Crispy chunks of chicken cooked quickly and easily in the air fryer, then tossed in a tasty sweet and savoury honey-soy-sesame sauce.
Sesame chicken is one of the most popular recipes on our website. We love it at home too and I make it often.
I wanted to find a way to make this in the air fryer. Nothing quite competes with frying the chicken in oil, but using the air fryer is a fantastic way to make sesame chicken a little bit lighter, and also quicker to cook. Plus it saves the oil splashes on the worktop from frying the chicken too!
The sauce can be made easily in the microwave, or in a saucepan.
📋 Ingredients
I like to use chicken thighs rather than chicken breasts because they’re a little bit juicier, and won’t dry out like chicken breast sometimes can.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP Try to ensure you keep the chicken in a single layer in the air fryer basket, so it will be nice and crispy all over. You may need to work in two batches, depending on the size of your air fryer.
Some of the feedback from the original sesame chicken recipe was that you guys want more sauce! So this recipe has extra sauce – plenty enough to coat the chicken and sink into the rice.
🍽️ What to serve it with
Look how lovely and shiny that sauce is 😍
🍲 More fantastic crispy chicken recipes
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Air Fryer Sesame Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Crispy Chicken:
- 6 large skinless chicken thigh fillets (this is about 750g/1.65lbs untrimmed or 600g/1.3lbs once trimmed)
- 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp oil
Sesame Sauce
- 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder (or use 2 minced cloves garlic)
- 1.5 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
- 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
To Serve:
- sesame seeds
- chopped spring onions (scallions)
- boiled or egg fried rice
Instructions
- Take the chicken thigh fillets, trim off the excess fat, and cut into bite-sized chunks. Put to one side.6 large skinless chicken thigh fillets
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cornflour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and paprika.3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA), 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp paprika
- Place the chicken in the bowl with the cornflour, and mix, ensuring every piece of chicken is completely covered.
- Drizzle the oil over the chicken in the bowl and mix it all up. You should end up with the chicken pieces looking well-coated and quite sticky.3 tbsp oil
- Place the chicken in the airfryer basket and cook at 190C/375F for about 15-18 minutes – until the chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink in the middle. Check on the chicken and give it a shake at least 3 times during cooking, to ensure the chicken doesn't stick together. You may have to work in two batches if you have a small airfryer.
- While the chicken is cooking make your sauce. Add all of the sauce ingredients to a microwave-safe bowl and stir together. Microwave on high for about 3 minutes, stirring every minute, until the sauce is hot and slightly thickened (see notes for saucepan alternative).1.5 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1.5 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar, 3 tbsp honey, 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 4 tbsp tomato ketchup, 3 tbsp light brown sugar, 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- Remove the chicken from the air fryer and toss in the sauce (either in the saucepan or in a bowl).
- Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and spring onions and serve. I like to serve with egg fried rice.boiled or egg fried rice, chopped spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds
Video
Notes
- Chopped peppers
- Chopped mange tout or sugar snap peas
- Chopped babycorn
- Sliced mushrooms
If you only want enough sauce to just coat the chicken, reduce the amount of sauce ingredients by one third. It should take around 1 minute less to heat though too. Nutritional Information is per serving, without serving suggestions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I have just purchased a air fryer and experimenting with recipes
This was fantastic and the whole family enjoyed it will make it again
Great recipe. Using the sauce on leftover pork with egg fried rice tonight. Like the new look website….and haircut too 😁
Absolutely fabulous. Works really well in the air fryer. I am now going to cook other recipes in the same way as it seems to be a bit quicker and healthier! Thanks Nicky x
The sauce is just so yummy. I dot think I will bother with the air fryer crispy bit, but just cook the chicken on the sauce. It was a big hit!
Can the chicken and sauce be frozen separately and then combined once defrosted?