Satisfy your craving for Chinese takeout with this recipe for crispy and tender gluten free sesame chicken that's packed with flavor.
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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.
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.
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: 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 recipe
Gluten Free Sesame Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 egg (any size) beaten
- 3 tablespoons (27 g) gum free gluten free flour blend
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ 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 ½ 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 ½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon or less crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
For serving
- 2 cups Cooked white rice
- 1 ½ tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- Chopped scallions
Instructions
Make the chicken.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. 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 165°F 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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’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 aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Brianna says
Amazing! I’ve been gf almost a year and missed sesame chicken so much! This recipe is amazing and pretty easy.
Nicole Hunn says
So glad you enjoyed it, Brianna. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Steph says
Love love love this recipe!!
Ambrielle says
In the ingredient section, just checking is it toasted sesame seeds or oil?
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.
Emily says
I made this a few weeks ago in the oven and couldn’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?
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.
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!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so glad, Gayle! Thanks for letting me know.