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Air Fryer Sesame Chicken

Air Fryer Sesame Chicken

Crispy chunks of chicken cooked quickly and easily in the air fryer, then tossed in a tasty sweet and savoury honey-soy-sesame sauce.

I wanted to find a way to make this in the air fryer. Nothing quite competes with frying the chicken in oil, but using the air fryer is a fantastic way to make sesame chicken a little bit lighter, and also quicker to cook. Plus it saves the oil splashes on the worktop from frying the chicken too!

The sauce can be made easily in the microwave, or in a saucepan.

 
Prep Time: 00:10
Cook Time: 00:20
Total Time: 00:30

Ingredients:

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. 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
  2. 1 tsp garlic powder - (or use 2 minced cloves garlic)
  3. 1.5 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
  4. 3 tbsp honey
  5. 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
  6. 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
  7. 3 tbsp light brown sugar
  8. 3 tbsplight soy sauce
  9. 3 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:

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

  2. 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

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

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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

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

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

     

 

To Serve:

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

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.

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