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Satisfy your craving for Chinese takeout with this recipe for crispy and tender gluten free sesame chicken that's packed with flavor.

Gluten free sesame chicken pouring sauce to serve.
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There are a few Chinese restaurants not too far from where we live with safe & reliable gluten-free menus, and sesame chicken has always been a favorite. And I'm not at all against fried chicken.

But this baked version, especially with a new-to-me breading method, is just more versatile and lighter. Plus, the smell doesn't linger in your home for hours after you've finished dinner.

Gluten free sesame chicken raw and being tossed in bread crumbs.

How to bread chicken the easy way

I had always breaded chicken with the dry-wet-dry method with a dipping station for coating the chicken in flour, then beaten eggs, and finally in bread crumbs. It had to be done right before baking or frying the chicken, and it made a mess.

Now, there's an easier way courtesy of the food blogger Recipe Tin Eats. She calls it her “quick-crumbing technique,” and it has blown up dinnertime ? in the very best way.

Rather than coating the protein in dry-wet-dry ingredients in stages, her method involves making a batter of eggs, flour, and mayonnaise for coating the chicken all at once. Then, right before you're ready to cook, remove the chicken pieces from the batter and dip them in bread crumbs.

A versatile method

You can even have the chicken sit in the batter in the refrigerator all day until you coat and bake it. I also use this breading method to make our Chinese orange chicken, and just plain chicken fingers with different seasonings like the dry mix from our gluten free Rice a Roni.

My family used to be less than enthusiastic about breaded skinless boneless chicken breasts in any form. Not only is this method so much easier for me, it makes better chicken every single time.

Gluten free sesame chicken just out of the oven.

The best sesame chicken sauce

There are few essential elements to most gluten free Chinese food sauces: sesame oil, honey, rice vinegar and/or mirin (a tangy rice wine), tamari or gluten free soy sauce, and garlic. Without some form of each of these ingredients, the sauce won't seem like American-style Chinese food.

In this recipe for sesame chicken, we begin with chicken stock thickened with cornstarch. We add honey and brown sugar for sweetness and depth of flavor, rice vinegar, tamari, toasted sesame oil, and garlic powder.

A few crushed red pepper flakes don't make the sauce hot. They just balance the sweetness of the honey and brown sugar.

Since not everyone in my family is, um, flexible when it comes to their individual tastes and preferences, I prefer to drizzle the sauce on individual portions rather than add the cooked chicken to the sauce. Once you've cooked the sauce and it's cooled, you can heat it in the microwave to loosen it before serving it.

Gluten free sesame chicken overhead being served and eaten.

Gluten free sesame chicken: Ingredients and substitutions

Gluten free egg free sesame chicken

There is one egg in the batter recipe that we use to coat the chicken, and of course eggs in the mayonnaise. If you can't have eggs, you might be able to use a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel) in the batter.

You might be able to replace the mayonnaise in the batter with an egg-free vegan mayonnaise. I haven't tried any of them, so I'm afraid I don't know which, if any, to recommend.

Can you eliminate the sesame oil in this gluten free sesame chicken recipe?

Toasted sesame oil is a unique ingredient that adds a tremendous amount of flavor to this recipe. If you replace it with another cooking oil, you won't be replacing the flavor. The sauce will turn out, but it won't have the same flavor.

What sort of gluten free breadcrumbs do you use?

We've made our own gluten free bread crumbs, and that recipe works great here. You can also use your favorite store-bought Panko-style variety, or crushed gluten free cornflakes.

Information about tamari or gluten free soy sauce

I really like San-J brand tamari, and stock up on that when I find it for a good price. Instead of tamari, you can use your favorite gluten free soy sauce.

Keep in mind that traditional soy sauce is made with wheat, so it's not gluten free. Choose your ingredients carefully!

Using a gluten free flour blend in this gf sesame chicken recipe

You should not use any gluten free flour blend that contains xanthan gum or the chicken batter will be gummy and won't coat the chicken properly. I always have my three-ingredient gum-free blend, made of superfine white rice flour + potato starch + tapioca starch) in a jar on my kitchen counter, since it's so useful.

In place of that flour, you can try any non-gritty gum-free blend, if you have one you like. You could also use a single starch, like cornstarch or tapioca starch/flour, or superfine sweet white rice flour (also called “glutinous” rice flour).

Gluten free sesame chicken being served.
Satisfy your craving for Chinese takeout with this recipe for crispy and tender gluten free sesame chicken that's packed with flavor.

Gluten free sesame chicken recipe

Gluten Free Sesame Chicken Recipe

5 from 46 votes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
A simple recipe for gluten free sesame chicken, with tender pieces of white meat chicken oven baked to crispy perfection, tossed with a sweet, salty, savory sauce. Satisfy your takeout cravings the healthy way!
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Ingredients 

For the chicken

  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 egg, (any size) beaten
  • 3 tablespoons (27 g) gum free gluten free flour blend
  • ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt
  • โ…› teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 ยผ pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
  • 2 cups Panko-style gluten free bread crumbs, or crushed plain gluten free cornflakes
  • Cooking oil spray

For the sauce

  • 1 ยฝ cups (12 fluid ounces) chicken stock
  • 3 tablespoons (27 g) cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons (63 g) honey
  • 2 tablespoons (27 g) packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons (45 g) tamari, or gluten free soy sauce
  • 1 ยฝ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • โ…› teaspoon or less crushed red pepper flakes, (optional)

For serving

  • 2 cups Cooked white rice
  • 1 ยฝ tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
  • Chopped scallions

Instructions 

Make the chicken.

  • Preheat your oven to 375ยฐF. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, place the mayonnaise, egg, flour, salt, and pepper and whisk to combine. Add the cubed chicken and toss to coat completely in the mixture.
  • Place the bread crumbs in a wide, shallow bowl and set it next to the bowl with the egg/mayo mixture.
  • Dip each piece of chicken in the crumbs on all sides, pressing down to help the pieces adhere. Place the pieces of chicken about 1/2-inch apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet.
  • Spray the tops of the pieces of chicken with cooking oil spray.
  • Place the chicken in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the chicken is opaque throughout and the inside of a larger piece reads at least 165ยฐF on an instant read thermometer (about 15 minutes). The chicken will be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Make the sauce.

  • In a medium-sized, heavy-bottom saucepan, place the chicken stock and cornstarch, and whisk to combine well.
  • Add the honey, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and optional red pepper flakes and whisk to combine well.
  • Cook the sauce over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture simmers and begins to thicken (about 5 minutes). The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

Combine the chicken and the sauce.

  • Once the chicken is baked, toss in the sauce, serve over brown rice and sprinkle the chicken evenly with toasted sesame seeds and scallions.

Video

Notes

Nutrition information is an estimate, per serving, without cooked white rice or scallions for serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 731kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 1723mg | Potassium: 706mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 128IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Nicole Hunn

Hi, Iโ€™m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that arenโ€™t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, โ€œgood, for gluten freeโ€ just isnโ€™t good enough!

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39 Comments

  1. Steph says:

    5 stars
    Love love love this recipe!!

  2. Ambrielle says:

    In the ingredient section, just checking is it toasted sesame seeds or oil?

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      There’s no error, Ambrielle, if that’s what you’re asking. For the sauce, you need toasted sesame oil. For serving, it calls for seeds.

  3. Emily says:

    I made this a few weeks ago in the oven and couldnโ€™t get it crispy enough to make it as good as I know it could be! I want to try it in the air fryer – what temperature and cook time would you recommend for doing it that way?

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      You really need a pretty hot oven, Emily. You can definitely do them in the air fryer. Here is my recipe for air fryer chicken nuggets.

  4. Gayle Derwinski says:

    Hi Nicole,
    The chicken turned out great, I put oil on the pan and flipped the pieces at the half-way point. It was crispy and delicious . The entire recipe is so very yummy. We loved the sauce, crispy chicken, crunchy sesame seeds! Great recipe, thank you so much!

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      I’m so glad, Gayle! Thanks for letting me know.

  5. Gayle Derwinski says:

    Making tonight, chicken in the batter in the fridge. I am out of cooking spray Nichole. Can I use a bit of vegtable oil on tray and on chicken? Scant amount? Thanks!

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      You definitely can, Gayle, but a spray is by far the best way to get a little bit of oil evenly dispersed. Just try to approximate that!

  6. Jane says:

    Do you have a recipe for schezwan beef?

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      In my first cookbook, Gluten Free on a Shoestring, I have a recipe for szechuan meatballs. But not here on the blog, Jane.

  7. Kelly Snider says:

    My family loved this recipe and it was so easy to make! I used the tapioca starch instead of the flour because I didn’t have any without the xanthan gum. Thank you so much for all of your posts we are grateful followers.

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      Tapioca starch alone is a pretty good choice. If you’re ever inclined, the gum free blend is really useful! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and made it work. Thank you for letting me know!

  8. JoAnn says:

    Just finished making this dish and oh my goodness it has reminded me of what sweet and sour chicken is supposed to taste like. Used your GF gum free flour mix. Made a double batch and it turned out perfectly. Cooked the chicken pieces for 35 minutes as I made the pieces a bit bigger. Great flavour and a great recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

  9. Rosellina Bruni says:

    Do u have the recipe for your 3 ingredient bread crumb mixture. I usually buy it. But if i can make it and keep it on hand. It would be great.
    Can’t wait to try your sesame chicken recipe.

  10. Angela says:

    If I wanna make this with boneless thighs, how long do you think I should bake them?

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      I honestly don’t know, Angela. Dark meat does take longer, and this recipe would be quite different all around with thighs. You’ll have to experiment!