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Instant Pot Sesame Chicken - easy, quick & budget friendly takeout recipe. Tender cubed Chicken coated smothered in a delicious thick honey soy sauce that's mildly sweet with a slight kick, garnished with lightly toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy this weeknight restaurant quality meal with rice or noodles.
Don’t miss our Asian Take-out Recipes and Instant Pot Recipes!
Note: This post has been updated with reheating directions & serving ideas!
Healthy Sesame Chicken Recipe
Today's honey Sesame Chicken recipe is a popular & much loved Asian take-out food. Our version is much healthy because there's no breading and deep frying involved unlike the restaurants.
The secret to this Chinese sesame chicken recipe is the lightly toasted sesame seeds & a generous amount of toasted sesame oil. They both lend the dish an iconic sesame flavor that's not overwhelming but mild on the palate.
You'll have an outstanding sesame chicken sauce and juicy tender chicken bites. Just steam some Jasmine rice to make this recipe a restaurant quality meal on a budget!
Ingredients & substitutions
Find the Ingredients with actual measurements way below the post on the "Recipe Card". The list below is just a reference.
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast meat cubed into ½ inch pieces.
- Garlic: Minced or finely chopped.
- Crushed black pepper: You can sub it with ground black pepper.
- Sesame chicken Sauce: Light Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Ketchup, Sriracha (adds a slight kick, optional), honey, brown sugar.
- Garnish: Toasted Sesame seeds (toast them until lightly golden in a skillet on the stove top) and a generous amount of toasted sesame oil. Highly recommended.
- Thickener: Cornstarch slurry (cornstarch also know as cornflour outside the USA). Make a simple slurry by adding 1:1 cornstarch : water. Cornstarch is a naturally gluten free sauce thickener & imparts a lustrous sheen to the recipe.
- Any neutral oil for cooking. Use your favorite oil & brand.
Tips & Tricks
- Mimicking the wok flavor: Flash marinate the chicken with sesame oil & light soy sauce and do sauté it along with the garlic until lightly golden around the edges. Now, this step is totally optional. Do it only if you are obsessed with restaurant quality wok flavor just like us. Believe me this step will boost the flavors so much so that you'll never dump & cook any Asian take-out food whatsoever!
- The Sauce: Sesame sauce is meant to be slightly sweet, yet a little savory with a slight kick. You can adjust the flavor profile & make it the way you prefer. Increase the sweetener if you love really sweet stuff, add more sriracha or add chili flakes if you love spicy sauces etc. You can also add a dash of minced ginger.
- The Sauce consistency: Lovely lustrous glossy thick sauce is the soul of any Asian take-out food. However, if you prefer thinner sauces, reduce the amount of cornstarch and reduce the simmering time. We prefer thick and rich sauce!
- Sesame Seeds: Lightly toasted white sesame seeds is what we love. Toast the seeds in a skillet on the stove top stirring frequently. They will create a subtly nutty flavor.
- Toasted sesame oil as garnish: This adds the oomph factor. Don't miss it. Don't add too much, you'll end up with a greasy sesame chicken!
Method
Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements way below the post on the "Recipe Card".
If you love the honey sesame chicken panda express recipe, you'll totally love our version. It's even better! Here's how to make authentic sesame chicken recipe without deep frying the chicken:
Step#1 Saute the Chicken Cubes
Rub the cubed chicken with light soy sauce and sesame oil. In the meantime, saute the minced garlic for just 30 seconds on SAUTE set at NORMAL.
Than, add the chicken and saute until lightly golden around the edges. This will help mimic the restaurant quality wok flavor in a pressure cooker to some extent.
Step #2 Pressure Cook the Chicken
Add water, de-glaze the pot very well scrapping the sides and the bottom of the steel pot of the Instant Pot. This is very important and prevents the BURN error.
Close the lid, seal the valve and pressure cook on HIGH for just 1 min followed by a Quick Release. 1 min cooking time is enough because we already sauteed the chicken and will be simmering and thickening the sauce in the next step. So all these times add up to reward you with perfectly cooked chicken. The chicken pieces are also quite small & cooks fast.
Step #3 Simmer & Thicken Sauce
Add all the sauce ingredients along with the cornstarch slurry. Mix well and Switch back to SAUTE on LOW. Simmer and thicken the sauce stirring in between. The sauce consistency is totally upto you, keep it thick or thin - the way you love!
Step #4 Garnish & Serve
Finally, turn off the Instant Pot. Add a generous amount of toasted sesame oil and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds. Don't ever skip these two ingredients, they make the recipe a bomb. Mix well and serve hot.
Serving Ideas
We love this Sesame Chicken Chinese recipe on a bed of steamed Jasmine rice. You can also serve it with the following to make it a complete meal:
Leftovers & storage
Fridge: This honey Sesame Chicken lasts for 5 days in the fridge when stored in airtight container.
Freezer: You can freeze todays healthy Sesame Chicken for 2 months in freezer safe bags or containers. The sauce will seize a bit, you can bring it back by re-heating with few dashes of water.
Reheating tips
You can reheat the easy sesame chicken recipe in the microwave oven until warm or hot. Add a few drops of water before popping it into the microwave oven.
More Asian take-out recipes you might like
- Instant pot pork lo mein.
- Instant pot chicken lettuce wraps.
- Instant pot drunken noodles.
- Authentic chicken lo mein recipe.
- Instant pot ramen stir fry.
- Instant pot pad Thai.
- Instant pot shrimp and broccoli.
- Thai peanut chicken instant pot.
- Instant pot sweet and sour pork.
- Instant pot egg roll in a bowl.
- Instant pot cashew chicken.
- Instant pot sweet and sour meatballs.
- Instant pot chicken teriyaki.
- Instant pot stir fry shrimp.
- Instant pot orange chicken.
- Instant pot Mongolian chicken.
Recommended
I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU! If you try this Chinese Sesame chicken recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I would love to hear how it turned out for you, or any changes you make. You can also follow me on Pinterest or subscribe our free NEWLETTER for new recipes every week!
Instant Pot Sesame Chicken
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Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs diced into ½ inch cubes (436 g )
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
- Crushed pepper according to taste.
- 3 tbsp Avocado oil (or any neutral oil)
For Flash Marinating the Chicken (optional)
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp Sesame oil
For the Sesame sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce.
- 3 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Honey
For garnish
- ½ tbsp White sesame seeds (lightly toasted , **Read NOTES below #5)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil (lightly toasted variety)
Sauce Thickener
- 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water to form a slurry (also know as cornflour outside USA)
Liquid
- ⅓ cup Water
Equipment Used
Instructions
Flash Marinate the Chicken
- Dice the boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs into ½ inch cubes and rub them well with sesame oil and light soy sauce. This adds so much flavor to the dish. You can opt out but I'll greatly recommend this extra step.
How to make Sesame Chicken in Instant Pot?
- Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE function and set it on NORMAL. Add oil. When the oil becomes moderately hot add the minced garlic and saute for just 30 seconds.
- Now, add the flash marinated chicken and saute until lightly golden around the edges. Also add crushed black pepper according to your preference. This step boosts the flavors & helps mimic that restaurant quality wok flavors in a pressure cooker to some extent.
- Now CANCEL the SAUTE function. Add water and de-glaze the pot very well so that there are absolutely no bits and crumbs stuck at the side and the bottom of the steel pot of the Instant Pot. This is so important to prevent the BURN error.
- Now, close the lid of the Instant Pot and SEAL the valve. PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for just 1 minute.
- Once, the pressure cooking cycle is over do a QUICK PRESSURE RELEASE (QPR) manually turning the valve from the SEALING to the VENTING position. When the metal pin drops open the lid carefully.
- Now, CANCEL the pressure cook option and switch on the SAUTE function and set it on LOW.
- Add all the sauce ingredients mentioned above in the "For the Sauce" section along with the cornstarch slurry. Give everything a good mix. Simmer the sauce until it thickens and reaches the consistency that you prefer. Stir frequently while thickening the sauce. We love a thick sauce that clings beautifully to the chicken cubes.
- Once, the sauce has reached to the right consistency turn off the Instant Pot and drizzle the toasted sesame seeds and the sesame oil give a gentle mix and serve hot with rice or noodles. So yum! Enjoy!
Notes
- Measuring Units used, 1 cup = 240 ml & 1 teaspoon = 5 ml.
- The sauce consistency: We love a thick sauce that beautifully coats each chicken piece but if you prefer a thinner sauce do decrease the amount of cornstarch (1.5 tbsp) and also simmer and cook down the sauce for little less time.
- Spicy Sesame Sauce: Up the amount of Sriracha and also add dashes of red pepper flakes.
- Sweeter Sauce: Up the amount of either honey or sugar or both. Totally upto you.
- White Sesame Seeds: For excellent flavors do lightly toast them in a skillet stirring frequently until lightly golden on the stove top. You cannot just believe how much flavor they create - PHENOMENAL! Add more seeds if you love sesame or add less - it totally depends upon what you love.
Lisa Gayle Bennett says
So full of flavor. Loved this.
Foodies Terminal says
Thank you so much Lisa for your lovely feedback 🙂 I am so glad that you loved the recipe. Hope you try our other Recipes from "Asian Take-out" category 🙂 Take care Lisa. - Meghna.