The Best Sesame Chicken

Name: The Best Sesame Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry); 1 large egg; 3/4 cup cornstarch; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 4 cups neutral oil for frying (peanut or vegetable); 5 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced; 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce; 1/4 cup honey; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 2 tbsp brown sugar; 1/2 cup chicken stock or water; as listed cornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water); 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; 3 scallions, thinly sliced; as needed steamed white rice (for serving)

Prep

15m

Cook

20m

Total

35m

Bigly says

Sit down for this one. Sesame chicken. The crispiest, glossiest, most tremendous sesame chicken in the history of American-Chinese takeout — a juggernaut, an institution, an absolute LEGEND of the strip-mall menu — and ninety percent of what's out there is SOGGY. Soggy. Sad. A national crisis nobody is talking about. The food media won't say it. I will. Plain and simple.

And while we're naming names — go try to find a real sesame chicken recipe on another site. Go. I'll wait. You'll be on page six by now, past the 'this recipe brings me back to my study abroad in 2008' essay, past the auto-play video, past the 'allow notifications?' window, past the cookie banner with 47 toggles asking you to share your data with 200 advertising partners, and when you finally get to the recipe it tells you to BAKE the chicken. BAKE IT. In the oven. Soggy by design. A crime against the wok.

Here's what nobody tells you. The entire game of sesame chicken is the double fry. Fry it once. Let it REST. Fry it AGAIN. The second fry is what gives you that shatter-crunch coating that survives the sauce, that crackles under the spoon, that holds its dignity all the way to the table. The sauce, meanwhile, is sweet, savory, garlicky, with a toasted-sesame backbone — the GREATEST sauce. Other guys cheat with ketchup. KETCHUP. In sesame chicken. A disgrace to the chicken, a disgrace to the seed, a disgrace to the wok. We do it right. Nobody disputes this.

Ingredients

1.5 lbboneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces(thighs, always thighs, breast goes dry and you've wasted everyone's time)
1 tbspsoy sauce
1 tbspShaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
1large egg
3/4 cupcornstarch
1/4 cupall-purpose flour
1/2 tspbaking soda(tiny amount, huge effect, makes the coating shatter)
1/2 tspkosher salt
4 cupsneutral oil for frying (peanut or vegetable)
5 clovesgarlic, minced
1 tbspfresh ginger, minced
1/4 cuplow-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cuphoney
2 tbsprice vinegar
1 tbsptoasted sesame oil
2 tbspbrown sugar
1/2 cupchicken stock or water
as listedcornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water)
2 tbsptoasted sesame seeds
3scallions, thinly sliced
as neededsteamed white rice (for serving)

Steps

1
Marinate the chicken: toss the chicken pieces with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and the egg. Let it sit 10 minutes.
2
In a separate bowl, whisk together cornstarch, flour, baking soda, and salt.
3
Add the dry mixture to the marinated chicken and toss until every piece is coated in a craggy, dry-ish batter. The texture should look shaggy, not pasty.
4
Heat 4 cups of oil in a deep pot or Dutch oven to 325 degrees F.
5
Fry the chicken in batches (don't crowd) for 3-4 minutes per batch until pale gold and just cooked through. Transfer to a wire rack. Let rest 5 minutes between fries.
6
Increase the oil temperature to 375 degrees F. Fry the chicken a second time in batches for 1-2 minutes until deeply golden, crispy, and shatter-crunchy. Drain on the wire rack.
7
Make the sauce: in a clean wok or large skillet over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of the frying oil. Add garlic and ginger and stir 30 seconds until fragrant.
8
Add soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook 2 minutes.
9
Whisk the cornstarch slurry and stir it into the sauce. Cook 30-60 seconds until the sauce is glossy and coats the back of a spoon.
10
Add the fried chicken to the sauce and toss quickly to coat — get in, get out, don't let the chicken sit in the sauce or it loses its crispness.
11
Transfer to a plate. Shower with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve immediately over rice.

One more thing

This is the dish you make when you want to flex on takeout. Toss the chicken in the sauce, plate it over rice, shower it with sesame and scallions, and carry it to the table like a TROPHY. Because that's what it is. You beat the soggy industrial sesame-chicken complex single-handedly in your own kitchen. They'll write songs about this dinner. Maybe nobody will. Doesn't matter. YOU will know. The chicken will know. The wok will know. Now go eat.

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Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

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