; seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Set aside the remaining marinade in the bowl.
- While the chicken is chilling in the marinade, heat the 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Sauté the garlic, ginger and chile paste until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add 2 cups of the reserved marinade to the skillet and simmer, whisking constantly, until the mixture has become a darker brown and thickened. Remove from the heat and cover.
- To prepare the chicken for coating and frying, whisk the egg whites in a shallow dish until foamy; set aside. Combine the cornstarch, flour, baking soda, and remaining marinade in a second shallow dish; mix using a fork until it resembles coarse meal.
- Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and from the marinade. Pat the marinated chicken dry with paper towels.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat until the oil registers 350 degrees.
- While the oil is heating, prepare the chicken for frying. Toss half the chicken into the foamy egg whites until well coated, then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch mixture, pressing to adhere. Transfer the coated chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Fry half the chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes, turning each piece halfway through cooking. Transfer the cooked chicken onto a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Return the oil to 350 degrees. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Warm the sauce over medium heat until simmering. Turn off the heat and add the fried chicken pieces. Toss to coat and serve, sprinkling with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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hi, grate recipe! can I use tofu insted of chicken?
I’ve never eaten or cooked with tofu so I honestly have no idea how it would hold up to the marinating, battering and frying. If it’s something you often use in place of chicken, then you can certainly try it, I just can’t guarantee how it’ll turn out.
so can you do some tofu recipes for us? I’m a big fan and would like to see what you gonna do with it.
I don’t eat tofu, so it’s not something I plan to incorporate in any recipes in the near future, but you never know, that could always change!
Using an extra firm tofu with the water pressed out, the tofu should deep fried easily. Try this for a more authentic recipe: http://userealbutter.com/2013/01/24/sesame-tofu-recipe/
If you like the clinging sauce, it can always be thickened with a simple cornstarch slurry.
thank you!
Oh! Sesame chicken totally tops my list. My kids call it sticky chicken. We never order take out because there honestly aren’t any restaurants here worth ordering from (boo.) BUT! I love making take out fake outs at home. This is gorgeous! My little boys will be sooooo thrilled.
My favorite has got to be the orange chicken from panda express… this looks a lot like it. i didnt eat much chinese food in college either… that came much later for me
This looks so wonderful!
I made this dish tonight. The hubs and the son loved it! I enjoyed it as well. However, the coating step was difficult, and my sauce never thickened. I am not sure what I did wrong with the sauce. Everything still tasted good. My son insists that I make it again, and I will. But would love if it you have any insight on why the sauce did not thicken or pointers for making the coating a little bit easier to use.
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. It is really, really hard to please my 12-year old!
Hi Stacey, Make sure that there isn’t any cornstarch left on the bottom of your bowl. I used a spatula to make sure I got every last drop of it. It takes a little bit of time, at least 5 minutes, for it to thicken up. It should be the consistency of syrup.
Thank you!
I had no problems with the sauce. However, I agree with Stacey: it was a little hard to cover the chicken bites with the batter. But in the end everything was delicious! Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing recipe!
Hi as someone who does Asian sauces and chicken pork tofu etc..the problem with coating the protein will be resolved by simply lightly coating the meat/tofu with flour BEFORE using mixed batter recipe…it needs flour or corn starch/potato starch/tapioca starch or a combo of any of these so the liquid like batter has something to grab onto…This will work and always resolve any frying coating help stick to protein.
Good luck!
I love when it is crunchy too! I would love a homemade chicken fried rice recipe!
Oh my gosh… This looks amazing and truly authentic! Worthy of its own place… “The Sesame Chicken House!” lol… anyways, I think some good recipes would be orange chicken, mandarin chicken, mushroom and string bean chicken, and honey chicken…. That stuff is amazing.. Do you think you can recreate any of those?
Also, I am not sure if you have ever tried these, but they are sort of Chinese sweet dessert thingies… Have you ever tried the mango and/or coconut pudding for dim sum places? Or the sweet tofu in ginger “soup”? And also, these sweet rice cakes–they are white and airy and fluffy–that they sell at most hot deli food places in Chinese markets… Have you tried any of those? If so, would you ever consider recreating them?
Thanks!
I love your blog! :)
-Grace :)
P.S. I made your chocolate chip cookie dough brownies and they are absolutely amazing! Props to you on that! I wanted to devour the entire batch! Lol… but of course I didn’t :P
P.P.S. Would you ever consider making healthy recipes? Like low carb/sugar/calorie/sodium recipes? Or just recipes using whole and natural ingredients? Thanks :)
Looking good!
Looks great! My kids aren’t big fans of Chinese food, but this seems like something that will please all of us. Thanks!
I love Sesame Chicken!! This looks absolutely divine. Thanks for sharing!
Sesame chicken is one Chinese dish my whole family agrees on. This looks amazing, way better than take out!
This looks delicious! I love the taste of Chinese food, but the Chinese restaurants around here have a reputation for being filthy so I never order take-out. Going to have to make this ASAP. Thanks for the recipe!
I love sesame chicken – I wish I had this in front of me right now! It’s always better homemade than at a restaurant so I’ll have to try this out!
Michelle,
I have all the ingredients and will try this tonight. What I would like is a recipe for chicken lo mein ( like they make at Giant Eagle ) I just can’t get the sauce right. Thank you
Hi Nancy, I’ve never picked that up from Giant Eagle, I’ll have to try it and see if I can recreate it!
This looks so delicious! Chinese food is my absolute favorite cuisine! I have too many favorite Chinese dishes to choose just one. When we order Chinese takeout we order several different dishes and sample little bits of everything and then munch on leftovers for a few days. Szechuan dumplings (steamed dumplings in a spicy peanut sauce with fresh bean sprouts) is probably my favorite little bite if I had to choose one.
OMG this makes my mouth water! Pinned it! :)
So impressive! There are some things that I just assume I could never replicate at home and Chinese food is totally one of those things. This looks doable though! And actually pretty dangerous since I would want it every single day.
I used to cook so many stir fries and Chinese food in general during undergrad. They were so easy and I just dumped in whatever meats or veggies I had available with some sauce. Sesame chicken is one of my favorite Chinese dishes, I’ll have to try this! I’ve done a slow cooker version but haven’t tried making it for real.
I love sesame chicken and always order it when I go out. But everyone knows that homemade is better than store bought or restaurant meals any day! I’m going to have to keep this recipe in mind the next time I have a sesame chicken craving!
Wow! This looks AMAZING! Sesame Chicken tastes great at restaurants but yours looks WAY better!!
Sesame chicken is my favorite and I have yet to find a place out here (in Phoenix) that makes it the way I like! Your chicken looks like it is EXACTLY what I’m looking for. Even though I’m not a fan of deep-frying I might have to give in just once for this amazing-looking chicken! Thanks for the recipe and (as always) the gorgeous pictures!
This recipe looks yummy for sure. I would love for you to re-create a recipe for spicy green beans. Thet is a great Chinese place near my home that makes this delicious dish. The beans have a sticky sweet sauce that is also spicy and very garlicky. I have tried to make them but they just don’t seem quite right. Any help would be appreciated!!
Hi Nancy, I have never had that dish, but I’ll see what I can dig up!
Me toooooo!! I keep tryin but not the same!! Please try! All the recipes I try are da BOMB!!
This looks amazing Michelle! Even though we just got Chinese take-out last night I’m totally itching to make this tonight :)
This looks great! I also want to decrease my dependence on the local Asian restaurants. I’m definitely going to try this with chicken and shrimp.
Sesame Chicken is my husband’s favorite! I will totally make this one!
Oh yummy! This looks awesome. I’m a sucker for good chinese food. I haven’t had it in ages so I could definitely go for some sesame chicken right about now!
Yum! Do you deliver? haha Seriously gorgeous photos!
Oh yum! Sesame chicken is my go to dish when we order Chinese. Never made it at home! Definitely going to try this out!
Mmmm! That looks Delicious!!!
This sounds so good! Would love to try it out – although I probably would reduce the brown sugar a bit for my husband.