Air Fryer Sesame Chicken is going to be your latest obsession. It’s coated with a crispy crust and tossed in a sticky-sweet sesame sauce. It’s all made in the air fryer and can even be made gluten-free!
Air Fryer Honey Garlic Chicken has been one of my favorite air fryer chicken recipes since I started using the air fryer, but this Air Fryer Sesame Chicken ranks right up there with it. This air fryer chicken recipe was one of the very first sesame chicken recipes for the air fryer and was originally shared back in 2018. It’s been refreshed with the same delicious flavor but with a little more instruction and is ready for you to make in minutes!
What you’ll love about Air Fryer Sesame Chicken:
- Crispy Chicken without Deep Frying – It has a crispy crust with a sticky sauce and no heavy oil is needed!
- Sticky Sesame Sauce – The sauce is just as good as your favorite Chinese Takeout. Make it gluten-free using gluten-free soy sauce and homemade hoisin sauce.
- Kid-Friendly – The whole family will love this easy recipe, even the kids!
- Budget-Friendly – This is a very inexpensive recipe that uses pantry ingredients, much cheaper than takeout!
I decided to adapt this Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken and use the sauce for the Air Fryer Sesame Chicken.
How do you make Gluten-Free Air Fryer Sesame Chicken?
Use Gluten-Free Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos, these are both readily found at local grocery stores, including Walmart.
Hoisin Sauce will also be needed. It’s easiest to use Homemade Hoisin Sauce for this recipe. All remaining ingredients will be naturally gluten-free, but always check all ingredients to avoid any cross-contamination.
What is Hoisin Sauce?
This sauce has the texture of molasses. It’s got a sweet and spicy taste and is very similar to what I would consider a barbecue sauce. It’s used on grilled meats and also in this sesame sauce.
What ingredients do you need for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken?
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- Cornstarch
- Soy Sauce or Gluten Free Soy Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Orange Juice
- Hoisin Sauce
- Ground Ginger
- Garlic or Garlic Powder
- Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions
This recipe is perfect served with Jasmine Rice and Green Beans, that’s is our go-to sides for this dish! For a low-carb option choose cauliflower rice.
If you are still searching for the perfect air fryer, be sure to check out my post on how to choose the right air fryer.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken:
Find the printable recipe card below, too!
- Cut the chicken into cubed chunks, then toss in a bowl with Cornstarch or Potato Starch. Use enough to coat the chicken evenly.
- Place in the Air Fryer and cook according to your Air Fryer Manual for chicken, typically 390 degrees F for 10 minutes on each side. When the chicken is in the air fryer, add a nice even coat of olive oil cooking spray. Once it’s in the air fryer, it works best to mix it up halfway through cook time and add a coat of spray. The chicken must reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F.
- While the chicken is cooking, in a small saucepan, begin to make the sauce.
- Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, hoisin sauce, ground ginger, and garlic to the saucepan on medium-high heat. Whisk this up until well combined.
- Once the sugar has fully dissolved and a low boil is reached, whisk in the water and cornstarch.
- Mix in the sesame seeds. (The sauce should only take about 5 minutes or less to make on the stove and then an additional 5 minutes to thicken up.)
- Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Once the chicken is done, remove from the air fryer and place in a bowl, and then coat with the sauce.
- Serve over rice and beans.
Does this recipe work as a Ninja Foodi Recipe?
This Air Fryer Sesame Chicken is the perfect Ninja Foodi Recipe. If using the Ninja Foodi, simply use the air crisp function to make this recipe and follow the instructions as written.
If you are using a Ninja Foodi, you can even cook the sauce right in the pot of the Ninja Foodi with the saute function. The sauce would be made after the chicken is cooked and removed from the Foodi. Once the sauce is cooked, just add the chicken back in and mix it up.
It makes it a one-pot meal with the Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker versus using the Air Fryer plus a saucepan.
Tips for Making the Best Air Fryer Sesame Chicken Recipe:
Air Fryer Sesame Chicken consists of cooking the chicken in the air fryer basket. The chicken will be cut into bite-size pieces and coated with corn starch before cooking.
While the chicken is cooking, use a small saucepan on the stove; the sauce will be prepared on medium heat. Once the sauce is prepared and the chicken is fully cooked, the chicken will be coated with the sauce and served with sides. This is a great recipe to make in the Air Fryer or Ninja Foodi!
We have found it’s best to use chicken thighs as opposed to boneless skinless chicken breast, the chicken thighs are juicer and do not dry out as quickly as chicken breast.
The full instructions can be found in the recipe card below.
- Work in Batches if Needed – Do not overcrowd the basket of the air fryer; work in batches if needed to fully cook the chicken to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F.
- Watch the cooking time – Each air fryer will heat differently, therefore, it’s best to check the time for cooking chicken in your air fryer manual. Start with that time and check on it throughout the cooking time. The chicken typically takes 10-20 minutes to cook fully.
- Always use a meat thermometer – Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken; it should reach at least 165 degrees F.
- Make it spicy – If you want this to be spicy, add in red pepper flakes or hot sauce.
- Gluten-Free Options – Follow the gluten-free options for replacing the soy sauce and hoisin sauce to make this gluten-free! This recipe uses corn starch, which is naturally gluten-free, and does not use gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Always use oil spray – Use olive oil cooking spray or grapeseed oil cooking spray to keep the chicken crispy.
- Single Layer – If possible keep the chicken in a single layer in the air fryer basket to cook evenly.
How do you store leftover sesame chicken?
Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. When ready to reheat, heat in the air fryer at 350 degree F for 3-4 minutes to keep it crispy, use some additional olive oil spray. The air fryer is the best choice over the microwave for reheating.
Do you need an Air Fryer Cooking Times Cheat Sheet?
Say goodbye to overcooked chicken and underdone veggies! My Air Fryer Cooking Times Cheat Sheet takes the stress out of meal prep and helps you cook with confidence every single time.
This printable includes:
✔️ Cook times & temperatures for popular foods
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Whether you’re just starting or you’re an air fryer pro, this cheat sheet is the kitchen helper you didn’t know you needed!
Ready to buy a cheat sheet? Click here to purchase one now!
Air Fryer Sesame Chicken is everything you love about takeout but homemade and even better-tasting. Perfectly crispy chicken, a sticky sesame sauce, and all in less time than it would take to get delivery to your door.
Air Fryer Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 Cup Cornstarch
- Olive Oil Spray
Sauce
- 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Orange Juice
- 5 Tsp Hoisin Sauce or Gluten-Free Sauce
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 Garlic Clove Crushed
- 1 Tbsp Cold Water
- 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 2 Tsp Sesame Seeds
Optional
- Green Onions
- Cooked Rice
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into cubed chunks, then toss in a bowl with Cornstarch or Potato Starch. Use enough to coat the chicken evenly.
- Place in the Air Fryer and cook according to your Air Fryer Manual for chicken. (Note – I cooked ours on 390°F for 10-15 minutes, the internal temperature needs to be at least 165°F to be considered well done.) When the chicken is in the air fryer, add a nice even coat of olive oil cooking spray, once it's in the air fryer, it works best to mix it up halfway through cook time and add an additional coat of spray.
- While the chicken is cooking, in a small saucepan, begin to make the sauce.
- Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, hoisin sauce, ground ginger, and garlic to the saucepan on medium-high heat. Whisk this up until well combined.
- Once the sugar has fully dissolved and a low boil is reached, whisk in the water and cornstarch.
- Mix in the sesame seeds. (The sauce should only take about 5 minutes or less to make on the stove and then an additional 5 minutes to thicken up.)
- Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Once the chicken is done, remove from the air fryer and place in a bowl, and then coat with the sauce.
- Serve topped over rice and beans.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Jenny says
Yum! This looks so good. I think I need an air fryer. Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!
Wouldn’t you want to know says
This recipe is so vague, how is the sauce suppose to thicken if you only whisk it. So I put it on the stove and it started to mush together, didn’t know how long to heat it for, the recipe didn’t say anything about that. If you only whisk it will remain a Liquid and not thicken, so I had to add water to loosen it up a bit after heating it up . Maybe this recipe isn’t for beginners I guess.
Kristy says
Thank you for the feedback, I made some updates based on it to clarify more. I hope that helps in the future too.
AstroTalk says
I loved this sesame chicken, and it was quite easy to make because of your guidance. I loved it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Angela says
Do you think I could substitute pineapple juice for the orange juice?
Kristy says
I haven’t tried it with that, but I think it would work.
Linda says
Cooking chunks of chicken for 24 minutes in an air fryer was wayyyy too long. The pieces came out like dried jerky. I’d suggest cutting the pieces larger, or cooking at a lower temp. The sauce was really good, however.
Kristy says
I suggest going with your air fryer manual cook time for chicken, as for my air fryer 12 minutes on each side works perfectly, but every air fryer heats differently. It’s important to know what the normal cook time is for your air fryer for chicken and start with that and check on the chicken about halfway through cook time. The goal is to get it to 165 degrees, also be sure that you are noting the cook times of either chicken thighs or chicken breast, each one maybe a minute or two different.
Mahakal Cosmos says
Thankyou for sharing this recipe. I will definitely try this someday.
Jessica says
This recipe definitely could have done about 7 minutes for the chicken instead of 24. I did not have the manual handy so figured I’d go on the side of caution and do 16 min: jerky. If you have anything but a Foodie, look up another cooking time/recipe.
Kristy says
Did you use chicken thighs? Or chicken breast? The air fryers unfortunately almost all heat differently. If you make it again, I’d suggest checking on it at 10 minutes, then add time from there.
Anil Pathak says
Wow very Yummy!!
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe. These chickens are AMAZING! Thanks for a great recipe.
The information you have given about the steps of the recipe is correct.
chrilissa says
so i’m not sure if anyone else ran into the issue but it doesn’t taste like anything but soy sauce and hoisin, it just does not taste like sesame chicken, or the sesame chicken we are used to. Additionally DO NOT COOK THE CHICKEN FOR 24 MINUTES. we cooked for only 12 and it was a little dry even then. Tasted good but not what we were expecting lol
Kristy says
The cook time will always vary with air fryers because they heat so differently. We use a Ninja Foodi Air Fryer and 20-25 minutes is always the cook time for us on that.
Sandra Ramirez says
I followed this recipe from start to finish and the chicken came out soggy not crispy. I flipped them at 12 minutes 390 degrees like you said and they still came out soggy after 24 minutes. I wasted 6 pieces of chicken thigh for nothing. The sauce was the only thing that came out good the first try. 1/10
Kristy says
I hate that you had trouble with this. This is one we make at least once a week and do a variety of sauces, so I cook the chicken like this all the time. Did you spray it with olive oil cooking spray? What type of Air Fryer were you using? The chicken needs to be cooked based on the manual for chicken for your particular air fryer, ours is a Ninja Air Fryer and 12 minutes on each side works perfectly for ours.
Amber says
Hi,
I’m really interested in making this. Would I be able to make it with boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of boneless thighs?
Kristy says
Yes you can, but watch the cook time closely. Chicken breast dry out quicker than chicken thighs. I’d check them around 10-12 minutes, the internal temp just needs to be at least 165*F.
Emily says
My chicken never got crispy either. It just stayed white with cornstarch which made it very grainy. The sauce was very good but I think next time I would marinate it in soy sauce and cornstarch as well as cook it in a wok with a tablespoon of oil.
Kristy says
Did you use the cooking oil spray? That’s what will get it crispy. It needs a good coat of it.
Bob Richmond says
Made it. Fantastic! Perfect crispy chicken. Very tasty sauce. My wife loves me.
Kristy says
Yay!!! I’m so glad to hear that. 🙂
kalaiselvan says
i am really loved your sesame chicken. the chicken tasty are good.
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Thalia says
I’ve never left a review due to my laziness but this was absolute worth a review, it was really good! I’ve always tried cooking and messed up by a single step, but your procedure was simple to follow and overall it was amazing! The sauce was a little sweet but overall was delicious and would try it again just with less hoisin, thank you from sharing!
Kristy says
Glad you enjoyed it!
kundli jyotish says
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hprinter says
Great post! you explore this topic in a very effective way I want to appreciate your work, thank you for sharing such useful information!!
Bonnie says
This is definitely a do over! My picky family loved it. Their only request was to use low sodium soy next time.
Laurie Cover says
This looks good.
I’ve not used an air fryer nor a Ninja Foodi! But I appreciate tasty recipes and easy ways to make them.
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop!
Have a good week!
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
Homestead Blog Hop
Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop
Donna @ Modern on Monticello says
Now that I have an Air Fryer this is another great one to try out. Pinned. Thanks for sharing your post and recipe this week. #HomeMattersParty
Mariah says
My husband and I just got an Air Fryer and this was the first meal that I made.
I wasn’t sure about cooking all of the chicken at once so I did 2 batches. I did make some changes.. I added salt and pepper to the corn starch for layering the chicken and cooked it at 400°F for 13 minutes. As for my sauce, I used passion orange juice (if that makes a difference). It turned out to be pretty good but I feel like it’s missing something. I think next time I’ll add a little bit of ketchup.
My chicken came out okay, it’s actually not bad for the first time. I think next time I want to marinate the chicken and layer it with egg then the seasoned cornstarch. Or was it cornstarch then egg? Hmm.. I don’t cook much but I do learn these little hacks from my husband. Gods luck!
Tips: To thicken your sauce, mix cornstarch in a bowl of cold water. Your sauce must be boiling when you add this mixture. You don’t have to add all of it. If it’s too thick, you can just add hot water to it to thin it out. I hope that helps! Happy cooking!
Acharya Shiv says
Chicken… I felt KFC is the best in the industry but after reading this, I felt some more experiment is pending with chicken.. a great explanation. High-quality picture. Awesome blog.
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Laurie says
I enjoy the flavor of sesame.
Looks good.
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop #380
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
Richella Parham says
We LOVE sesame chicken, but I’ve never made it at home. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!
AstroCall says
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop!!!
Heidi says
I made the sauce exactly as written and it was not at all like the sauce I have had on sesame chicken in the past. I actually came back to reread the recipe after we had started eating dinner because it was SO heavy on soy sauce and hoisin sauce. I stuck with this recipe because of the ratings but would definitely not recommend it to anyone.
If you’re looking for an air fryer recipe for sesame chicken I would recommend making breaded chicken chunks based upon your air fryer manual/recipe book and make a completely different sauce. This was my first time making a recipe with my air fryer so I thought I needed an air fryer specific recipe…but this one wasn’t very helpful at all re: air frying and the sauce was way off base.
Astrologykart says
Thats a nice recepy. Thanks for sharing this post.
Emily says
This recipe is Delicious! Way better than take out! This is my second time making and it came out great both times. Only thing I did differently from the recipe was cook time in my air fryer. My air fryer I only need to do 10-12 minutes and shake the basket half way through. Crispy and not over cooked. Thanks for the recipe 😊
Neha Varma says
Thank you for letting me know the valuable information.
Kayla says
I usually don’t leave reviews. This was not sesame chicken. My 12 year old loves Asian cuisine, and is not picky. She wouldn’t even finish her serving of this recipe. The flavors didn’t taste well together at all . We’ve made countless Asian recipes from online blogs, and though some were not perfect, this was the only one that truly tasted bad. Luckily I halved the recipe .
Divakar says
very tasty recipe, i tried at home
Stace says
The cornstarch did not crisp at all and just made a slimy coating. I was skeptical about it to begin with and it did as I expected. I would definitely use flower or some other type of batter from a different recipe. It was nice to cook the chicken at the same time but I’m sure that doesn’t help with the “frying” effect as there isn’t space between the chicken to allow it to fry vs cook. The sauce was ok but too much hoisin I think because it was kind of odd. I mixed in more orange juice last minute to redirect the flavor some and it helped. Would not repeat this recipe but appreciate the attempt.
Clara says
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I air fried chunks of chicken tenders in my dual Ninja Airfryer for 6 minutes, turned them and cooked them for 5 more minutes. The sauce was wonderful but the amount listed for the recipe was not sufficient to evenly coat the chicken. Next time I will double to sauce: I also used rice vinegar instead of the orange juice. This will definitely be my go to recipe for a quick Asian meal.
sneha playboy says
Thank you sharing an Amazing Blog
Cindy says
I filled your recipe exactly and it turned out great. My sauce tasted great but turned out much darker in color. How do you get yours that golden brown color?
Jessica says
I made this last night, it was amazing and kid approved! My chicken was super crispy, I did cook it longer. For those who said it was soggy you either didn’t cook it long enough or more likely you crowded the fryer. I added some steamed broccoli and it was great. I would of liked a little extra sauce, so I’ll make double next time!
Adam says
This didn’t turn out well for us. It was my first time using an air fryer, so even though this recipe was wildly different from any Sesame Chicken recipe thet I’ve made before, I decided to give it a try.
The sauce wasn’t my favorite but it was decent. As others have noted, it’s a bit too heavy on the hoison flavor, but it’s not inedible. For me, the problem was the cornstarch. It gave the chicken a texture and an aftertaste that I’ve never experienced with Sesame Chicken, and neither I nor my partner enjoyed it. I might try this again with a little less hoison and all-purpose-flour, in place of cornstarch, and see how it comes out.