Make a delicious dinner with Air Fryer Sesame Chicken!
I’ll tell you this again but one of my favorite air fryer chicken recipes is this Air Fryer Honey Garlic Chicken. I have found though that I can easily use the same method with a variety of sauces.
I decided to adapt this Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken and use the sauce for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken.
I wasn’t disappointed, it was delicious and a wonderful switch from our honey garlic variety.
Most of the air fryer recipes that I make are also gluten-free, I opted to make this gluten-free as well; however, I will say it’s a bit more time consuming than the others if you want to make this gluten-free.
How do you make Gluten-Free Air Fryer Sesame Chicken?
Finding the gluten-free soy sauce is rather easy at the store, they actually carry it at our local Walmart.
Now to find the gluten-free hoisin sauce, I found that nearly impossible.
It used to be readily available and it may have just been my location; however, you do need this sauce, you can simply make it yourself.
That’s right, it’s easy to make it yourself too, so be sure to follow this Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce and you’ll have this dish gluten-free in minutes!
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 do you need for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken?
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
- Cornstarch
- Soy Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Orange Juice
- Hoisin Sauce
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions
Optional items that you could add would be rice and green beans, which is our preferred foods to serve sesame chicken with.
Are you looking for an Air Fryer?
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.
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 actually makes it a one-pot meal with the Ninja Foodi versus using the Air Fryer plus a saucepan.
Find more Air Fryer Recipes
For even more air fryer recipes, be sure to check out the Air Fryer Recipe Index.
Plus follow along on Pinterest, Facebook, and the Weekly Newsletter.
Now let’s enjoy this Air Fryer Sesame Chicken!
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* for 15-20 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
Yum! This looks so good. I think I need an air fryer. Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!
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.
Thank you for the feedback, I made some updates based on it to clarify more. I hope that helps in the future too.
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.
Do you think I could substitute pineapple juice for the orange juice?
I haven’t tried it with that, but I think it would work.
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.
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.
Thankyou for sharing this recipe. I will definitely try this someday.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Hi,
I’m really interested in making this. Would I be able to make it with boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of boneless thighs?
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.
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.
Did you use the cooking oil spray? That’s what will get it crispy. It needs a good coat of it.
Made it. Fantastic! Perfect crispy chicken. Very tasty sauce. My wife loves me.
Yay!!! I’m so glad to hear that. 🙂
i am really loved your sesame chicken. the chicken tasty are good.
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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!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great post! you explore this topic in a very effective way I want to appreciate your work, thank you for sharing such useful information!!
Great post! you explore this topic in a very effective way I want to appreciate your work, thank you for sharing such useful information!!
This is definitely a do over! My picky family loved it. Their only request was to use low sodium soy next time.
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
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
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!
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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I enjoy the flavor of sesame.
Looks good.
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop #380
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
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!
Thanks for sharing this at the Homestead Blog Hop!!!
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.
Thats a nice recepy. Thanks for sharing this post.
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 😊
Thank you for letting me know the valuable information.
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 .
very tasty recipe, i tried at home