The Best Ever Sesame Chicken

I’m well aware how presumptuous that title sounds. And I’m totally okay with it.

This post is really a little late. But today’s Friday, so.. deal with it? One thing that I can’t get off my mind recently is thinking about the most amazing dish I’ve re-created from scratch. Seriously, this thing should be in a Betty Crocker/Martha Stewart/Julia Child recipe book somewhere. I drool thinking about it.

I’ve been a follower of How Sweet It Is for well over a year. A few months of perusing stories about Jessica’s culinary prowess, hilarious stories, and drool-worthy photos, I officially became me hooked after I tried my first recipe from her blog: Cake Batter Chocolate Bark last June.

I made this recipe once for dinner with friends and it turned out so well, that I made it again for my grandma’s birthday dinner (I know, best granddaughter ever right here!). It was no surprise to me that this recipe for Jessica’s Simple Sesame Chicken Skillet was amazingly delicious and that everyone who tried it fell head over heels in love with me and the food on their plates. True story.

As is becoming somewhat of a regular occurrence when I bake or cook while in a hurry, my version isn’t exactly what Jessica had in mind–I accidentally added olive oil during the wrong step. So my version includes slightly different ingredient amounts, as you’ll see below.

We all know how much I love broccoli..

Just wait ’til you see what I did with the brown rice!

For a little more color on the plate..

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 3 Tablespoons flour

• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil, divided
• 2 Tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
• 2-3 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (I used 2 1/2 Tablespoons)
• brown rice and vegetables for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a bowl, whisk together chicken stock, brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, garlic cloves, soy sauce and vinegar. Set aside.
2. Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Toss chicken with salt, pepper and flour. Add remaining olive oil and sesame oil to skillet, and once hot, add chicken in a single layer. Cook until seared and golden on one side, then flip and cook until golden again, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour chicken stock mixture over top and toss to coat, then turn off heat. Place skillet in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove and stir in sesame seeds. Serve with veggie of your choice and brown rice.

Serves 2-4

Apparently you can put Circulon pans in the oven and they won’t melt. Who knew?

Seriously– so many sesame seeds.

You can tell by comparing our pictures, my version turned out with much, much more sauce than Jessica’s. I was okay with that because it was delicious over the brown rice. This recipe is extremely easy (even if I botched the directions..) and very quick. The rice was the most time-consuming aspect to the meal. I will absolutely commit this recipe to my all time favorites to eat and make!

Per usual, Jessica, you are a kitchen goddess! Be sure to follow her on Twitter and, obviously, you should already be following me on Twitter, too.