This Easy Sesame Chicken recipe is faster and tastier than takeout. Tender chicken coated in a homemade sweet, savory, and tangy sauce.
Recipe by Beth Moncel on March 17, 2025
Prep time: PT15M
Cook time: PT15M
Total time: PT30M
Rating
4.54 stars (480 reviews)
Keywords
Easy Dinner, Take Out Fake Out
Ingredients
¼ cup soy sauce ($0.20)
2 Tbsp water ($0.00)
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil ($0.32)
3 Tbsp brown sugar** ($0.30)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.14)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger*** ($0.10)
2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.08)
½ Tbsp cornstarch ($0.03)
1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.10)
2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs* ($3.48)
1 large egg ($0.67)
2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.06)
1 pinch each salt and pepper ($0.05)
4 cups cooked jasmine rice ($0.97)
2 whole green onions ($0.20)
Categories
Dinner
Main Course
Cuisine
Asian
Steps
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.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 530 kcal
Carbohydrates: 60 g
Protein: 30 g
Fat: 18 g
Sodium: 945 mg
Reviews
Randi Hofmann on 2026-04-16 (4 stars): Oh I used chicken breast. It got very crispy but it all came off after I added the sauce. Next time less Soy and take the chicken out to the side and put the sauce in to thicken then add the chicken back in.
Randi Hofmann on 2026-04-16 (4 stars): Not bad at all. Yummy but darn the crispy chicken dissolved lol. I added green onions and a few pineapple pieces.
Joi C on 2026-04-14 (5 stars): I made this recipe and it is delicious. I used a high quality non stick pan and ended up needing to make extra sauce since I used more chicken. Will definitely repeat this recipe again.
Faye on 2026-04-05 (1 stars): It just became a scrambled egg chicken mess. Followed the instructions to a tee until it went into the pan and just... scrambled. A fun fact is that I hate scrambled eggs and don't intend on eating this and will now mourn the pound of chicken thighs I just wasted.
Amanda on 2026-03-22 (5 stars): Great recipe! I served it with the cabbage slaw and some brown rice and it was delicious. It was a touch salty, next time I'll cut back on the soy sauce or use reduced sodium soy sauce. I also didn't have a egg, but used a little milk in it's place and the chicken crisped perfectly!
Emily on 2026-03-12 (5 stars): This meal is one of several Budget Bytes meals in our regular rotation. It's tasty, healthy and a little bit fancy. It's quick to make and impress!
Melissa on 2026-02-22 (5 stars): Be sure you have enough pil in the pan amd that the oil is hot before adding the chicken so it doesn't stick.
Barbara on 2026-02-12 (3 stars): How do you get the chicken from sticking to the bottom of the skillet?
Valerie on 2026-01-24 (5 stars): Only used 1T brown sugar and it was amaaaazing. Deglazed the pan with a little chicken broth before adding the sauce
Jose on 2026-01-20 (4 stars): I used a cast iron pan and nothing stuck. The key is to use the starch in the recipe that creates a non-stick surface upon touching heat like pancake batter. I used diced turkey breasts that behave just live chicken breasts and everything went fine.
Jose on 2026-01-20 (3 stars): I did the recipe and it tasted way to sweet, I even reduced the sugar by a third. I always do this for US recipes as an european. Us stuff is always too sweet.
Therese A on 2026-01-09 (5 stars): We made this for the first time tonight, and holy smokes it was good! We doubled the sauce because we like it saucy and it was perfect. Chicken came out super tender with the cornstarch, and we served with rice, green beans and Oi Muchim (Korean Marinated Cucumber Banchan). Will definitely going to be in our regular rotation
Shay on 2026-01-09 (2 stars): I've tried twice to make this. It's tolerable, but either I'm doing something wrong, or this really isn't worth the hype it's given. 1. I don't consider the effort it takes to cook the chicken without the egg coming off easy. I've never had this issue with other egg coated recipes. 2. It smells and tastes like soap. Again, it's tolerable. I don't end up wasting it. But I won't be making a third attempt at this recipe.
M Zeng on 2025-11-27 (5 stars): All I had on hand was ground turkey and some broccoli and it still turned out great! I know it's a far cry from what the original recipe was but it was very versatile in the sauce was tasty and authentic. I was able to easily adjust the sauce to coat all of what I had and I only added a few little extra herbs and spices according to my taste. Great recipe!
Valeria on 2025-11-24 (5 stars): I've been making this chicen regularly for at least 10 years, always a hit with my family. I always mae double amount of the sauce, though.
Anne on 2025-11-15 (5 stars): The recipe says a pinch of salt. How big was your pinch? The recipe also says fifteen minutes cooking time which might suggests about seven or eight minutes cooking time per side! Simner the sauce until it thickens and has cooked. Simple. A recipe doesn't get much easier than this one.
Ann on 2025-11-08 (5 stars): Only annoyance I encountered was, as you warned about, the egg wanting to come off the chicken. But that only happened a little. It was delicious! Way better than the sesame chicken from our local takeout. The two of us could’ve eaten it all but we restrained ourselves!!
Jena on 2025-10-31 (2 stars): It really didn’t taste like any sesame chicken I’ve ever had. It lacked the sweetness and tasted mostly like soy sauce.
Bee on 2025-10-30 (5 stars): Excellent. For once, there were NO leftovers to put away!
