Sesame Chicken Bowls
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Super saucy, crisp-tender sesame chicken! 1000x better than takeout, made in 30min or less. Serve with rice and broccoli. SO SO GOOD.
I have been making these sesame chicken bowls all week. Sometimes with lentils, sometimes with brown rice, sometimes with quinoa and brown rice – basically any kind of grain I can find/use up in my pantry.
Because at the end of the day, the saucy bits from the chicken can be served on top of anything and everything. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s savory – it is everything you want it to be.
It’s so good – you can serve it up with all your favorite veggies because, well, veggies and greens are good for you. Just be sure to coat them in the leftover sauce and you won’t have any leftovers (even among your picky eaters).
Sesame Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 12 ounces broccoli florets, about 2-3 cups
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup orange marmalade
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 ½ tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, optional
- 4 ½ tablespoons corn starch, divided
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 1 1/2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Place broccoli florets into a steamer or colander set over a pan of boiling water. Cover and steam for 5 mins, or until cooked through and vibrant green; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, orange marmalade, orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sriracha, if using, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch.
- Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; sprinkle with remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch until evenly coated.
- Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Working in two batches, add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Stir in chicken stock mixture until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds.
- Serve chicken immediately with rice and broccoli, garnished with green onion, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Fast and easy, and delicious. I may double the sauce just because it was so wonderful.
I made this tonight. So AWESOME. It was perfect. I find that the first time I make a recipe, I usually will tweak it the next time – not this one. Don’t be afraid of the Sriracha. The amount called for in this recipe does not make this even remotely spicy. The Sriracha just cuts the sweet from the marmalade. I love spicy, so I may up the spice next time. Thanks so much for an amazing dinner recipe.
Oh my gosh, how awesome does this look! Today, I’m doing another of your recipes, it’s the copycat PF Chang’s chicken lettuce wraps and I’m using ground turkey. Then I’ll make this recipe.
Thanks for another stellar recipe.
My chicken wasn’t as rich brown in color as the photo. Pretty “pale” looking. Is it better to use an air fryer to achieve that crispy brown color I wonder? The flavor was good though.
I just had to cook mine longer but it eventually turned a beautiful golden color. Excited for dinner tonight!!
This recipe was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of using a regular pan instead of a cast iron skillet. The sauce was perfect and the chicken was so tender. Even my picky eater loved this recipe!
This took me way longer to cook than 30 minutes. It was also my first time making it. Still needed an hour to prep and cook everything. First, I am unsure about one cup of rice being enough for four servings. It got me two. I’d also add more broccoli in, because we love it and I also love leftovers. Sadly, there was no leftover rice or broccoli when I cooked it for two people. I liked the chicken – I know everyone said it taste like orange chicken, which it does, but the flavor was good and the orange wasn’t overwhelming. I will try adding the Sriracha next time for a little kick! I’d make some salt adjustments (less) next time I make this dish. I also like that it wasn’t heavy. Another great recipe! Thank you for sharing.
The flavor is SO good. Even my picky 3 year old loves this. Like other reviewers, I do think it tastes more like orange chicken than sesame chicken.
One thing I do on weeknights to speed this up is cook the thighs whole because it takes forever to cut them up and cook in two batches. Instead I salt and cornstarch the whole thighs, brown them, and then cut them up and add to the sauce. Cooked chicken is much easier to quickly cut up than raw chicken.
This recipe was a total winner in my house! The sauce’s sticky texture was perfect. Will definitely make it again since I now have a jar of orange marmalade to use up 🙂
I have made SO MANY recipes from Damn Delicious and usually love all of them… although this one, I wasn’t feeling the orange marmalade at ALL. I agree with other reviews that this is definitely more of an orange chicken, but I think if the OJ and marmalade were omitted, it would be bomb.
can you cook this chicken in an air fryer?
This was a hit and will be on rotation at our house!
Needed brown sugar to offset soy sauce. Marmalade wasn’t enough. Otherwise, good and easy to make.
The orange juice and marmalade REALLY made this dish. Sure, my 4-year-old dumped most of the marmalade on our freshly resurfaced floors, but I’m already ready to make this recipe again.
Thinking this would make an easy camping meal if I prep a bit in advance. Could I mix the sauce the in advance and put in a mason jar so I don’t have to take all the ingrediengs? I’d add the cornstarch when ready to cook it up.
Thanks!
I enjoyed this. It tastes more like orange chicken than the sesame chicken served at my local places, but it was really good and came together quickly once I had the chicken cut up.
Super easy and quick. I doubled the sauce and used 2# of chicken tenders instead of thighs. Also doubled the rice so that we could all have leftovers. It was perfect. More like Orange Chicken – terrific meal for a busy Monday night.
Wow! This dish was super easy and so wonderful! The chicken cooks great in the mixture and it has such a good, but light flavor. Will add to our dinner rotation!
Like another reviewer, I would definitely say this is more orange chicken than sesame chicken. I did use homemade marmalade so maybe it was more orangey/less sweet than it was supposed to be.
This dish has a nice balance of sweetness, saltiness, and heat. Very tasty. Will be making it again. Thanks for sharing.
I just made this for dinner…and not a single morsel of food remained at the end! Everyone loved it. And it was so easy (once I got everything prepped). Even my picky niece said, “You have to make this again!” Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I look forward to discovering the next recipe from here.
Would this still work without the marmalade or is there a good substitute you could suggest?