I wanted to make sesame chicken because…I wanted to eat sesame chicken. So here we are.
THIS CHICKEN WAS SO CRISPY and the flavour was soooo good. It was a little sweet and sesame-ey.
I feel like this is my favourite chicken recipe I have made in a while. I loved this sesame chicken so much!
Video Tutorial
Breakdown of the process
Making this chicken is pretty easy, and it also doesn’t take too long.
But here is a quick breakdown of what you are going to be doing:
Season your chicken
We’re going to season the chicken first.
You can leave this to marinate if you wanted too.
I didn’t, just to save some time. But if you had extra time, you could season the chicken earlier and leave it to marinate in your fridge.
Coat the chicken
When making fried chicken like this, I like to coat the chicken in a batter first, that is made out of seasoned flour, eggs and water. And then I coat the chicken in a seasoned flour mixture.
For me, this way always works best. It gives crispy chicken and the coating doesn’t fall off the chicken after it has been fried.
Fry the chicken
I decided to double fry my chicken for extra crispiness, I will talk more about this later on in this blog post.
Make the sauce and coat the chicken
The sauce is super easy to make, you just throw the ingredients into a pot, or pan, and let this boil for a few minutes.
The chicken
In the recipe card below, I’ve said to use about 650g-750g of chicken breast, cut into small pieces.
For me, this was about 4 large chicken breasts. We’re cooking today, so the exact amount doesn’t really matter, you just want it to be around the 650g-750g range.
I also wanted to mention, I used chicken breast because this is my favourite part of the chicken. But if you prefer chicken thighs, you absolutely could use these.
Just get boneless, skinless thighs and cut this into small pieces!
The seasonings
Here are the seasonings I used:
- Soy sauce
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Salt
- Chilli flakes
- White pepper
From what I’ve seen, these are typically the seasonings that are used in sesame chicken, so I used the same.
I’ve included measurements in the recipe card, but make this to taste. You can use more or less seasonings than I did.
A few tips when coating the chicken
Like I mentioned, I made a batter and a seasoned flour mixture, then coated the chicken in both of these.
Here are a few tips:
Make sure your batter isn’t too thick
You want the batter to be a little thin, but thick enough to coat your chicken.
I’ve found that if the batter is too thick, once you have coated the chicken, it is crunchy…not crispy.
I hope that makes sense, it makes sense in my head. I feel like theres a difference. I want crispy fried chicken not crunchy you know.
So in the recipe card I’ve said to use 100ml of water. But if you feel like the batter is too thick, add more water. Or if you feel like it has ended up too thin, add more flour.
Let the excess batter drip off
Once you have coated the chicken pieces in the batter, we’re going to take them out and coat them in the seasoned flour.
When you pick up a chicken piece, make sure to let the excess batter drip off before adding it into the flour.
You just don’t want too much batter coating the chicken, otherwise again, it will be crunchy not crispy.
Let the coated chicken sit for a bit before frying
Once you have coated them fully, leave the chicken pieces on a tray, or wire rack, to sit whiles your oil heats up.
I’ve learnt that this prevents the coating from falling off the chicken after it has been fried, so it’s worth doing.
Frying the chicken
You want to fry your chicken in oil that is around 165c-170c.
If you don’t have a thermometer NOT TO WORRY it’s fine it’s not necessary.
Instead, I would say heat your oil up for a few minutes. Then add one small piece of chicken into it.
If this chicken start gently bubbling, the oil is ready.
If it isn’t bubbling, the oil is too cold, it needs longer to heat up.
And if it is aggressively bubbling, the oil is too hot. Turn the heat off and let it cool down for a few minutes.
It took about 6 minutes for my chicken pieces to cook, but this time will vary depending on the size of yours.
You just want them to be fully cooked and golden.
Double frying the chicken
Double frying gives you crispier chicken.
I don’t always double fry my chicken, just because it’s an extra step.
But when fried chicken is going to be coated in a sauce like this one, I think double frying is helpful. It helps keep the chicken crispy even after it has been coated in the sauce.
So I recommend it, but it is optional.
To double fry, let your oil heat up to around 185c-190c.
Add your fried chicken back into this, in batches, and fry for about a minute. You just want it to become a deeper golden colour and crispier!
The sauce
The last thing we are going to make is the sauce.
This is what I used to make this:
- Soy sauce
- Water
- Ketchup
- Honey
- Brown sugar
- Sesame oil
- Shaoxing wine
- Rice vinegar
- Chilli flakes
By the way, I’ve used chilli flakes twice in this recipe. Both times, the chilli flakes are completely optional.
From what I’ve seen, no kind of chilli is used in sesame chicken, it’s supposed to be on the sweeter side.
But I added it to mine just for a tiny little hint of spiciness, I really like sweet and spicy together. But again, you don’t need to add it.
Here a few other chicken recipes you might also like:
Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
650g-750g chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (or you could use thighs instead)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- For the coating:
250g plain flour
250g corn flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 eggs
100ml water
- For the sauce:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons chilli flakes (optional)
- Extras:
Vegetable oil, to fry
Some sesame seeds, to sprinkle on top
Some chopped spring onions, to sprinkle on top
Directions
- Start by adding the chicken pieces, soy sauces, garlic, ginger, salt, chilli flakes and white pepper into a bowl.
- Mix all this together then leave this aside whiles you make the coating.
- Coating the chicken:
- In bowl, add the plain flour, corn flour, salt, garlic powder and white pepper. Whisk this together.
- Get half of this flour mixture and add this into a separate bowl.
- Add the eggs and water into this bowl and whisk. You want a smooth batter that is a little thin, but thick enough to coat the chicken. If it seems too thick, add more water. If it seems too thin, add some more plain flour.
- Mix your chicken into this batter.
- Take a piece of the chicken out of the batter, let any extra batter drip off, then coat it in your flour mixture.
- Repeat until you've coated all your chicken. Leave the coated chicken on a tray, or wire rack, whiles your oil heats up.
- Frying the chicken:
- You want to fry your chicken in oil that is around 165c-170c.
- Fry your chicken in batches, until cooked. It took around 6 minutes for my chicken too cook, but this time will vary depending on the size of your chicken pieces.
- Take the chicken out of the oil and leave on a wire rack so the excess oil can drain off. Then repeat until you've fried all of the chicken.
- At this point, I double fried the chicken. This is optional, but it will give you crispier chicken. If you are double frying, heat your oil to around 185c-190c. Add the chicken back into the oil and fry for about a minute, just until the chicken becomes a deeper golden brown colour. Again, leave these on a wire rack and repeat until you've double fried all of the chicken.
- The sauce:
- In a pan or pot, add all the ingredients for the sauce. Mix this together.
- Bring this mixture to a boil, then let it boil for 1-2 minutes. You just want it to thicken slightly.
- Once thickened, coat your chicken with this sauce, sprinkle some sesame seeds and chopped spring onions on top, then it is done.
- Enjoy!
