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.
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I’m having trouble finding Rice Wine Vinegar. I find all kinds of Rice Vinegar, but not Rice Wine Vinegar. I read online that they are different and have two different flavors. Can anyone who’s made this tell me what you used?
I used Mirin, which I think is rice wine vinegar. I agree though, it’s a little confusing because I almost used rice vinegar too. Flavor was good.
Angelique, that does help a lot! At the time I wrote the original post the ONLY rice vinegar I could find was online, and there were only like 2 or 3 brands I could find, with totally varying prices, so it was hard to determine what made one better than the other. So after reading your reply, I went to one of the most health driven stores that I know of here in San Francisco (Rainbow Grocery), and I asked and no one had any idea either. Just like every other store, they had Rice Wine (in one section) and Rice Vinegar (in another), but neither said Rice Wine Vinegar. Your response came in VERY handy because as I was leaving Rainbow, I noticed (in the vinegar section) the only one brand of Mirin they carried (which they were almost all sold out of – I grabbed the last bottle) which EXPLICITLY says, Rice Wine Vinegar. I was ecstatic! I haven’t made the dish yet, but I plan to probably this weekend. I will reply or update with my experience afterwards.
So after making this, just as someone else posted below, my sauce wasn’t as dark as in the picture. My sauce ended up being kind of a light brown. All in all, it’s a good recipe that my son (who’s a very picky eater) actually enjoyed. The ONLY thing I didn’t measure out was my chicken. Rather than measuring how much chicken, I simply used 1 large breast and 1 small breast. (I wanted a leaner meat than the thighs), but I estimated the weight to be about 1-1/2 lbs, if not, it was a little shy on the weight. But because I didn’t weigh it, I question the viscosity of the sauce itself. When I added the sauce to the chicken, it thickened up so much that there was hardly any sauce to use on the broccoli. So at that point, I added more chicken stock, which only helped a little. Next time, I’ll be making twice as much sauce for the chicken and I’ll just add it to the chicken accordingly. Like I said though, this is a great dish! Already planning to make more in a couple of days.
Great dish but needs more sauce. I will double next time. To make any sauce darker, I use kitchen bouquet. It’s a GF product.
Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing. Mirin is rice wine, not fermented to become vinegar.
Rather late post but try finding Rice Wine Vinegar on Amazon
This was super tasty, my parents and I really enjoyed it!
Loved this meal.
This was great. Husband loved it. My sauce did not look as dark as yours in the picture, unsure why. Still very good. Thanks
Hello, This recipe sounds delicious. Could I use chicken breasts instead of thighs ? Would the flavor be affected?
Thank You
on occasion, if I don’t have thighs, I use breasts and usually the flavor is just as good.
I never leave reviews, but this satisfied an extremely picky eater in my household, so I am thrilled! She said it was almost like take-out, but totally worth not being deep fried. Very easy to make, although it did take me almost an hour from start to finish, but I also doubled the recipe. Thank you so much!! Will definitely be trying other dishes from your site.
Delicious & kid approved! It was a little too salty for us, so I’ll reduce the soy sauce in the future.
So yummy!!! My husband and I made this tonight and it is so good!! Easy and very tasty, total win!
This was amazing!!! My family, including picky kids, loved it! Licking the pan good. Very quick to make too.
Can this be made without the Rice Wine Vinegar and still be delicious?! Or if it needs vinegar..would apple cider work the same?
This was an insanely good recipe. Followed everything to the tee except used chicken breast (1lb). Wow. Will definitely make again!!
This was one of the first recipes I made when the lockdown first started in March…I had forgotten about it until the other night when I made it again and so glad I did! It is a keeper! Fabulous flavors combine with the crunch of the veggies make this the perfect dinner. I served with brown rice. Love this recipe !!!
So incredibly good. I can’t believe I made something that tastes and looks like restaurant quality. Thanks for another great recipe!
Another winner❣️ I don’t understand the comments about it tasting too ‘orangey’. I threw in another tbsp. of orange marmalade at the end! YUM!
I love these recipes since I cook for my Mom who has Celiac, and a lot of them use all gluten-free ingredients. Thank you
My son is celiac, and I use these recipes a lot too. Definitely try the shrimp that noodles. So good!
We loved this. I followed the recipe exactly and did add the sriracha. I’m not a huge fan of orange, which is the predominant flavor, but I must admit that I DID devour the entire dish. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside…so good. And I liked the fact that you can prep everything in advance and then just cook it up quickly when you are ready. I cooked the broccoli during the last few minutes that the chicken was in the pan and then served everything piping hot the second it came off the stove. By the way, I found that the amount of food specified in the recipe was enough to feed myself, my husband, and my 16 year old…with no leftovers. Thank you again, Chungah, for another wonderful recipe!
This is fabulous. It hits all my buttons fast, fabulous and every smiles when I serve it. I have to make a double batch because we all want left overs for lunch.
This turned out great! I added a splash of toasted sesame oil. My family loved it. Will make again.
This recipe is amazing!
This was damn delicious. Followed recipe exactly using the sriracha. No changes necessary. Call it sesame chicken or orange chicken, who cares!! It was DAMN DELICIOUS!!
This was delicious! Definitely adding it into my rotation of meals and absolutely not too spicy for my family.