Healthy Sesame Chicken
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Healthy Sesame Chicken is a delicious, healthy dinner! Packed with protein, low in carbs, and gluten free – it’s simple to make & better than takeout!
If you like sesame chicken – you have to try this Healthy Sesame Chicken! It’s just as satisfying as takeout but made with better-for-you ingredients. Plus, it only takes 25 minutes from start to finish.. and you know that you’d be waiting that long for delivery anyways!
Unlike traditional sesame chicken, which is usually deep-fried and loaded with sodium, this version is cooked on the stovetop to keep it lower in fat and carbs.
It’s made with simple, wholesome ingredients you can feel good about and easily find at any grocery store.
Liz’s Time Saving Tips for Homemade Sesame Chicken
- Have everything on the counter – This will make it super simple to grab everything you need while you’re cooking.
- Get precooked rice! All you have to do is tear the bag open and microwave.. doesn’t get much simpler than that!
- Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce + put everything away while the chicken cooks.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Chicken: You can sub chicken breasts with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tender.
Rice: You can serve this over any type of cooked rice or grain. Quinoa is great with this or you can do cauliflower rice. This would go great with our Fried Cauliflower Rice!
Avocado Oil: If you don’t have avocado oil you can use olive oil or coconut oil.
Green Beans: You can sub in green beans with broccoli or any other veggies you like.
Coconut Aminos – If you don’t have coconut aminos you can use low sodium soy sauce. Low sodium soy sauce is usually higher in sodium.
Honey: You can substitute honey with maple syrup.
Toasted Sesame Oil: This is essential to the recipe. It adds that rich sesame flavor! Sesame oil and toasted sesame oil are not the same. Toasted sesame oil has much more flavor.
Fresh Ginger: If you want to use fresh ginger, you can use 1 teaspoon, grated.
Rice Vinegar: If you don’t have rice vinegar, omit it. You can add a splash more of coconut aminos.
Paleo: to make paleo sub rice for cauliflower rice. We love our cauliflower fried rice!
How to Make Sesame Chicken
- Whisk together your sesame sauce.
- Brown the chicken and set it aside.
- Add your sauce to the same pan and bring to high heat. Cook until sauce is thickened and pulls away from the pan.
- Add chicken back to the pan, toss in sauce + serve with green beans/white or brown rice!
Order our cookbook!
Complete with 60 delicious healthy dinner recipes your whole family will love!
Sesame Seed Chicken FAQ
Sesame chicken is very different from General Tso. The main difference is that General Tso chicken is tossed in a chili based sauce, while sesame chicken is made with a sesame sauce.
Storage
Storing: I keep this healthy sesame chicken in the refrigerator for up to 4 days
Reheating: You can reheat this healthy sesame chicken in a pan or in the microwave.
Freezing: We have not tried freezing this healthy sesame chicken, but I think it would work!
Healthy Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 tablespoon avocado oil
For the Sauce:
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lime zest (zest of one lime)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (juice of one lime)
- 1 tablespoons sesame seeds for garnish
Optional For Serving
- 2 cups cooked green beans
- 1 cup cooked white rice
Instructions
- Prep your chicken by cutting into small cubes. Cook white rice and green beans according to directions.
- In a pan, heat avocado oil for 1 minute. Add chicken to the pan and sauté chicken over medium high heat until browned on all sides, approximately 10-12 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking, whisk together the sauce.
- Once chicken is cooked, remove from the pan + set aside.
- Pour sauce mixture into the hot pan (no need to clean it!) and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium high heat until it starts to bubble, stirring consistently. The sauce will thicken quickly, but be careful to watch that it doesn't burn.
- Add cooked chicken back into the pan and coat in sauce.
- Serve sesame chicken over cooked rice and green beans.
Video
Notes
- Chicken – You can sub chicken breasts with chicken thighs.
- Avocado Oil – If you don’t have avocado oil you can use olive oil or refined coconut oil
- Green Beans– You can sub in green beans with broccoli or any other veggies you like
- Coconut Aminos – If you don’t have coconut aminos you can use low sodium soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.
- Fresh Ginger – If you don’t have fresh ginger you can use 1/2 teaspoon of dried ground ginger.
Nutrition Facts
Important Note: This is not an authentic sesame chicken recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. If you’re looking for an authentic sesame chicken recipe check out this Sesame Chicken Recipe.
I tried the recipe and it was delicious. I did glazed carrots instead of green beans. Thank you for sharing.
This recipe was delicious. I did glazed carrots instead of greenbeans. It was better than take out.
This recipe was absolutely fantastic. I paired it with green beans, broccoli, and cabbage. 1/2 lb of chicken was a great plenty for two people. (I didn’t cut the sauce part in half because we like a lot of sauce when you put it over rice.
Recipe was amazing especially for those who like thé healthier meals. My boyfriend and i love making these! my boyfriend IS on the pickier side and loved it. Definitely recommend and so easy to make!! 🙂
This was a quick and delicious dinner! We did broccoli instead of green beans and black rice instead of white rice. We will definitely be making this again soon!
Can I just say thank you.
– Thank you for including the dang nutritional facts. It’s bad enough when sites don’t have the slider (it’s just me and I might make 2 servings for lunch the next day) but to not even have the nutritional value? I have to figure out everything lol. It’s such a time sucker! So, thank you for adding that.
– Thank you for also NOT telling me to use something like orange marmalade. Sure, it’s probably tasty af, but it’s also crap. Tons of bad sugar, calories that are empty and have no real redeeming quality. I was literally thinking in my head “I need a honey and coconut amino sauce.” And here you are :o)
People LOVE to get on the fads and the trends. Cleaning eating for example. I see 400000000 websites claiming they have clean eating recipes and then they, well… aren’t. Not only are they NOT close to being clean eating, but they ask you to use crappy processed ingredients and I’m like “what?” Obvs they do this for the SEO and money side of things and don’t actually care about providing what they are claiming to provide.
Okay rant over lol. Thank you for sharing, I look forward to adding it to my document and making this!
I’m so glad you found it helpful Kristi!! We have a ton of similar recipes to this one with just as simple, delicious ingredients. Check out or if you want similar recipes. All of our recipes have nutrition facts too 🙂
This was super good! I’m pregnant and have been craving Chinese but I won’t ever eat it out because of what’s in it. So finding this recipe was a lifesaver! Served it with garlic broccoli and organic brown rice! This will be a regular in our home!
it was good but not great so the second time around I doubled the sauce and added a tablespoon of arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce and made huge difference!!
Thanks for your great ideas and especially your substitutions. They help so much. Good job all around.
Can sauce be doubled in recipe?
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it will work just fine
Can you use regular sesame oil in place of toasted sesame oil?
You could but it will not have as much flavor. Toasted sesame oil is what give it the sesame flavor.
Another fantastic recipe ☺️ delicious ❤️
Yay! Love hearing that!
This recipe hit all my sweet spots for a great recipe: healthy, gluten free, quick prep & cook time, and delicious! My 16 year old daughter said it was the best chicken dish I’ve ever made. Do not skip the lime zest & lime — it added the perfect amount of kick to this dish!
So happy you liked it, Denise! Thank you!
10000/10 sooo good! I was a little nervous to add the lime but it gave it SO much more flavor !! New dinner staple !
So happy to hear you liked it, Alex!
This recipe is delicious. I’m so impressed and happy to find a site with recipes that taste amazing. The only changes I made were to add more ginger to the recipe and use toasted sesame rice vinegar.
So glad you liked it, Pam! Thank you!
So easy and delicious! Tastes just as good as takeout but doesn’t leave you feeling as bad.
So happy to hear this, Nicole! Thank you!
So easy and delicious. I’m a sucker for Chinese food and now I don’t feel so guilty eating it
Thank you so much!!
So good! I’ve made this twice already. I replace the avo oil with regular evoo. I fills you up but doesn’t sit heavy in your stomach.
Will be a staple from now on.
So glad you like it, Andria!
How are the calories divided? Like how many ounces of chicken per serving? How much rice per serving? And veggies?
I’m sorry but I don’t have that information in terms of oz. This recipe serves two people, so if you’d like the most accurate calculation, you’ll need to measure it out own your own, or use My Fitness Pal. All nutrition facts on our site are estimates and can’t be 100% accurate because numbers will vary with different brands, etc.
This smells amazing but I don’t know why my sauce won’t thicken! It’s so runny!
Hi- Sometimes it just depends on the exact brands of ingredient that you used – the thickness won’t impact the taste!
Another awesome recipe! The smell doesn’t quite match when you think sesame chicken but the taste is so perfect! Probably doesn’t smell the same because this is only clean ingredients, which is even better! Can’t wait to keep trying more from your website!
Yay!! Love to hear this, Hattie! It definitely doesn’t smell super sesame-y but it’s so yummy!
Really lovely and simple to make. Only downside I would add is doesnt create much sauce aside from coating the chicken so rice is very bland on it’s own. However this could easily be tweaked and the taste is delicious 😋👌
Glad you like it, Holly! If you toss the sauce with the rice and veggies there should be enough – but like you said, you can always double the sauce if you wanted more!
I haven’t ordered takeout since we tried this recipe! So grateful. Easy, delicious, and minimal cleanup required!
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear! We honestly prefer it to take out 🙂
What a wonderful recipe! I like the choice of your seasonings. We are going to do this recipe on Saturday for dinner. Chicken is great for weight loss as well. Love this post!
I’m so glad you like it, Marci!
Oh looks delicious…thanks for the recipe.
Hope you give it a try!