Sesame Chicken
Crisp chicken in a dark, nutty, sesame-heavy glaze. Deeper and less sugary than the takeout version, and it comes together in 35 minutes.
Sesame chicken and General Tso’s are close cousins — same fried chicken, same sticky glaze — but they diverge in one respect. General Tso’s is built on chili and black vinegar. Sesame chicken is built on sesame, which means the glaze needs to carry a nutty, roasted depth rather than heat.
That depth comes from two places: toasted sesame oil stirred into the sauce, and a genuinely generous quantity of freshly toasted seeds. Three tablespoons sounds excessive and is not. Sesame seeds are mostly there for texture and aroma, and sprinkling a token teaspoon over the top is why so many versions taste like plain sweet chicken.
Toast the seeds yourself, in a dry pan, shaking continuously, and take them off the heat the moment they turn gold. They go from perfect to acrid in about fifteen seconds.
Instructions
- 1
Toss the chicken with the egg white and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Rest 15 minutes.
- 2
Mix the sauce: soy sauce, honey, both vinegars, broth, sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch.
- 3
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, shaking constantly, until golden and fragrant. Tip them out immediately — they burn in seconds.
- 4
Dredge the chicken heavily in the remaining cornstarch and rest on a rack 5 minutes.
- 5
Fry at 350°F in batches for 4 minutes until pale gold, draining on a rack. Then raise to 375°F and fry a second time for 90 seconds until deep gold.
- 6
Pour off all but a tablespoon of oil. Fry the garlic and ginger for 20 seconds, add the sauce, and boil hard for a minute until syrupy.
- 7
Off the heat, add the chicken and 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds and toss 20 seconds.
- 8
Scatter the remaining sesame seeds and the scallion greens over the top and serve at once over rice.
Cook’s Notes
- Toast your own sesame seeds. Pre-toasted supermarket seeds are usually stale, and the difference in aroma is not subtle.
- Honey instead of white sugar gives the glaze more depth and a better shine, but add it with the liquids — dropped into hot oil it scorches.
- The teaspoon of black vinegar is what keeps this from tasting like candy. It is a small amount doing a lot of work.
You might also like
Beef and Broccoli
Silky velveted beef and crisp-tender broccoli in a glossy brown garlic sauce. Twenty-five minutes, and the tenderness trick takes just fifteen of them.
Cashew Chicken
Tender diced chicken with toasted cashews and crisp vegetables in a light savory sauce. A gentle, kid-friendly stir-fry that still tastes like something.
Chicken Chow Mein
Pan-fried noodles with genuinely crisp edges, tossed with chicken and bean sprouts. The textural contrast is the whole point — and it's easy to get.