Cheater Sesame Chicken: Better and faster than takeout! (2024)

I am so excited to share today’s recipe with you all! Cheater Sesame Chicken is everything you love about takeout Chinese sesame chicken but is made in your own kitchen. It takes mere minutes without any deep frying. I call that a win!

I know I’ve mentioned my love of Chinese food before here on Foodie with Family. I’ve also mentioned how sad I was when my favourite Chinese restaurant closed its doors for good to allow the owner to retire.

Because I live very rurally, there aren’t many Chinese food options nearby, and those within driving distance just don’t ding my chimes. I’m a little choosy.

What that means is that I’ve had to figure out how to scratch that itch for American-Chinese classics like easy spicy broccoli beef and sesame chicken.

I’m happy to say that my desperation for Chinese chicken takeout had some excellent results. It was so fast and simple to make, delivered so much wow, and made all my guys so happy.

We liked it so much that we made and ate it four times in two weeks even after nailing the recipe on the first go ’round. It automatically made it into everyone’s favourites list here. I am sure you all will love it, too!

The simplicity of Cheater Sesame Chicken is in the every day ingredients; ground chicken, chicken broth, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, sesame seeds, and green onions. There are very few proper grocery stores in America where you’d be at a loss for any of these ingredients.

Combine easy-to-find ingredients with about 10 minutes of hands-on time, and a recipe that makes this ardent Chinese food lover happy, and you have a recipe for deliciousness. No takeout containers needed!

Ground Chicken Stir Fry

Ground chicken is pretty easy to find in most grocery stores, but if you have trouble finding it you have two options. You can either grind your own from boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or substitute a lean ground turkey.

The butcher’s counter at your local grocery store might even be willing to grind it for you if you ask them! They’re pretty helpful, usually.

If you haven’t cooked with ground chicken before, you might be surprised at how differently it cooks. Don’t “brown” the meat, but rather just watch for it to become opaque and no longer pink.

That will indicate it’s done. Don’t worry if there are a couple light pink bits showing here or there, though, as you’ll be finishing the cooking process in the simmering sauce as it thickens.

Because we use such a large quantity of soy sauce in the recipe, it is imperative that we use a low-sodium soy sauce for our Cheater Sesame Chicken, otherwise it will render our finished product too salty!

Likewise, it’s best to use a low-sodium chicken broth or stock for our sauce. It’s just easier to start with low-sodium ingredients and adjust the saltiness upward if our tastes prefer that than it is to take sodium out at the end.

Toasted sesame seeds are easy to find in Asian foods sections of grocery stores, but if you can’t locate them, you can quickly toast your own. Simply put your sesame seeds in a dry frying pan or saucepan over a medium heat.

Shake the pan back and forth until the seeds are fragrant. Immediately transfer them to a small bowl or plate to cool, as leaving them in the pan will almost certainly scorch them.

Reserve a few sesame seeds and green onion slices aside when you stir the bulk of them into the Cheater Sesame Chicken. That will give you a little to garnish your Chinese chicken before serving.

We have happily eaten Cheater Sesame Chicken over rice, on lettuce leaves as wraps, and on spinach salads for lunch. How will you eat it?

Love this Cheater Sesame Chicken? Try these other shortcut or Asian dishes!

1. 15 Minute Korean Style Beef
2. Lazy Sushi Bowls
3. One Pot Lightened Up Chicken Parmesan Pasta {25 Minute Meal}
4. Chicken Sausage, Kale, and Mushroom One Pot Pasta {25 Minute Meal}

Use these to make Cheater Sesame Chicken

• Stainless steel everyday pan
• Bamboo or wooden spoon
• Liquid measuring cup
• small whisk

Ground Chicken Recipes

• Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf
• The Ultimate Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Sub

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Check out how easy it is to make Cheater Sesame Chicken!

This post was originally published January 29, 2018 and updated in February of 2021.