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?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
AWESOME recipe. Yuummmm … :D it is better than Chinese restaurant where i had it first lolz i should share this recipe with them :) i made them with boneless fish fingers, served it with chinese fried rice. Thanks for such awesome recipe.
I made this dish for the first time recently and it was so delicious! Loved the crispiness of the chicken and the thickness of the sauce. Flavors are awesome. This is better than any sesame chicken dish at any restaurant!
Quick question, when it comes to the cornstarch , flour and others part, do I add the marinate to the starches and Mix it until it becomes coarse Cornmeal or is the marinate separate from everything ?
Hi Sharon, Yes, add the marinade to the starches and mix until coarse crumbs form (the mixture will be very shaggy).
I’d recommend those of you trying this recipe out to TASTE your sauce as you’re making it. I found it to be a bit too salty and not sweet enough. Next time I’d cut back on the soy and increase the brown sugar. It didn’t really remind me of restaurant style sesame chicken, but it was a great recipe to start with. Thanks!
It tasted TERRIBLE! This does not taste like ANY sesame chicken I ever ate. Very disappointing after all that work. I also think its cheaper to just buy it from a restaurant. Too much SOY and not sweet enough, didn’t even resemble sesame seed chicken. BOOO HISSS! Don’t waste ur time or money on this recipe
My sister and I just made this, and it was amazing! It looked just like the picture. Thanks for posting!
I am so excited that I found this! I’ve been wanting to make my own sesame chicken for a while now and I’m totally trying this tomorrow!
My 13 year old daughter and I made this tonight for dinner! It was awesome! She loves to go out but I wanted to try at home. It was a little messy and we used veg oil rather then sesame, powdered ginger, 3 tbsp white vinager and red pepper flakes because to was a totally improptu meal and we went with what we had in the house. We loved it and would make again. I would make the sauce in a skillet next time rather then a sauce pan to save on another dish to wash. I also only used 2-1/2 cups of canola oil to fry in for less of a mess. All worked great. Thank you!
How much marinade goes into the coating mixture?
Adam, Please see step #3 – the remaining marinade is used.
My sauce turned out really dark! I’m sure I used all the ingredients properly, but I was wondering what could have been the problem, other than using too much soy sauce as I only had a small amount left so that couldn’t be it haha! I’ve read through the other comments and no one else seemed to have my problem, in fact people are stating it looked exactly the same :O
Hi Emma, Perhaps you cooked it a little longer, which would cause it to darken?
This turned out really good! My hubby loved it & said it tasted like Authentic Chinese. I used a deep-fat fryer to fry to chicken…turned out crispy, just the way I like it!…Thank you! :)
Is there a substitute I can use instead of sesame oil? I know that sounds silly seeing as its sesame chicken but would veg oil work?
Hi Sarah, You can use vegetable oil, but obviously you lose the sesame taste.
made this tonight- it’s absolutely delicious!
I made this last night for my Chinese take out loving boyfriend and 10 year old son-it was perfection! Mine looked just like your photos and tasted far and away better than any Chinese restaurant I’ve ever had. Although it was several steps, it was actually pretty easy. The coating was perfect-my boyfriend actually made the comment that he had never seen something that was homemade and fried where the breading didn’t fall off, and he wanted to know what the secret was. I love to cook and have loved to since I was a kid, and I get so much inspiration from this website, and I wanted to thank you for that. You cook the way I love to! It’s so nice to know we can make homemade versions of foods we’re fond of and make them even better than their restaurant counterpart.
Could I substitute the cornstarch for arrowroot? I’m allergic to corn but love this recipe.
Hi Amanda, I think you could do that without a problem. Enjoy!
This looks AMAZING. Question though… I don’t have a deep fryer. Think there’s any way to cook it in the oven, or in a heavy skillet?
Hi Lindsay, I don’t have a deep fryer either; I use my large Dutch oven for all of my frying. You can use any large, heavy pot at your disposal, preferably one that is at least 5 quarts or larger.
I used a wok, with only 2 cups of oil and it worked perfectly!
FINALLY! Made this tonight and it was delish. I didn’t have any marinade left to put in the flour, etc. I used water and a little marinade from the chicken. Regardless it came out wonderful. Question: What’s the purposed of making the coating into coarse meal? Mine just clumped together. LOL but it all turned out okay. Thanks again for a great recipe. I will be making it again.
The coarse meal texture is to give the chicken that crunchy texture.
Hi Michelle! SCRUMPTIOUS!! EVERY recipe of yours is so yummy! Question, can you suggest as to how I could make this into Sesame Orange Chicken? Thank you so much!
Hi Noreen, So glad you enjoyed it! I am actually planning on making Orange Chicken, so keep an eye out!
OMG this looks delicious!! I don’t think I have ever had sesame chicken before. I’m going to try it out though :) You should try and make Szechuan chicken or mongolian beff mmmh yummy!!!! Okai now i’m going to stalk your site since this is the first recipe of yours I have seen.
Made this tonight and it was soooo good! Just a bit of a process and messy too. Will make again!! Love your recipes!
Oh yum! My favorite is Hunan Chicken. I love all the veggies in it!
Made this last night and it was a huge hit! I was a little confused about 1 step. Was I supposed to re-batter it before re-frying or just re-fry it? What is the purpose of re-frying? I did it, but tasted before and after and didn’t notice a difference in it.
Thanks for your awesome recipes. I have been making 1 or 2 new ones every week!
Hi Dalaina, I’m sorry if you were confused, but you aren’t supposed to fry the chicken twice. The instructions are for you to fry half of the chicken, then let the oil come back to temperature before frying the second half of the chicken. I’ll try to re-word the instructions so they are more clear.
hilarious. well, it was still awesome. Twice fried and all!
I the sesame chicken yesterday and it was so good. It was the first recipe of yours I have ever tried, I am excited about trying more.
I don’t know what possessed me to make this on a weekday night! (there was chicken with a near best-before date and some egg whites in the fridge, but still). This is probably the best chicken main dish on the whole blog, hands down. Everybody in the family loved it and wouldn’t stop praising it, but… it just takes so much work! When I put the last batch of chicken into the hot oil, I looked around my messy kitchen and I was about ready to cry. I could definitely try this again, but on weekend, when I can rope some more people into helping me :D I don’t make Chinese often and I don’t have much experience with deep fried dishes, but I think it came out perfectly. I loved the crunch of the chicken bits and the sticky sauce coating. It goes perfectly with some raw vegetables, like rocket and lemon-garlic tomatoes.
“rocket and lemon-garlic tomatoes?”
I’m stumped with the “rocket” and would love the lemon-garlic tomato recipe. How is it prepared?
We made this on the weekend. It was fabulous and everyone loved it, including my super fussy in-law.
Any chance you will put a video up of this recipe, as the coating bit was a nightmare and I wanted to check how you made it.
Thanks again :)
For the coating to make it easier, I did the egg white step as written then for the flour mixture I put it in a Ziploc bag and then just added my chicken to the bag to coat the chicken. I hope that that tip helps you out a little.
I had trouble with the consistency of the coating, instead of using a fork I rubbed it in-between my hands and it turned out great. Not sure if that was your problem, but thought I’d see if it helps anyway :)
I never comment of recipes but lord…..you knocked it out of the park with this one!!! Better than takeout for sure!! No problem with the sauce thickening at all. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!
Every Friday we order Chinese food for lunch and this is my go-to order. I try not to think about what I’m eating it always tastes so good. I look forward to making my own at home.
Just made this for dinner!! Delicious!! Thanks for another great recipe.
I wish you would make a distinction between Americanized Chinese food and real Chinese food. To call this stuff “Chinese” seems almost wrong. I’m not even sure this stuff exists in other Westernized countries…
Personally, my favorite dish to get at a Chinese restaurant is an enoki tofu hotpot. If I’m in a more carnivorous mood, I’ll get the goat with tofu skin sticks — also delicious. I just love the way they serve it over an open flame in a tiny wok. It’s so cute!
This sounds yummy! Since we are gluten-free at my house I am going to try it with GF flour. I make my fried chicken with it so it should work!