Healthy Sesame Chicken
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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!
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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.
Absolutely delicious! I wished I would have doubled the recipe it was so good! We will be saving this meal on our weekly dinners for sure! Thank you so much for sharing!
This looks delicious but my husband is allergic to all citrus products. What would you suggest as a substitute for the lime juice and zest?
I would recommend skipping it. It shouldn’t impact the flavor too much!
My family loved this! I was surprised by just how fast and easy it was to make.
So glad you liked it 🙂
Could you bake it or should this be made on the stovetop?
It needs to be made on the stovetop for the sauce to thicken!
This was surprisingly good and very easy to make. We served it over riced cauliflower. Our family is rather picky and generally foods labeled as “healthy” don’t go over well, but we’ll make this again.
So glad you liked it!
Loved it. So tasty and easy to make! Perfect for a week night meal. My family loved it.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
I made this yesterday and loved it!!!
So glad you liked it!
The lime in this recipe makes it taste like nothing but lime. It would be so much better without it.
Feel free to skip the lime juice! There’s 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of zest in a recipe with 1 lb of chicken and almost 1/2 cup of sauce. It certainly does not make the whole recipe taste like lime, that’s simply not possible. Especially with the strong taste of sesame oil and coconut aminos. No one has ever mentioned this before, so I’m wondering if you added too much?
Can we also get the metric system recipe please. Thank youu!
Feel free to copy and paste the recipe into a metric system converter. We don’t provide that on our recipes, sorry!
Mom, this is the best chicken you have ever made. Well, Ok then! This recipe is a definite keeper. Thank you!!
That makes me so happy to hear 🙂 Thanks Jane!
So easy to make and SO good! Can’t wait to make this meal again!
Yay! So glad you liked it Hayley. Thank you so much for trying it!
The sauce is tasty but there was barely enough to cover the chicken. It also wouldn’t thicken. I let it bubble for 10 minutes at medium high heat, so I added cornstarch. The chicken also isn’t the most appetizing texture. Tastes and feels boiled. Next time I will double the sauce and actually marinate it in the sauce for 20 minutes and then cook it on medium high heat to get the chicken caramelized.
Sorry you felt that way, Jessica! I would not recommend marinating the chicken – the sesame mixture will burn when you try to sear the chicken because of the honey, so try tat your own risk!
I tried this today and it sure is tasty! I didn’t have a lime so I used lemon and only had liquid aminos and it it still came out delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
So happy you enjoyed it, Diane! Thank you!!
My sauce never thickened so I added a little cornstarch to it and it worked great. What is the thickening agent in the sauce? The flavor is great!
There is no thickening agent in the sauce. The sugar from the honey and coconut aminos are enough to make the sauce thicken! Did you let it bubble over heat? it really needs to bubble!
this recipe was delicious, easy and quick! i’ll definitely be doing it again!
So glad you liked it, Abby!!
My sauce is not getting thick!! How long does it normally take?
Did you let the sauce bubble? It needs to be heated to the point of bubbling. It should take 5-10 minutes depending on how hot your pan is!
Yes I let it bubble for a long time! It just never got thick. It was watery. It still tasted delicious but I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my sauce.
Hi, I just wanted to know if you meant white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
It says rice vinegar in the post 🙂
The recipe did not make enough sauce to coat the chicken as per your picture, it barely covered the chicken ?
Did you over-reduce the sauce? there should be plenty to cover the chicken!
So easy and delicious!
Thanks, Melissa!
This is soooooooooo good it tastes amazing and it’s super easy to cook!
Is it important to use toasted sesame oil? I only have regular sesame oil. I have always wondered if there is a difference in the taste. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
We covered this in the green substitutions section 🙂 Toasted sesame oil 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.
Hubby and I loved this. Easy to make and delicious!! Will be making again.
This dish was amaaaaazzinnggg!!!!
Healthy has never tasted so good! Delicious and SO easy! Definitely a new weeknight favorite.
Made this tonight and it was really easy and delicious. I paired it with green beans and quinoa. This is great recipe for a quick weeknight dinner!
I’d like if it told us exactly how it makes the sauce I think I messed it up but you can still make it yummy and it was delicious so it only lost one star
If you like honey soy chicken this is for you 😋
I’m not sure what you mean.. It’s pretty clear how to make the sauce in the step by step photos and instructions. If you have a specific question feel free to ask!