This 20-Minute Sesame Chicken is easy to make with no deep frying required! It's perfect for a weeknight dinner served with steamed rice and green beans.
Cooked quinoa or rice, steamed broccoli or green beans, sliced green onions or cilantro, and more sesame seedsoptional
Instructions
To make the batter, whisk together the egg, cornstarch (1/4 cup), kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon), and black pepper (1/4 teaspoon) in a medium bowl until it's smooth. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat.
Heat the canola oil (2 tablespoons) in a nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add all of the batter coated chicken and spread out in a single layer.
Cook the chicken for 2 minutes until browned without moving it. Flip it over and cook for another 2 minutes without moving it.
Continue cooking for another 10 minutes (or until fully cooked and browned), breaking it up as you go and stirring/flipping it occasionally.
While the chicken is cooking, whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce.
Once the chicken is done, add the sauce to the skillet and stir to coat the chicken. Continue heating and stirring until the sauce is thickened and coats all of the chicken.
Serve the chicken over cooked rice or quinoa with steamed broccoli or green beans on the side, sprinkled with extra sesame seeds and garnished with sliced green onions or cilantro.
Notes
Money Saving Tip: Dark meat is cheaper than white meat, so if you're trying to save some money, use chicken thighs instead of breasts!
Time Saving Tip: You can mix up the sauce ingredients a few days in advance to save on prep time, and you can probably find already cooked rice in the freezer section of your grocery store.
If some of the batter falls off the chicken while you're cooking it, don't stress. It happened to me! The pieces of batter create little crunchy bites throughout and are delicious, even unattached to the chicken pieces.
The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.