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This simple Spicy Sesame Chicken and Ginger Rice is about to become your new go-to meal. Easy homemade Asian inspired chicken, tossed in a gingery, sweet, spicy, and extra sticky soy pomegranate sauce with toasted sesame seeds and broccoli. Serve over gingery rice for sticky chicken made quicker than any take-out meal…and healthier too.
December is the busiest month of the year. The days might be short, but our lists are a mile long. Between, work, family, and holiday festivities, it’s a lot. And I know for so many that dinner can quickly become an after thought.
I get it, but that’s why I love recipes this. It’s sticky Asian inspired chicken, but made at home, and with very littler effort.
When my brother Red was visiting last week he asked for a spicy Asian dinner. I knew exactly what I wanted to make him. And fortunately, it turned out perfect and everyone loved it!
Here are the steps
I wanted to make sure my “sticky sauce” would really stick to the chicken. So start out by coating the chicken in a bit of flour.
This is a very, very light coating, but it’s just enough to help all that sticky sauce actually stick. Once you’ve coated the chicken in flour, arrange it to one side of a large greased baking sheet. Then drizzle generously with sesame oil or olive oil. This is your answer to really getting the chicken crispy and creating the perfect “oven fried” chicken.
Next, the broccoli. I kept the broccoli basic, just oil, salt, and pepper. You’ll want to get the broccoli roasted and extra crispy in the oven. And since the chicken cooks at such a high temperature, the broccoli has just the right amount of time to roast, soften, turn crisp, and lightly char on the outside.
Delicious, especially when tossed together with the chicken and sauce.
The sauce
The sauce is really the key to this chicken. It’s honestly so addicting. Sweet, tangy, a touch spicy, and once boiled down, super sticky. I love to use pomegranate juice for the perfect amount of sweetness. I know it might sound odd, but the pomegranate juice adds sweetness, tanginess, and a deep dark color too. It’s one of my favorite ingredients to use in Asian inspired recipes.
The sauce takes only a few minutes to thicken up on the stove. It’s usually ready by the time the chicken has finished cooking.
Then just toss the chicken into the sauce with sesame seeds and let the sauce thicken around the chicken.
While everything is cooking, make a quick pot of gingery rice and then serve the chicken over the rice.
Nothing fancy here, just simple cooking. A delicious take-out-style meal made at home in way less than an hour – which we love!
Looking for other Asian style recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Ginger Sesame Chicken Potstickers
Lastly, if you make this Spicy Sesame Chicken and Ginger Rice, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crispy Sesame Chicken and Ginger Rice
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 450 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch cubes
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten free all-purpose flour)
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or sesame oil
- 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, use more or less to taste
- 1 star anise
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
- green onions, for serving
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 475° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with oil.2. Add the chicken, egg, and a pinch of pepper to a bowl. Toss to combine. Add the flour to another bowl. Dredge the chicken in batches through the flour, tossing to coat. Place the chicken on one side of the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the broccoli and shallots to the other side of the pan and toss with 2 more tablespoons of oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 12 minutes. Toss the broccoli, flip the chicken, and return to the oven another 3-5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine the pomegranate juice, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, star anise, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Set over medium-high heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Boil 5-8 minutes, until the sauce thickens and reduces by about 1/3. Stir in the chicken, broccoli, and sesame seeds. Cook until the sauce coats the chicken. 4. Serve the chicken, broccoli, and sauce over bowls of ginger rice (recipe in notes) topped with green onions.
Notes
Ginger Rice: Combine 2 cups water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil. Add 1 cup basmati rice, 1 inch grated fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine, cover, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to cook 10 minutes on low, then turn the heat off completely and let the rice sit, covered, for another 15-20 minutes (don't take any peeks inside!). Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork.
This post was originally published on December 2, 2021
Making this tonight and I can’t wait! Love your recipes!
I hope you love the recipe Melanie!! xTieghan
I wanted to give you my opinion on this recipe. I am a well seasoned home cook; and like to try new recipes. My husband thought it sounded great, so I went off to the grocery store to get a couple of ingredients I didn’t have. I scanned the recipe this afternoon, and prepared it for dinner. A few errors became quite apparent during preparation & cooking:
1. The recipe calls for apple cider vinegar, but the instructions say ‘rice wine vinegar’
2. Recipe calls for b’less/s’less chicken breast, I used b/s chicken thighs & cut into cubes.
3. I used pomegranate molasses and reduced the boil down time. I also used anise seeds, but they had no flavor. I used a ‘fair’ heap of chili peppers, but no heat to show.
4. Dredging the chicken pieces after egging it, produced a large glop of chicken pieces, that had to be separated by hand in order for them to cook.
5. The broccoli was overbaked and crusty. No instruction as to how big the florets should be.
6. The meat & broccoli are put o a sheet pan, however in your pictures preceding the recipe, I can clearly see a textured fry pan bottom.
7. Rice – well 1 cup of basmati does not cook in the time stated, especially on an induction top range.
We were very disappointed in this recipe, too much prep time, cooking times are off, and the sauce was very heavy with soy sauce, and bitter I’m assuming due to the pomegranate molasses.
Hey Michelle,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry you didn’t enjoy it. Sorry for the confusion, the recipe is supposed to have rice vinegar. My sheet pans, are textured on the bottom (they are from Williams Sonoma, I am happy to link if you would like). The recipe does not call for pomegranate molasses so that flavoring was off due to not using the ingredients listed. The instructions for the rice are what work for me every time, so I am not sure why you may have had issues. Have a great weekend! Sorry the recipe didn’t work for you:) xTieghan
I made this tonight. Yummy! My rice was cooked to perfection, and every rice dish you have that is cooked in that manner is always delicious. Definitely need to make sure the heat is on low, but not SO low that it doesn’t cook at all. I often wonder how annoying it is for the recipe writer when someone makes the dish, changes 3/4 of it, and then complains it didn’t turn out right? You seem to have a lot of patience (:
Hey Laura,
Awesome! It’s so great to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! Have the best weekend❄️ xTieghan
Bloggers can only provide guidelines. You have to learn to cook for yourself, try your own recipes as you go along, and take accountability for your own shortcomings in the kitchen, and fix them.
“We were very disappointed in this recipe, too much prep time, cooking times are off, and the sauce was very heavy with soy sauce, and bitter I’m assuming due to the pomegranate molasses.”
Your feelings and assumptions are not facts, Michelle.
Sounds like a whole lot of user error to me… you changed so many things and are upset it didn’t work out? That’s on you.
Ingredient list calls for apple cider vinegar. Step 3 says rice vinegar. I went with rice vinegar because it made more sense to me. It was delicious. ACV may have worked just as well, dunno. I’ll probably double the sauce next time just because we like more sauce for the rice, but it was really good as is.
Hey Bobbi,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks to much for giving it a try!! Sorry for the confusion! xTieghan
Looks like a textured sheet pan, NOT a fry pan, to me ….
So rice vinegar, not apple cider vinegar?
Hey Jessica,
You will want to use rice vinegar for this recipe, sorry for any confusion! xTieghan
Recipe is good but a little unclear. Rice wine vinegar versus apple cider vinegar. The recipe should state there is ginger required for the rice and for the chicken. I don’t think the egg wash is necessary for the chicken. Large skillet should be at least 12” or bigger. I would toss the shallots and broccoli with the olive oil instead of drizzling over. The sauce is excellent!
Thanks for your feedback Jenny!
Wonderful!
Thanks Courtney!
The recipe ingredients calls for apple cider vinegar. The instructions call for rice vinegar.
Which one?
Hey Melanie,
You will want to use rice vinegar for this recipe. Please let me know if you give it a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
This concept was good, but a number of things didn’t work. The prep time took more like an hour and a half for me, i don’t think I was moving super slow, it just took much longer than 15 min. After I baked the chicken, it stuck to the pan and pulled the breading off which kind of ruined the whole dinner, I think mentioning it should be really well greased pan would be helpful. The sauce was ok, but a little acrid. Overall, the taste was ok, but not authentic to Chinese or Thai that I thought the recipe would imitate.
Hi Tieghan- this sounds delicious! I have a question about the ginger. You say 1 inch but you also state “grated”. Ginger is hard for me. Grating always seems to be an issue. Can you give me more specifics about how you come up with 1” of grated ginger. ?
Use a zester!!!
Hey Annette,
If you cut 1 inch of ginger and then grate that, this is what you will want to use. I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
It sounds like the sauce was acrid because you cooked it for way too long. Also, if you look again, it says 30 minutes total. Everyone chops and preps at different speeds. Experienced cooks know that using liberal amounts of fat will ensure protein doesn’t stick. You’re coming off as rude and entitled. Are you providing free content somewhere?
Hey Shelley,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry it was not enjoyed, step 1 says to use a parchment lined or greased pan:) xTieghan
I made this tonight. Soooo good!!! Definitely one of my favorite Asian recipes that I’ve tried so far!
Hey Diane,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks to much for giving it a try!! xTieghan
This was yummy. I served it with ramen noodles instead of rice. Will definitely make it again.
Hey Carla,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks to much for giving it a try!! xTieghan
I adore Asian recipes and this seems so delicious . Also, I adore eating chicken in different ways otherwise it is so boring !
Miki x
https://www.littletasteofbeauty.com/
You call for 6tbs of oil but seem to only use 2tbs on chicken and 2 tbs on broccoli. Where do the other 2 tbs go?
Also the recipe calls for apple cider vinegar in ingredient list, but then it’s referred to as rice vinegar. Which should be used?
Hey Lesley,
You can use the additional 2 tablespoons of oil in step 1. You will want to use rice vinegar for this recipe. Please let me know if you give it a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
I hope you love the recipe!
I have a bad pomegranate allergy – what do you recommend I substitute in instead of pomegranate juice in this case?
I used orange juice and it worked well!
Hey Chiara,
You could also use orange juice. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Thanks for the sub. I came here to ask the same thing and found this comment & reply. Thanks for always being responsive! (I can’t have pomegranate due to medication I take after my kidney transplant, I’m excited to give this a try!)
I hope you love the recipe Shelley!
I’m not a big fan of anise flavor. Can you leave it out or will it totally change the recipe? Some other substitution? Thanks! I love all of your recipes and I’m excited to try this!
Hey Dawn,
You can just skip the anise in the recipe. Please let me know if you give it a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar? How do you prepare the star anise?
Hey Nancy,
The recipe calls for rice vinegar, please follow the instructions in step 3 for the star anise, it will infuse the sauce. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try! xTieghan
Excited to try this, but I see why Nancy was confused re: vinegar. The ingredients list has apple cider vinegar, but the instructions mention only rice vinegar.
Also, a question – I was gifted a bottle of pomegranate molasses. Can I use this to replace both the pomegranate juice and the honey, since it is essentially reduced concentrated pomegranate juice?
Hi Tess,
Sorry for any confusion, you will want to use rice vinegar here and yes I think the pomegranate molasses would work well for you. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
wonderful blend of flavors !
Hey Karen,
Seriously amazing! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe out, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xTieghan