You will love this lighter Sesame Chicken with Quinoa recipe — just a simple saute served over flavorful quinoa.
I have learned this year that any sort of conferences or events that food bloggers attend are a pretty much guaranteed 24/7 gourmet food fest. I’m totally not exaggerating. I’m now about three days into my time in Chicago and already — I’m stuffed!!! And there are still four full days to go! :)
At least I can find a little comfort in the fact that I planned ahead this time and head a pretty healthy week of meals before I left Kansas City. And this Sesame Chicken with Quinoa was definitely one of the highlights! (And yes, that’s the quinioa from my How To Cook Quinoa post. If you’re new to cooking this grain, be sure to check out the step-by-step tutorial for how to whip up a quick and easy batch!)
I know that people tend to go bonkers over a good sesame chicken dish. I definitely love that sweet and sesame-y sauce. But I have to be honest — the heavy deep-fried batter has never really been my thing.
So for a “lighter” sesame chicken, I decided to simply saute some chicken breasts and then serve them with a healthier sauce that has been sweetened with honey. And then instead of brown or white rice, I served it over some yummy quinoa.
And people!!! The result was so good!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I have to say that I think I loved this one even more than the original. It was full of flavor, simple to make, not overly sweet, and definitely not deep-fried. I would probably typically throw in a few more veggies into the saute, but for a classic sesame chicken recipe, I just served this with some fresh green onions from my CSA.
Definitely a dish I can feel much better about enjoying…and even having seconds. ;)
Hope you all enjoy it!
Sesame Chicken with Quinoa
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- salt and pepper
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
Quinoa Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
To Make The Lighter Sesame Chicken:
- Season chicken breasts generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute for about 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.
- While chicken is cooking, whisk together the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch until combined. When the chicken is cooked through, add the green onions and soy sauce mixture to the pan and stir immediately to coat the chicken. The sauce will thicken quickly. Stir in sesame oil, then remove from heat and serve over cooked quinoa (instructions below), sprinkled with sesame seeds.
To Make The Quinoa:
- You can see my step-by-step photo tutorial for how to cook quinoa here.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Super yummy! We added peas as a topping to our seasame chicken bowl, delicious!
Made this for the first time tonight and my family loved it! Used the instapot to make the quinoa and didn’t use chicken broth, just water. The chicken was tender and flavorful! Will definitely make this again.
I like this recipe. It took me longer to cook the chicken through then suggested in the recipe. Be careful to use only the amount of sesame oil listed in the recipe because it could be too strong otherwise. The taste is perfect, not too tart and not too sweet. This would pair great with stir fried bok choy, wish I’d thought if that before I finished.
Easy and delicious! It has become a staple in our house , thank you
I made this recipe with only a couple differences. Rather than powdered ginger, which I have and use frequently, I had some fresh ginger, so I used 1 tablespoon of grated fresh instead of the 1 tsp of powdered. I also have quinoa, but I had been eating it for a week in a Mexican soup I had made, so I decided to have riced cauliflower instead., which lowered the calories even more for this recipe. As you can see, my tweaks were only subtly different, so I don’t believe I changed the recipe at all. With that in mind, this was absolutely delicious, and I’ll definitely make it again and again! Thanks for posting.
Def a keeper very yummy thanks
This was delicious – simple and will definitely be making again. I used my wok to saute the chicken, and I found that helpful! Served it with quinoa cooked like you recommended and roasted green beans (400 degrees, with sesame oil, soy sauce, and garlic salt for 20 minutes).
We loved this recipe. I chopped some candied ginger because I needed to use it up. This is a handy recipe because it uses staples from our pantry and fridge, so I can make it anytime. I also like how easy it would be to double the sauce and throw in lots of vegetables I may have. Thank u so much for the compliments I received on the meal.
Needed a quick, healthy meal without having to shop. This delicious dish checked all three boxes.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!! Kids and husband approved!