Sesame Ground Chicken

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.

sesame ground chicken in a bowl with rice and chopsticks

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.
ground chicken with sesame sauce and scallions in skillet

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.

sesame ground chicken ingredients
  • 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.

ground chicken in sesame sauce with chopped scallions

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.

sesame ground chicken in bowl from the side with rice and chopsticks

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!

ground chicken recipe in a bowl with rice and chopsticks on the side

Looking For More Easy Chicken Recipes?

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ground chicken recipe in a bowl with rice and chopsticks on the side

Sesame Ground Chicken

  • Author: Dan
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 6 Servings 1x

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.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 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
  • 12 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

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167 Responses
  1. Kimberly

    Really delicious! I added brown rice and steamed broccoli to make it a meal. I didn’t have any sesame oil, so I went without it. I also doubled up on the garlic and used a Thai sweet chili sauce and sriracha sauce that I already had in the fridge. I also added some red chili flakes for a little extra heat. The only thing I wish was more apparent are the nutritional facts, otherwise, great recipe!

      1. Cassidy

        Yes, half recipe option would be nice because diving 1/3 in half is a pain. Doable but still a pain

      2. Janine

        I personally used 1lb ground chicken, and kept the measurements for the sauce the same because I wanted to have extra sauce for my rice and it worked out great!

  2. Whitney

    I love this recipe!!!! I make it for my son at least 2x a week. I add some minced garlic, ginger and Chinese 5-spice while I’m browning the chicken.
    I’ve added zucchini, carrots and asparagus to the mix as well. Thank you for sharing such and awesome recipe!

  3. Mindy

    I love this recipe! I add shredded cabbage at the end and let it cook until tender. It is like an egg roll in a bowl!! Yum yum!!

  4. Jessica Coronato

    Awesome dish! So easy and great flavor. The ground chicken seems to cook off and leave a lot of liquid—next time I’ll drain OR cook off juices before adding sauce.

    Def making again! Thanks!

  5. Becka

    Wow! I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I hadn’t ever tried the chili garlic sauce and it’s like the icing on the cake in this dish! I was just looking for a recipe for ground chicken which I grabbed by mistake instead of turkey, and I’m so glad I found this one! I did cut back on the sugar because we watch our sugar intake, but it didn’t need much for us to get a sweet taste. Thanks so much for sharing!

  6. Cher

    This recipe is an absolute FLAVOUR BOMB of goodness!! I had nooooo idea what I should make with my ground chicken last night. I was so happy I stumbled across this recipe! it looked so delicious and sounded quick and easy! It WAS! I will make this again and again for sure! Like many comments have mentioned, this recipe could be easily tweaked by adding a variety of chopped vegetables for volume, flavour and colour but it’s really fantastic made quite simply as per the recipe! Two of us polished off our Sesame Chicken and Rice in one sitting! We were very hungry 😅😅 LOL Thank you for the fabulous inspiration!!

  7. Kristy Mutch

    Wow! This is my new favorite quick meal go-to. Confession – I omitted the sesame oil, as it’s something my tummy doesn’t tolerate well. My husband came home from work and inhaled two bowls! This recipe will go in my normal dinner rotation.

    So glad I found this recipe!

  8. SueskiNH

    This was delicious! I used 1 lb. of ground chicken plus a pile of veggies besides the onion and scallions (broccoli florets, chopped zucchini, julienned baby carrots, chopped red/yellow pepper). I also added some minced ginger root because I had a small piece handy. Served with short grain brown rice.

  9. Erin

    literally OBSESSED with this recipe. i make it at least once a week. whenever my husband sees ground chicken in the fridge he knows it’s sesame chicken time!

  10. Dustin

    I ended up with some ground chicken and had never ever used it before. I found this recipe, substituted sriracha for the chili garlic sauce and I must say it came out pretty darn good! Let’s just say I know what to do with ground chicken from now on. Thanks!

  11. Kerien W Fitzpatrick

    Delicious by itself. A bit of sweet up front followed by savory/salty from the soy sauce. I chopped up water chestnuts and served over Jasmine rice.

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