Gather all of your ingredients.<\/p>\nPrep the sauce: <\/strong>Make the sauce first, so it\u2019s ready to go when you need it. In a bowl, stir together 1\/4 cup soy sauce, 2 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 2 minced cloves of garlic, \u00bd Tbsp cornstarch, and 1 Tbsp sesame seeds.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s just talk about this toasted sesame oil for a second. You must get the kind that is toasted to get the super vibrant nutty flavor that you want in your sesame chicken. Not all brands actually say \u201ctoasted\u201d on the bottle, but you can recognize the toasted variety by its deep brown color. Regular sesame oil will be the color of straw, like vegetable oil. You want the brown stuff. \ud83d\ude09 It\u2019s usually in the international foods aisle, instead of the baking aisle with the other oils.<\/p>\nCut the chicken: <\/strong>Next, trim any extra fat off of one pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, then cut them into small one inch cubes. One pound for me was about three chicken thighs.<\/p>\nMake the cornstarch mix: <\/strong>Add 1 large egg, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and pepper to a medium bowl.<\/p>\n\n
Coat the chicken:<\/strong> Whisk the egg and cornstarch together until it is light and frothy. It may seem thick at first, but as the cornstarch dissolves in the egg, it will thin out and get nice and frothy. Add the cubed chicken thighs and stir them to coat in the egg mixture.<\/p>\nThis combination of cornstarch and egg coats the chicken, keeping it tender and providing something for the sauce to grab onto. This technique of coating meat in a cornstarch mixture is called \u201cvelveting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nCook the chicken: <\/strong>Add 2 Tbsp cooking oil to a large skillet and heat it over medium. Wait until it is very hot. This is VERY important. The skillet must be very hot! Once very hot, swirl the skillet to make sure the oil coats the entire surface, add the chicken, and make sure it\u2019s spread out into a single layer. Let the chicken cook, undisturbed, until golden brown on the bottom. It might kind of cook into a single round pancake, but don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll break up the pieces next.<\/p>\nThen carefully flip the chicken pieces, breaking them up slightly into smaller pieces as you flip. Cook on the other side until browned and cooked through. Make sure to not stir them too much, or you can cause the egg to come off the chicken. You can see that some of the chicken pieces are still kind of stuck together at this point. That\u2019s okay. Just do not over stir.<\/p>\n
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