Baked Sesame Orange Chicken
This baked Sesame Orange Chicken is crazy delicious. It's coated in sesame seeds and baked until crispy then drenched in a sweet Asian inspired orange sauce. It's an easy to make and healthy dinner recipe that everyone will LOVE!
I'm 100% sure you can tell by the picture, but just to make sure, I'll say it here, “This healthy sesame orange chicken recipe is amazing!” Yep, you heard that right. These babies are HEALTHY. Crazy, I know!
The chicken is coated in a tapioca starch and sesame seeds crust that is gluten-free, paleo, and Whole30 compliant. ← if those last two aren't your jam, you can easily substitute cornstarch for the tapioca.
The chicken is then baked until a thin and crispy crust forms. The true magic happens when the chicken is dunked in a deliciously sticky sweet and tiny bit spicy orange sauce then broiled until it caramelizes. If you reach for a taste before you pop these on the table, you'll be licking the sauce off your fingers for sure.
These guys are a huge hit in our family. My little girl devours them like candy ← a little sweetness will do that. Even my handsome man, who's never very enthusiastic about chicken recipes, loves this one.
What I love most about this recipe is that it tastes like it shouldn't be healthy. When you're eating it, you'll think of your fav deep-fried Chinese takeout. But these delicious bites are HEALTHY. I know, it's crazy.
As much as I love healthy food, I big time crush on recipes that can fool me into eating well. (Sometimes I swear I'm 5-years-old stuck in a grownup's body.) This recipe makes me happy every time I make it.
This time, I used black sesame seeds. With Halloween just around the corner, I was going for that orange and black look. I can't help but love cheesy Halloween recipes.
Your healthy baked sesame orange chicken game plan:
♡ Put the chicken thighs in a bag and pour in some tapioca starch and sesame seeds. Shake shake shake until everything is has a nice coating.
♡ Pop the sesame coated chicken on a baking sheet, drizzle those puppies with oil, then bake until they're crispy. Mmm mmm.
♡ Boil a simple sauce made from orange juice, honey (sorry, not for you Whole30-ers), sesame oil, and some ginger and garlic until it thickens just a little.
♡ Dip your crispy chicken in the sesame orange sauce then give it a quick broil to caramelize.
♡ Dig in! ← insert all the happy face emojis here.
Baked Sesame Orange Chicken
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- ½ cup tapioca or cornstarch, use tapioca for Whole30 or paleo
- ¼ cup black sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons oil
- Cilantro, to serve
Orange Sauce
- ¼ cup honey, Omit for Whole30
- Juice and zest from 1 orange, omit zest for Whole30 – it's too bitter without the honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, coco aminos for Whole30 or paleo
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 inch piece of ginger, grated with a Microplane or very finely minced
- 1 clove garlic, grated with a Microplane or very finely minced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chicken in a resealable plastic bag. Add the tapioca starch and the sesame seeds, seal the bag, and shake to coat the chicken.8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, ½ cup tapioca or cornstarch, ¼ cup black sesame seeds
- Drizzle half the oil on the baking sheet then lay the chicken on top. If there are sesame seeds remaining in the bag, take them out and press them into the tops of the chicken. Drizzle with the remaining oil. Place the chicken into your oven and bake for 35 minutes.2 tablespoons oil
- While the chicken is baking, make the sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small pan over medium-high heat. Boil for 5-7 minutes, or until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.¼ cup honey, Juice and zest from 1 orange, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 1 inch piece of ginger, 1 clove garlic
- Remove the chicken from the oven and dip each piece in the sauce then set it back on the baking sheet. Turn your oven to broil (at 425 degrees) and put the chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes. Note: if you cannot adjust the temperature of broil in your oven, keep a close eye to make sure these don't burn.
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little cilantro, and dig in!
I used flour rather than tapioca flour.
I tripled the sauce. Reserved 1/4 cup +/- to make gravy by adding 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (or flour) to thicken and served on the side.
Served with wild rice and steamed broccoli
Why can’t the information be saved? My recipes are put on my computer.
There is a print button in each recipe card. You can either print the recipe or save it to your computer as a pfd. 🙂
Hi Kristen, I see from the previous comments that this recipe has been going strong for 3 years. Well I can confirm it’s still fabulous! I’ve only just found your website and this is the first recipe I’ve tried but won’t be my last!
Although a teeny bit more labour intensive than I usually do, it was soooooo worth it! The smell alone from the sesame orange glaze.. OMG! I even went to the trouble of skinning and removing the bones from 8 chicken thighs to do this properly and I don’t regret a minute of the bother. It’s beyond yummy!
I did a few adaptions as I always do to suit my palate like adding fresh thinly sliced chilli to the glaze, and it worked because your method is so on point. Thank you so much for enticing me to try something new.
I will have to remember to buy boneless and skinless chicken thighs next time to save on the labour time and washing up ?. Btw I also made some roasted broccoli and spring onions as a side (I like to maximise my oven time ?) and it compliments very well with a salad of mixed leaves, watercress and cilantro. Will do it with cauliflower rice or normal rice for friends next time.
Can’t wait to try some more of your creations. Thank you from London! Rachel x
Love it, Rachel! Thank you for the comment!
Absolutely yum!! Make enough for leftovers because everyone in the family will want it for lunch the next day
So happy to hear that it was a hit!
Love, love this recipe. We make it whenever we have guests, and more than a few other times!
I’m so happy to hear you love the recipe!!
Absolutely delicious! A very simple sauce which caramelised beautifully & though I was a bit worried as I used breasts instead of thighs, they turned out juicy and delicious 🙂 I served them with Chinese 5-Spice roast potatoes & steamed veg – no leftovers!
Ohhh those potatoes sound like the perfect side! Yum!!
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I found it a few months ago, an I’ve made it at least once a week since… and with leftovers! Thank you thank you thank you!
I love it! That’s so great to hear!!
Well—I can hardly believe it, but I actually made this two nights in a row. I NEVER do something like that! But we loved it so much, we all just wanted to eat it again as soon as possible. So I made it again. SO GOOD! THANKS SO MUCH
That makes me seriously so happy to hear! Hooray!!!
This chicken is so good! The whole family raved about it!
I’m happy to hear it was such a hit!!
Hi. Can you use chicken breasts too with this recipe?
You definitely can!
Your chicken was sooo good, will surely make it again, my family will insist on it. Thank you.
I’m so happy you and your family liked the recipe!!
I keep rereading to find the notes for Whole 30 but cannot find anything other than omit honey. Is that all?
I was going to write a note about not using the zest for Whole30, but wrote it in the recipe instead and forgot to erase the note part! Without the honey, the zest is too bitter to use.
I made it just as written and it was delicious! My husband ( who always says he doesn’t like chicken) gobbled it up and couldn’t stop saying how delicious it was. This will be on repeat along with your lemongrass meatballs.
I’m so happy you liked it! It’s funny, my guy always says he doesn’t like chicken, too. But he gobbled up this recipe and then packed up the leftovers to take to work the next day lol. 🙂
Look forward to trying the recipe. Can you think of any substitutes for the corn starch ?
Any kind of starch will work … tapioca, potato, rice. If you eat wheat, flour works too. 🙂
Yum, that chicken looks so good. I love the orange asian inspired sauce. It looks delicious.
Thank you so much! It really is so good!
I cooked this last night and my family loved it! I served it with steamed broccoli and brown rice.The chicken was crispy and delicious. Super easy to make. I cooked chicken tenders and boneless skinless thighs to please everyone on a full size baking sheet. I used cornstarch and black sesame seeds. Added slivered scallions with cilantro at the end. throwing in a few orange slices as pictured made it look great.
I’m so happy you and your family liked the recipe as much as we do! Hooray!!
We made this the other night and it turned out great. Will make it again!
I’m so happy to hear you liked the recipe!
Hi Kristen! Your recipe greeted me today with all of the ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry, even black sesame seeds. I followed it to the letter — well, almost. I added a teaspoon of Chinese Black Vinegar at the end to the sauce because I felt it needed a little more acid pop. This was great! The crust was crunchy which I was I feared would not be. Served it over quinoa and whoa!
My computer is acting up. It is not me that made all of those spelling errors or if it was, can I have you delete this and I will start over?
Hah no problem! I corrected it for you so you wouldn’t have to start over. 🙂
Nice call on the black vinegar! I think I’ll do that next time I make it, too!