Crockpot Sesame Chicken Recipe
Enjoy your favorite Chinese takeout dish at home. This Crockpot sesame chicken is flavorful and super easy to make. Let your slow cooker do the heavy lifting.
When I was young, eating Chinese food was a big, big deal.
One of the most highly anticipated food events of my life up to that point involved going to a Chinese restaurant in a nearby town. Growing up a town of 700 people, we had three restaurants to choose from, and needless to say, none of them were Chinese.
My mom, grandma, aunt, cousin, and I would make an evening out of our Chinese restaurant visit. We would order their set menu: A five course meal consisting of hot tea, egg drop soup, fried wontons, sesame chicken, fried rice, and a fortune cookie. All for $7.00. That was a lot of money for us at the time, which is why we only ate there once or twice a year.
Even though this took place decades ago, I remember how excited I was to eat at this restaurant. Part of the excitement was spending time with some of my favorite people in the world. Part of the excitement was indulging in exotic and new flavors.
Today, some 30 years later, I look back at those evenings out with extreme fondness.
About The Recipe: Crockpot Sesame Chicken
This crockpot sesame chicken recipe totally brings me back to my childhood.
It’s flavorful and easy to make, just like a good crockpot recipe should be. I especially like it’s not battered and deep fried. You don’t have to feel guilty about eating this Chinese food!
For the sauce recipe, I just started mixing different sauces and flavors together until I came up with something delicious.
If you don’t have all of these ingredients on hand and don’t want to spend a lot of money, you could substitute a teriyaki glaze. It will still taste great.
But if you plan on doing a lot of Asian cooking in the future, I urge you to go out and purchase these multi-tasking ingredients. That way, you will have a head start on your next Asian meal.
Essential Asian Sauces
I love Asian food, and I love experimenting with Asian cooking at home. Over the past few months, I have started buying a variety of sauces/ingredients that are common in Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean cooking.
I find that the following ingredients have allowed me to make a wide variety of dishes.
If you are interested in expanding your Asian cooking repertoire, these sauces will get you started:
Left to right:
- Japanese Wasabi Paste
- Red Curry Paste
- Rice Vinegar
- Mirin (Sweet Cooking Rice Wine)
- Annie Chun’s Gochujang Sauce (I highly recommend this specific brand)
- Sesame Oil
- Memmi (Noodle Soup Base)
- Tamari Soy Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
Missing from photo: Sriracha sauce
Serving Suggestions
This crockpot sesame chicken tastes great served with a side of brown or white rice.
Separate the chicken and rice and store in separate containers if you have leftovers. For best results, cook up a fresh batch of rice for serving.
This recipe would also taste great with a side of fried rice.
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More Chinese Takeout Recipes
Interested in learning more easy recipes to replace your weekly Chinese takeout splurge? Check out these other budget-friendly favorites:
- Cheap Chinese chicken salad
- Spicy honey tofu
- Kung pao cauliflower (vegetarian)
- Spicy green bean appetizer (vegetarian)
- Peanut ramen salad
Crockpot Sesame Chicken Recipe
This recipe is super flexible. Cook in a crockpot on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or on low for 3 to 4 hours.
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 1 heaping tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
- Sesame seeds
- Chopped green onion
For sauce:
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Instructions
- Cut each chicken breast in half the long way. Cut each half into several bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper and place in crockpot.
- Whisk all sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken. Heat on low for 3 to 4 hours, or on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crockpot and set aside.
- Add corn starch dissolved in water to the sauce that is remaining in the crockpot. Turn up heat to high and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until sauce thickens. Add chicken back into crock pot and stir.
- To serve, sprinkle chicken with sesame seeds and green onions, and serve over rice.
This looks great! I’m a huge fan of Asian inspired meals. Sesame oil & red curry paste are my faves. Looks like I may have to invest in a crock pot 🙂
That picture is amazing of the crock pot sesame chicken. I can honestly hardly wait to make it.
I made this on Monday, totally awesome!! Thanks for the recipe.
i made this tasty and EASY dish today. It was so easy just to cut up the chicken, mix the sauce and put it in the crock pot. AND my husband and son could not say enough good things about this dish. They RAVED about it!! I will be making it again really soon.
this sounds great I don”t know what mirim is or is there something i can sub. for it?
Hi Karen!
Sake mixed with a little sugar is a good substitute for mirin. However, mirin isn’t absolutely necessary for this recipe, so feel free to leave it out if you don’t have sake on hand.
This sounds like an amazing recipe. Is there an estimate for the calorie and sodium intake perchance? Thanks.
If I double this recipe, will the cook time be the same?
It should be okay. Just to be safe, check the chicken at the end of the cooking time to make sure it is not pink inside. If it is, cook for an additional 15 minutes or so.