Sesame Chicken is one of my favorite Chinese dishes when we go for takeout. This easy recipe has oven-baked crispy Tyson Any’tizers Popcorn Chicken and a sweet and sticky sauce. Serve this Easy Sesame Chicken with fried rice and you’ve got a meal that’s even better than takeout.
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Key to Success #1 – Make Dinner Easy with Tyson Any’Tizers Popcorn Chicken
The key to this Easy Sesame Chicken recipe is using Tyson Any’tizers Popcorn Chicken instead of breading and frying fresh chicken.
The Tyson Any’tizers Popcorn chicken bakes up nice and crispy in the oven or Air Fryer, which is exactly what you want in Sesame Chicken.
One tip for extra crispy chicken is to spray the popcorn chicken with a little bit of cooking spray before you put them into the oven.
And be sure to flip the chicken over halfway through cooking.
This will allow the other side of the chicken to crisp up.
You can save a lot of time by baking the popcorn chicken in the oven or Air Fryer while you make the sauce.
With this time-saving option, you can easily make this a 30-minute meal.
That’s perfect for a busy weeknight dinner.
Key to Success #2 – Make That Thick Sticky Sesame Sauce
While the chicken is baking in the oven, it’s time to make the delicious sesame sauce.
The base of the sesame sauce is tomato ketchup and soy sauce (low sodium is best!)
Then you’ll add in some sweetness with both honey and brown sugar.
And you’ll finish off the sauce with loads of flavor by adding in sesame oil, garlic, and rice vinegar.
Finally, you’ll thicken the sauce up with a cornstarch slurry.
If you’ve never made a cornstarch slurry, you’ll mix a small amount of cornstarch with cold water and let it sit for a few minutes so that the cornstarch dissolves.
Then when the sauce mixture starts to simmer, that’s the proper time to add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce.
Use a whisk to stir the sauce quickly as you add in the slurry.
This will ensure that your sauce is thick and smooth without any lumps of cornstarch in it.
I know it sounds complicated but it’s really easy!
Yes, you can substitute different things in the sauce but please understand that it will change the flavor of your sauce.
The ingredients and ratios that I’ve put in this recipe are what we use and enjoy in our Sesame Chicken.
We hope you’ll love it too.
Key to Success #3 – Garnish with Toasted Sesame Seeds
One thing I want to stress is that you may not want to mix all the sauce with your chicken.
Put your cooked crispy chicken in a medium-sized bowl then pour in about half of the sauce. Stir to coat the chicken.
If you want more sauce on the chicken, add more sauce and then stir again.
Continue adding sauce and stirring well until your chicken is coated the way you like it.
We probably use a little more than 3/4 of the sauce on our chicken but certain kids like to add some sesame sauce to their fried rice.
After your chicken is properly sauced, transfer it to a serving dish then sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken.
Do not stir after adding the sesame seeds. You can either use toasted or untoasted sesame seeds, whichever you prefer.
Or you can toast the sesame seeds yourself.
Place the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat and toast them for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the sesame seeds are light brown and fragrant. C
ool sesame seeds before using.
We love to serve this with fried rice. It would also be great with white or brown rice or even Asian noodles.
Save this Easy Sesame Chicken recipe to your favorite Chinese Food board or your Weeknight Dinner Ideas board.
Easy Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 bag 24 oz Tyson Any'tizers Popcorn Chicken
- toasted sesame seeds
For the Sauce
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup soy sauce reduced sodium
- 1/4 cup honey
- 3 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Preheat Air Fryer to 400 degrees F. Place Tyson Any’tizers Popcorn Chicken in a single layer. Cook 15 minutes, until heated through and crispy.
- ~ OR ~
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place Tyson Any’tizers Popcorn Chicken in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake chicken 15-20 minutes according to package directions.
- In small bowl, whisk together ketchup, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Set aside.
- Make a slurry of 1 tablespoon of cold water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Set aside.
- In small saucepan, heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat then add in 1 teaspoon of minced garlic. Saute about 1 minute until garlic is fragrant. Reduce heat to medium and pour in the sauce mixture. Continue whisking and cooking until sauce starts to simmer.
- Quickly whisk in the cornstarch slurry and continue cooking sauce for 2-3 minutes until thickened. Reduce heat to low.
- When chicken is finished cooking, transfer chicken to medium bowl and slowly stir in sesame sauce until chicken is fully coated. Depending on how saucy you like your sesame chicken, you may only need about 3/4 of the sauce. Reserve the rest of the sauce for dipping.
- Transfer sesame chicken to serving dish then sprinkle with sesame seeds to garnish.
Notes
Nutrition
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