Juicy Sous Vide Sesame Chicken

This authentic Sous Vide Sesame Chicken is the juiciest chicken dish you'll ever eat. It features chicken slowly cooked in a water bath and smothered in an irresistible Asian sesame sauce. All the work is done by your sous vide cooker, so there's no need to worry about anything.

Can't get enough of Asian sous vide chicken dishes? Try my Sous Vide Hainan Chicken Rice and Sous Vide Teriyaki Chicken next!

A tasty, well-rounded, and nutritious meal that comes together in less than two hours? Count me in! Sous Vide Sesame Chicken is one of those recipes you want in your cooking arsenal. It's easy, quick to make, but most importantly, delicious.

Because this dish is cooked sous vide, there's no need to worry about dry and chewy chicken. It's a versatile recipe that works well with any part of the chicken, whether it's thighs, breasts, wings, or drumsticks. I like using chicken thighs because they're generally the most flavorful part of the chicken.

But let's talk about that sesame sauce. It's made with only several ingredients but packed with flavor. Nothing overcomplicated in terms of ingredients either, aka, you won't need to make a special trip to the Asian grocery store to make this recipe.

Jump to:

• 🥢 What is it?
• 🍗 Cooking Temp & Time
• 🧂 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 💭 Top Tips
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Substitutions
• 👨🏻‍🍳 Variations
• 🥡 Storage & Leftovers
• 📖 Recipe FAQs
• 🍽 Looking for more sous-vide recipes?
• 📋 Recipe

🥢 What is it?

Sous Vide Sesame Chicken is a contemporary take on the classic Chinese takeout dish: Sesame Chicken. Instead of deep-frying the chicken, which can result in tough and chewy meat, we take a different approach - we cook the chicken in a low-temperature water bath. The water bath provides a gentle heat that slowly cooks the chicken while keeping it juicy, tender, and flavorful.

🍗 Cooking Temp & Time

As a general rule, my favorite temperature for cooking chicken is 150℉. It's an easy temperature to remember, and it works well for all cuts of chicken. However, certain temperatures are better for certain cuts. For example, 160℉ is optimal for chicken thighs since they're fattier, and the higher temperature helps melt their fat. For leaner cuts like breasts, 145-150℉ is optimal.

Any temperature from 140-160℉ will "out-juice" anything cooked using traditional methods. I find that 140℉ is a bit too tender, but many people enjoy it. For anything above 160℉, I don't see many benefits to using sous vide, and you might as well just cook it using traditional methods.

Check out this Chicken Sous Vide Cooking Times page if you want to learn more.

🧂 Ingredients

• Chicken - For this recipe, you can use any part of the chicken (thighs, breasts, wings, drumsticks, etc.). My personal favorite is thighs. Boneless is preferred so that you can cut them into small chunks for easy eating at the table.
• Soy sauce (also known as light soy sauce) - Provides umami and saltiness to the sauce.
• Dark soy sauce - It's sweeter, less salty, and thicker than regular soy sauce. It has a more complex flavor profile and should not be used as the primary seasoning in most dishes. Instead, it's primarily used to impart a "dark" color to the sesame sauce.
• Brown sugar (or honey or white sugar) - Adds sweetness to balance the salty and savory flavors and gives the sauce a glaze-like consistency.
• Rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar) - A little bit of acid is needed to bring to brighten up the sauce.
• Oil - Helps extract fat-soluble flavor compounds from ginger and garlic.
• Garlic and Ginger - Freshly minced or grated provides the best flavor.
• Cornstarch - Mixed with a little bit of water to help thicken the sesame sauce after cooking.
• Sesame seeds - Adds texture and a wonderful nuttiness.

🔪 Instructions

Step 1. Sesame marinade

Combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, oil, garlic, and ginger in a small bowl.

Step 2. Marinate

Start by placing the cubed chicken in a bag that can be vacuum-sealed or zipper-locked. Then add the marinade to the bag, and arrange the chicken in a single layer before sealing it. You have two options for properly sealing the bag:

For zipper-lock bags: Seal the bag but leave the last inch of the top open to let the air out. Slowly lower the bag into a container of water and completely seal it just before it submerges. Here's a video showing how to do the water displacement method.

For vacuum bags: Seal the bag according to the manufacturer's instructions.

After sealing, place the bag in the refrigerator for a minimum of 40 minutes and a maximum of 4 hours. The chicken will be too salty if you marinate it for too long.

Step 3. Sous vide

Preheat a water bath to 150℉. Place the bag inside and cook for 1 hour. I generally find 150℉ to be the best temperature as it results in wonderfully juicy meat with a texture similar to that of traditionally cooked meat.

Step 4. Thicken sauce

Cut a ½-inch slit in the bag and pour the leftover cooking liquid into a large nonstick pan. Open the bag completely and transfer the chicken pieces to a bowl. Set aside.

Now, create a cornstarch slurry by mixing 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of water. Heat the pan of cooking liquid over medium-high heat until it simmers. Reduce the heat to medium-low, then add the cornstarch slurry to the pan while stirring until it thickens.

The sauce's consistency should be thick enough to cover the back of a spoon. If it's too thick, add more water.

Step 5. Add chicken

Add the chicken, then immediately turn off the heat. Stir to coat the chicken in sauce evenly, then transfer to a serving dish. Serve sesame chicken over rice, garnished with sesame seeds and scallions, and served with a side of veggies like Yu Choy.

💭 Top Tips

• Consider double bagging the chicken if you're using a zipper-lock bag. I find zipper-lock bags to be more prone to leaking during cooking.
• Use freshly grated or minced garlic and ginger for the best flavor. Fresh aromatics have a much stronger aroma and a more pronounced pungency, which isn't as noticeable in pre-packaged versions.
• Marinate for at least 40 minutes for the juiciest chicken. This will allow the marinade to work its way into the meat slowly, and any moisture lost through osmosis can be reabsorbed back into the meat.
• Avoid searing the chicken, even though it can be tempting to do it to add more flavor. This is because the meat is cut into small chunks, which can easily overcook. This recipe doesn't really need browning to taste good. It has enough complexity from the sauce.

👩🏻‍🍳 Substitutions

• Brown sugar - Substitute with white sugar or honey.
• Rice wine vinegar - Substitute with white or apple cider vinegar.
• Dark soy sauce - Substitute with Oyster sauce.
• Cornstarch - Substitute with any other starch like potato or tapioca.

👨🏻‍🍳 Variations

• Spicy - Add 2 teaspoons of Sambal Oelek to the marinade.
• Vegan - This recipe works well with cauliflower instead of chicken. The temperature of the sous vide should be set to 185℉, and it should be cooked for exactly 1 hour.

🥡 Storage & Leftovers

Storing: Store leftover Sous Vide Sesame Chicken in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Reheating: Reheat leftovers in the oven for 5-7 minutes at 350°F until warmed through. Alternatively, bag everything and place it in a water bath for 30 minutes at 145°F.

📖 Recipe FAQs

🍽 Looking for more sous-vide recipes?

Did you enjoy this recipe? Please leave a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below and consider leaving a comment. I'd love to hear your feedback!

📋 Recipe