Air Fryer Sesame Chicken (2024)

Crispy Chicken:

• ▢ 6 large skinless chicken thigh fillets - (this is about 750g/1.65lbs untrimmed or 600g/1.3lbs once trimmed)
• ▢ 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ ¼ tsp pepper
• ▢ ½ tsp garlic powder
• ▢ ½ tsp paprika
• ▢ 3 tbsp oil

Sesame Sauce

• ▢ 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
• ▢ 1 tsp garlic powder - (or use 2 minced cloves garlic)
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
• ▢ 3 tbsp honey
• ▢ 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• ▢ 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
• ▢ 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• ▢ 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• ▢ 3 tbsp dark soy sauce

To Serve:

• ▢ sesame seeds
• ▢ chopped spring onions (scallions)
• ▢ boiled or egg fried rice

• Take the chicken thigh fillets, trim off the excess fat, and cut into bite-sized chunks. Put to one side.

  6 large skinless chicken thigh fillets

• In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cornflour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and paprika.

  3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA), ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp paprika

• Place the chicken in the bowl with the cornflour, and mix, ensuring every piece of chicken is completely covered.

• Drizzle the oil over the chicken in the bowl and mix it all up. You should end up with the chicken pieces looking well-coated and quite sticky.

  3 tbsp oil

• Place the chicken in the airfryer basket and cook at 190C/375F for about 15-18 minutes - until the chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink in the middle. Check on the chicken and give it a shake at least 3 times during cooking, to ensure the chicken doesn't stick together. You may have to work in two batches if you have a small airfryer.

• While the chicken is cooking make your sauce. Add all of the sauce ingredients to a microwave-safe bowl and stir together. Microwave on high for about 3 minutes, stirring every minute, until the sauce is hot and slightly thickened (see notes for saucepan alternative).

  1.5 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1.5 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar, 3 tbsp honey, 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 4 tbsp tomato ketchup, 3 tbsp light brown sugar, 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 3 tbsp dark soy sauce

• Remove the chicken from the air fryer and toss in the sauce (either in the saucepan or in a bowl).

• Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and spring onions and serve. I like to serve with egg fried rice.

  boiled or egg fried rice, chopped spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds

Want to make the sauce in a saucepan instead?

Place all of the sauce ingredients into a saucepan and mix together to combine. Heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce starts to bubble and thicken slightly (this should take about 3-4 minutes). Then turn off the heat.

Make the sauce ahead

Place all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir together. Cover and refrigerate (for up to a day), then heat up when ready.

Add vegetables

You could add some chopped vegetables to the air fryer with the chicken for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. Just ensure the chicken is fully cooked before serving. It should be piping hot and no longer pink in the middle (internal temp of 79C/175F)

Some examples include:

• Chopped peppers
• Chopped mange tout or sugar snap peas
• Chopped babycorn
• Sliced mushrooms

The sauce amount

Everybody raves about this sauce, and they usually want extra helpings when I make it, so I've increased the amount of sauce in this recipe compared to my original sesame chicken recipe (increased by 50%). This should give enough sauce to coat the chicken, with extra for drizzling over your rice/noodles too.
If you only want enough sauce to just coat the chicken, reduce the amount of sauce ingredients by one third. It should take around 1 minute less to heat though too.

Nutritional Information is per serving, without serving suggestions.