Our Sesame Ground Chicken is a #1 recipe for good reason. It’s on the table in 15 minutes, packed with lean protein and has a flavor that everyone loves! Serve with rice or ramen noodles on the side to soak up all of the delicious, sweet sesame sauce.
Why You’ll Love This Sesame Ground Chicken Recipe
Not only is this Sesame Ground Chicken easy to make, I promise you everyone is going to love it. You can keep it mild like we have done here and then spic up your own bowl if you like. Kids love it, adults love, even the pickiest of eaters.
- Easy To Make: This ground chicken recipe is ready to serve in just 15 minutes. That’s it. Steam some rice in the microwave and dinner is done.
- High Protein Meal: If you’re looking for a lean protein recipe for meal prepping or just easy dinners, this is the one.
- Make Ahead Recipe: Make ahead of time and simply warm in the microwave for easy dinners or lunches to go.
Ingredients You’ll Need
By now, we’ve made this recipe so much that we have all of the ingredients on hand. If you’ve never used chili garlic sauce before, it’s a sweet and mildly spicy sauce that adds tons of flavor. For a complete list of ingredients and amounts needed, scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Ground Chicken: You can use ground chicken with 8% fat or ground chicken “breast” that is leaner.
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic: Fresh garlic or garlic paste (usually in a tube, found in the produce aisle).
- Chili Garlic Sauce: Usually found where the soy sauce is in your grocery store. If you can find it, there’s an Amazon link above the photo.
- Soy Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Chicken Broth
- Cornstarch
How To Make
All you need to do is cook the ground chicken into crumbles along with onions and garlic. Drain any drippings from the skillet and then whisk the sauce together. It’s that simple.
Thicken the sauce with a mixture of cornstarch and water, let it simmer for five minutes and you’re ready to serve. We like to garnish this ground chicken with chopped scallions and sesame seeds and serve it with rice or cauliflower rice.
Variations
For the protein you can swap out ground turkey, ground pork or even lean ground beef. Any protein you like will work fine.
If sugar is an issue for you, try using a stevia based brown sugar instead, or just cut down on the amount here. Tons of vegetables can also be added to this recipe – broccoli, snap peas and shredded carrots are just a few ideas.
Storing, Freezing and Reheating
This is a great recipe to meal prep with for the week, so we often make it in large quantities. Keep this Sesame Ground Chicken covered in your refrigerator, or in a container for up to 4 days. Reheating is as easy as popping a bowl in the microwave.
And yes, you can also freeze this ground chicken too! If you’re really looking to plan a few meals ahead of time, make this chicken and let it cool completely before freezing. A good meal prepping tip is to freeze the chicken in individual portions for an easy lunch or dinner, or something the kids can grab on their own!
Looking For More Easy Chicken Recipes?
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Chicken Francese
- Hawaiian Pulled Chicken
- Chipotle Creamy Salsa Chicken
- Sweet Chili Chicken Wings
Sesame Ground Chicken
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeOur Sesame Ground Chicken is a #1 recipe for good reason. It’s on the table in 15 minutes, packed with lean protein and has a flavor that everyone loves! Serve with rice or ramen noodles on the side to soak up all of the delicious, sweet sesame sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 2 pounds ground chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (to taste, start with 1 and add more if desired)
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water (see note)
- Chopped scallions and sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and cook a minute longer.
- Add the ground chicken to the skillet and cook while breaking up into small pieces until the chicken is cooked through. Drain any drippings from the skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Mix the chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and chicken broth together in a bowl. Pour over the ground chicken and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then add the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Simmer the chicken until the sauce is thickened, taste for seasonings and serve with scallions and sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes
Instead of mixing the cornstarch with water and adding after the sauce comes to a simmer, you can add the cornstarch right to the sauce mixture (minus the water) and whisk to combine. Once the sauce comes to a simmer the sauce will thicken.
Store: Store leftovers in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freeze: This ground chicken recipe freezes very well for meal prepping. Store in an air tight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Absolutely fantastic. Added broccoli. Added cilantro and sesame seems when I served it! Best dinner I’ve made in ages.
Good combination of ingredients. I added some celery for a bit of crunch and some Worcestershire sauce. Worked well with chili-garlic, soy and toasted sesame. Served with long-grain white rice. Very tasty.
I had to jump in and give credit where credit Is due. The recipe is amazing, but because I’m trying to stay away from sugars, I did replace the brown sugar with honey, And used regular sesame oil because I didn’t have toasted. Everything else I did by the book and I’m so glad I found this recipe. I did Find another recipe for a peanut sauce which I made to top the lettuce wraps with the sauce and crushed some cashews.
I will definitely do this again.
LOVED! It was a hit with my family! We don’t have an Asian restaurant nearby and this satisfied the craving 🖤
I loved this recipe!! I cut the recipe in half and added frozen peas and increased the chicken broth . I wanted it a little saucier. Delicious!!
I typically do not buy ground chicken, ever, but I had a pound from my CSA. I found this recipe, ran and got the rest of the ingredients and it was a big hit. I made some snap peas on the side. My. husband who is an automatic “no” person, tasted it reluctantly and immediately fixed himself a plate! My only complaint was the price of toasted sesame oil. I also subbed the chicken broth out with white wine because I had a bottle open and no chicken broth.
Trying this tonight, and the only changes I will make will be to add some stirfry veggies and serve over plain ramen noodles. Love that it uses ground chicken.
Made this tonight and I highly recommend it! I wanted more veggies, so I also stir fried red pepper and small pieces of brocolli with red onion (only onion I had) and this was truly top-notch. Also so easy
Very tasty, but I halved the recipe as I was cooking it just for myself. If you halve the recipe, you may long for a little extra sauce, so I wouldn’t halve the sauce and add what you want to the dish. Otherwise, easy and amazing. It’s a keeper.
This is an excellent dish! i Used all the ingredients. I added Sirancha sauce instead of chili sauce.
My husband and I ate it all with Udon Noodles. Sooo good.
This is so easy and delicious! To make gluten free, I subbed soy sauce with a mix of tamari/coconut aminos. I also used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. We will definitely put this in the meal rotation!
I hate cooking but this recipe was easy enough to follow – it’s literally 3 steps lol. I used turkey instead of chicken and paired it with sweet potatoes and broccoli. Super healthy and delicious!
So good!! I’m always looking for easy recipes with ground chicken and this is one of my favorites!
This was delicious! Only thing I did difference was bought knorrs teriyaki rice and topped it with Sautéed peppers and onions.
This was really delicious!!! I didn’t have sesame oil so I used the peanut oil and it still came out great 😋
This turned out great and really took very little time to make. It is delicious and maybe the best tasting ground chicken dish I have ever had. I will definitely make it again. If salt and sugar are on your watch list you can skimp as I did. The soy sauce adds lots of flavour. You could even use the low sodium version. I used brown allulose in place of sugar. So good over steamed rice!