A quick and saucy Baked Sesame Chicken dish you can whip up in a hurry. The flavor is excellent and the sauce is simple, this sesame chicken can’t be beat!
Want more tasty sesame recipes? Enjoy Sticky Sesame Chicken, Baked Sesame Glazed Salmon and Asparagus, and Slow Cooker Sesame Beef next!
I love a good sesame chicken. I worked at a Chinese restaurant all through high school and had my fair share of all of the “traditional” Chinese dishes. Orange chicken, kung pao chicken, general tso’s chicken (try it in the crockpot with my Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken recipe!), and yes – sesame chicken. To be honest, I have some pretty high expectations for sesame chicken. I guess you could call me a sesame chicken snob. We’re friends, you can call me a snob.
The thing about a lot of sesame chicken recipes I’ve tasted, is that they just don’t have enough sauce. I’m a sauce person, I need a bucket of sauce with every meal, especially ones of the Asian variety. I eat rice the way most people eat pasta and I needs lots and lots of sauce on my Chinese dishes to seep down into the spaces between the rice. Weird? No way! I just know what I like, and I like a mother load of sauce on my sesame chicken.
This chicken is perfect for me, it has plenty of sauce, lots of flavor, and comes together so easily. It’s just lightly braised on the stove before being tossed into the over for a good 25 minutes. I think that letting it cook like that in the oven helps to get the chicken to absorb the flavors of the sauce, without getting soggy – I love it. If you don’t have a go-to sesame chicken recipe, this is the answer to your prayers. And if you do have one, try this one anyway, there’s a good chance it’ll steal your heart!
What people are saying about this Baked Sesame Chicken
“This was AMAZING! I had my guy look through your visual recipe index and pick out something that looked and sounded good. He chose this one, so we tried it first. And as always, he complained… But ONLY that I didn’t make rice. Other that that, he said he loved it and would eat it again — no changes required!! Seriously a miracle! You are a SAINT for saving our homemade dinner dilemmas and we’re probably going to try just about every other Chinese recipe you have. Because I refuse to go out to the sub-par restaurants around here when I can cook your fabulous recipes and make him happy instead. So thank you!!! 
” – Amy
“Unbelievably good and more wholesome than the takeout version as this is baked instead of frying. I skipped 2 tablespoons sugar and added 2 of a little teriyaki sauce. Yummy!” – Regin
“My husband absolutely loves this! He asks for it all the time!” – Stephanie
“This is absolutely delicious! Though slightly too sweet. But I loved it and will definitely make it again.” – Shan
If you liked this, you’ll love my Sticky Sesame Chicken recipe!
Baked Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces
- 1 cup corn starch
Sauce
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- sesame seeds, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 and spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients, set aside.
- Add chicken and 1 cup corn starch to a large ziplock bag. Seal and shake to coat chicken. Transfer chicken to a large pan or skillet drizzled with oil. Saute chicken over medium high heat until browned (2-4 minutes).
- Toss chicken in the prepared sauce. Transfer to baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Serve with sesame seeds and green onions for garnish if desired. Enjoy!
My family loves this! I did have a quick question. Do you think I could put this in a gallon zip lock and freeze prior to the baking step? Then take out on a day when we want to eat, defrost, and bake? Have you ever tried that? This is yummy! I want to make a big batch and have as a frozen meal back-up plan 🙂
Hi Jennifer! I have not tried freezing this recipe myself but if I were going to try it, I would probably make the sauce and store it in shallow containers or in a ziplock bag in the freezer until the day-of. I’d cook the chicken and freeze it separately from the sauce. Then when ready to prepare, just thaw out both the sauce and the chicken, heat up the sauce in a pan on the stove, and then add the chicken and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so to heat put he chicken. 🙂
Which of your 2 sesame chicken recipes do you prefer? Or are they about equal? I’m going to try both at some point but not sure which one I should do 1st:) Thanx!
Ooh, that’s hard! The sauces are both fantastic and actually pretty similar but… I’d maybe go with the sticky sesame chicken because it’s a little bit quicker? I love them both so much though! 🙂
Hi this is my first time cooking and I want to cook this for my family this Christmas. Since my oven is broken, are there any alternative ways to bake the chicken? Thanks.
I recommend my Sticky Sesame Chicken recipe (search sticky sesame chicken), that can be made on the stove and tastes similar to this baked sesame chicken.
Thank you so much!
Hey, I was thinking about trying this out for my family tonight, but I dont have cornstarch. Would it be ok to use flour instead?
Hey sorry it’s a little late but yes, flour does work for coating the chicken! 🙂
Not a problem. Thanks for the reply. I do not keep a lot of cornstarch handy, so it will be good to know for next time.
I did finally get a chance to make it last night, and it was a hit. My hubby said to keep this one on file. 🙂
Found this through Pinterest. This looks delicious! I am going to try making this recipe this week! One question: if I add some red or yellow bell pepper slices to this, do you recommend I toss them with the chicken and sauce and bake at the same time? I’m still a movie at cooking, but enjoy experimenting!
Novice at cooking, not movie at cooking. Lol, I was trying to type from an iPhone!
Hi Janna! Yes, you can toss them in with the chicken! Adding peppers is a great idea. 🙂