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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Made this over the weekend for dinner, it is so good! Sauteed the chicken thighs in sesame oil, great flavor.
Was out of orange marmalade, substituted fig jam, little sweet. Looking forward to making this again with the marmalade, once I go shopping. We were out of brocolli so roasted various veggies and onions. This is a definite keeper! Hubs went back for seconds and polished off the leftovers next day for lunch.
Thank you, great flavors. Love your recipes, always a hit.
Made this recipe tonight and it was AMAZING!! My husband and kids LOVED it!! Our oldest son’s friend stayed for dinner and he loved it too. I doubled the recipe and there are NO leftovers . Going to triple it next time. Note: I ran short of cornstarch, so I made sure to add it to my sauce first, then to my meat: combined with a little flour. Turned out great. I’m so glad I’m signed for emails and received this terrific recipe that will remain in our family for a long time to come. Thank you, thank you!!
This was def a make again recipe! I used breast tenderloins, as that is what the store had. I added a bit of crushed red pepper to the sauce, and probably another tablespoon of the marmalade. I biased cut some carrots and par-cooked in the microwave, and added with the broccoli. So good!
Hi! This was tasty- but I do think that you should consider renaming it. It should be called Orange Chicken instead of sesame. Sesame chicken would include sesame oil, and this had an awful lot of orange in it 🙂 just a thought!
I find boneless, skinless chicken breasts so much more available. Have you ever tried using them with this recipe? Maybe the browning time is only 3-4 minutes for breasts versus 6-8 for thighs…