Baked Sesame Ginger Chicken Drumsticks
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My sesame ginger chicken comes out sticky and glossy without a drop of sauce. Brown sugar and toasted sesame oil caramelize right on the skin as it bakes, and the whole thing takes five minutes to put together.
My sesame ginger chicken recipe skips the sauce and builds the flavor right on the chicken. The rub goes straight onto bone-in, skin-on drumsticks, and the oven does the rest.
Here’s what makes my recipe work. Brown sugar and toasted sesame oil sit directly on the skin, so as the fat renders, the sugar caramelizes into it. You end up with the same glossy, sticky-sweet lacquer a glaze would give you, except the skin underneath stays crisp instead of going soft under a sauce.
I use powdered ginger here rather than fresh, and that’s deliberate. In testing, fresh ginger scorched at this temperature over forty-five minutes, and it never distributed evenly through a dry rub the way the powder does. The powdered version gives you warm, even ginger flavor in every bite.
Sesame seeds toast in the oven alongside everything else and turn nutty. Garlic, salt, and a little heat if you want it. It’s a dinner recipe that my family asks for often.
What to serve with sesame ginger chicken
I serve these over ginger rice, which doubles down on the ginger and soaks up anything that runs off the chicken. For something green, sautéed bok choy is a little bitter against all that sweetness, or go with Asian coleslaw if you’d rather have something crisp and cold on the plate.
Baked Sesame Ginger Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
- 8 chicken drumsticks or bone-in thighs
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- Optional: 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Minced parsley or cilantro (to serve)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chicken in a medium-sized bowl and toss with the sesame oil. In a small bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle over the chicken and toss to coat.8 chicken drumsticks or bone-in thighs, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 teaspoons powdered ginger, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cloves garlic, Optional: 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Place chicken on the prepared baking sheet, skin-side up, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is brown and crispy and the chicken is no longer pink inside.
- Serve with a little minced parsley or cilantro over top.Minced parsley or cilantro
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
This was really good and super easy to make. I did not have brown sugar so I just mixed the oil with teriyaki sauce. If anyone does with this substitution, add less to no salt.
My husband and I loved it!
Thank you!
What a great idea for the substitution. Thank you for sharing that!
My grandma bought way too much chicken and that was the only meat in tgr freezer. My mom had sesame oil so I googled sesame oil chicken recipe and this popped up. Like many others, I wish I had the seeds for garnish and crunch but it was awesome without it! The chicken legs were very plump and juicy! The temperate and time were perfect! Everybody was happy and there wasn’t a leg left. Only my mom is a baby when it comes to the slightest bit of heat and I did do the optional cayenne pepper. But she still ate a lot of it so I know it was a success. So easy and cheap to make. We will be eating this again. Oh I also added more sesame oil to my legs while I ate them.
Thanks for the feedback, Alexandria. So happy you and your family enjoyed it!
Score! I was so wanting to make something like this, and yours was the first recipe that didn’t call for honey or soya sauce. Soya sauce would have made this too wet, and honey is expensive and I didn’t have any. Using brown sugar, salt and sesame oil instead is brilliant. The sesame seeds were nice and chewy, with a slight crunch, and the meat texture (small drumsticks) was perfect. Yummy yummy. My guy loved it too and asked for the recipe 🙂
Thank you for the awesome feedback! I haven’t actually made this dish in a while so your comment made me think of it again. Think I’ll be making it this week. Thank you for remaining me about it 🙂
Will try it today. Expecting standing ovations from my family 😉
Thanks and best wishes from Germany
Let’s make that “an edition.” I’m so hungry that I cannot type.
I’m making and ‘edition of this as I write. While I AGREE with your skin and bone comment, thigh meat was all I had available today and I WANTED a sesame/ginger (garlic) chicken dish tonight. Period! I don’t have any ginger powder, but I’ll bet that the grated fresh ginger used will be just fine. Exactly what I was looking for, it is not quite ready, but smells wonderful. Thank you!
This was AMAZING! I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that the seasoning should be dry and used spicy chili garlic sauce (2 scoops) instead of fresh garlic and cayenne. It made more of a paste to spread on the chicken instead of a dry seasoning mix to sprinkle on and made a huge mess in the pan (luckily I had covered the pan in foil!), but it tasted wonderful. Not too sweet, not too spicy. Thanks so much for sharing!
This would make a great treatment for chicken wings as well.
Oh I love chicken wings! This would definitely be great on them too 🙂
These were delicious! And you’re right… they were fantastic all week long as leftovers! I used black sesame seeds instead of normal, white ones because that’s what I had on hand. But they added a nice earthy taste to the chicken! YUM
Hey Liz,
Thank you for the great feedback! So happy you loved them 🙂
I made these tonight, after stumbling upon this recipe on tastespotting.com, they looked easy enough for me, as I am terrible w/ chicken and don’t have a grill. I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome! They were delicious, crispy, sweet, tangy and slightly spicy from the ginger and garlic, plus they were extremely juicy.
I couldn’t find powdered ginger, so I had to substitute ginger paste and mixed it with the sesame oil in the first step. But, the overall taste was delicious! I will definitely make it again…for friends and not just hog it for myself! Super easy and tasty! Love it!
Hey Anouk,
I’m so happy to hear that it turned out so well for you!!
Having a dinner party on Friday and am going to try this on the grill…hopefully that won’t ruin it somehow because the recipe looking amazing!
Hey Heather,
I think they would be awesome on the grill. Just watch them a little closer as sugar has a tendency to burn on the grill. Have an awesome dinner party!!
I love roast chicken – have since I been a small child. (as my mother will tell anyone willing to listen). Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Is this what we eat in heaven? Gorgeous photos.
LOL I think it definitely is!
These were deelish – I had a bunch of black sesame seeds I was wondering what to do with, and it turned out perfectly!
Hey Rod,
I had actually wanted to make these with black sesame seeds but didn’t have any in my pantry. Will definitely have to try using them next time!
Love your recipes! My husband is Arabic and loves sesame! We are avid rabid home cooks and always on the lookout for new fun things to try. And thanks for a being a food blogger with easily printable recipes!! So many don’t…
Thank you so much!! I really love Arabic food after travelling around the Middle East a few years ago. Does your husband cook his traditional food for you? If he does you are so lucky!!!
This looks finger-looking delicious! I love the combination of flavors in this! Well done!