This flavor packed Paleo Sesame Chicken is a healthier homemade version of a takeout favorite! It’s easy to make and contains no refined sugar, family approved and seriously tasty. Keep it Paleo and Whole30 compliant by serving over fried cauliflower rice or with your favorite stir fried veggies.
After successfully making a seriously tasty Chinese orange chicken recipe a few weeks ago, I just knew a sesame version would be perfect!
This recipe was adapted from the orange chicken and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Without using any sugar or grains of course!
We have crispy fried tender pieces of chicken tossed in a sweet/savory sesame sauce that’s sweetened with dates and has all the flavors you’re craving.
It lived up to my standard for a really good sauce – that you want to eat it with a spoon! It’s not ready to share on the blog until I’m addicted to it, and this one is perfect!
What You Need to Make Paleo Sesame Chicken
I decided to use boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe to make sure the chicken stays juicy and tender.
The ingredients are listed in 2 categories – what you need for the chicken and what you need for the sauce:
Sesame Sauce:
- water
- medjool dates
- coconut aminos
- rice vinegar
- arrowroot flour, or tapioca
- sesame oil
- garlic powder
- red pepper flakes
Chicken:
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
- sesame oil
- garlic powder
- tapioca flour, or arrowroot
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- eggs
- Avocado oil or refined coconut oil, for frying
- sesame seeds, for garnish
- Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
How to Make Paleo Sesame Chicken
Make the sauce first. In a high speed blender, blend together all the sauce ingredients except for the red pepper flakes, until a smooth mixture forms, scraping down the sides to incorporate all the dates if needed.
Transfer the sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and heat for 2-3 minutes to a boil, then lower the heat to med-low to simmer. Add the red pepper flakes, then simmer for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens and reduces a bit (it should resemble a thick caramel).
Place the arrowroot or tapioca in a shallow bowl along with the salt and pepper.
Whisk the eggs in a separate shallow bowl. Drizzle the chicken with the sesame oil and sprinkle with the garlic powder.
Coat chicken pieces in whisked egg lightly, then toss in arrowroot starch, shaking off excess, and place in s bowl
Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a large deep non-stick skillet. Once sizzling hot, work in batches to cook the chicken pieces, frying for about 3 minutes until crisp and golden, turning once or twice.
Place chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate and repeat the process for the remaining chicken, adjusting the temperature of the heat as needed and adding more oil if needed.
Gently reheat the sesame sauce and toss it with the chicken, then garnish with sesame seeds and sliced scallions.
Best Side Dishes for Sesame Chicken
I love this served over simple sautéed cauliflower rice to keep it Whole30.
You can also opt for some stir fried veggies like broccoli, peppers, cabbage and anything else you enjoy. Zucchini noodles would be good too if that’s your thing!
I hope you’re ready for a seriously tasty, healthier version of Sesame Chicken that’s bound to become a new favorite!
Grab your ingredients because it’s time to cook – let’s go!
Paleo Sesame Chicken {Whole30}
Paleo Sesame Chicken {Whole30}
Ingredients
Sesame Sauce:
- 2/3 cup water warmed slightly
- 5 medjool dates pitted
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp arrowroot flour or tapioca
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes adjust to taste
Chicken:
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1" pieces
- 1 tsp sesame oil
-
1/2
tsp
garlic powder
- 1 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 eggs whisked
- Avocado oil or refined coconut oil for frying
Garnish:
- 2 Tbsps sesame seeds for garnish
- Thinly sliced scallions for garnish
Instructions
Sauce:
-
In a high speed blender, blend together all the sauce ingredients except for the red pepper flakes, until a smooth mixture forms, scraping down the sides to incorporate all the dates if needed.
-
Transfer the sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and heat for 2-3 minutes to a boil, then lower the heat to med-low to simmer. Add the red pepper flakes, then simmer for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens and reduces a bit (it should resemble a thick caramel).
Chicken:
-
Place the arrowroot or tapioca in a shallow bowl along with the salt and pepper.
-
Whisk the eggs in a separate shallow bowl. Drizzle the chicken with the sesame oil and sprinkle with the garlic powder.
-
Coat chicken pieces in whisked egg lightly, then toss in arrowroot starch, shaking off excess, and place in s bowl
-
Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a large deep non-stick skillet. Once sizzling hot, work in batches to cook the chicken pieces, frying for about 3 minutes until crisp and golden, turning once or twice.
-
Place chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate and repeat the process for the remaining chicken, adjusting the temperature of the heat as needed and adding more oil if needed.
-
Gently reheat the sesame sauce and toss it with the chicken. To serve, sprinkle all over with sesame seeds and green onion and and serve over sautéed cauliflower rice or your favorite veggies. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Want More Homemade Paleo Takeout Recipes? Try One of These!
General Tso’s Chicken in the Instant Pot
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This looks delish!!!
Made this for lunch today. Amazing as always. Thanks for another great, healthy alternative!
This looks delicious! Do you think I could use the air fryer for this recipe? If so, what temperature should I set it to and for how long? Thank you!!
Any thoughts on the air fryer?
Made this tonight and it was an absolute home run. Restaurant quality!!
I LOVE sesame chicken and haven’t had it for years- made this recipe tonight and it’s fantastic!!! Thank you for this recipe!
I have your baking book and LOVE it- I hope there’s a cook book of some of your other amazing recipes in the works!
AMAZING! I’m allergic to dates so I substituted them for a few tbsp of maple syrup, came out perfectly!
Hi – just wondering what the exchange would be using honey instead of the dates? This looks amazing!
Thanks for the blog loaded with so much information. Stopping by your blog helped me to get what I was looking for.
It looks so appetizing that I want to do it right now. But I need to get some ingredients ready to start.
Thanks for this recipe and all your other recipes. I hope it turns out as delicious looking as the one in your picture.
This is one of our new favorites! This tasted just like takeout sesame chicken – a lot of recipes promise this but this one really delivered! It’s definitely getting added to our regular rotation.
This was absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Prepared the whole dish and ended up having to toss it all and order takeout because not one of the 4 found it edible. This sauce is absolutely disgusting and tastes nothing like a sesame chicken.
The best meal i’ve ever had! Will definitely make it again! Thanks for sharing!
Was so tasty! Though next time will use something other than Steamed Veggies with it as it made it taste bad with a funky after taste. Sesame Chicken was awesome!
Can you make the chicken in an air fryer? If so do you have instructions for that?
I was wondering this too! Did you end up trying it?
This is delish! I used date paste instead and it was super easy.
You’ve done it again! Delicious. Thank you for creating this recipe.
Delicious! I saw a comment saying they used date paste, so I did to. It was SO easy!
This recipe is AMAZING! I’ve made it twice now and it’s going to be at least a bi-weekly meal! Thank you!
Turned out suuuuuuper well. I honestly have no idea how anyone can do it in 35 minutes, as listed, because it took me two hours. The only difference is that the ingredients include chicken already cut, and I had to cut it, but I don’t think that took me an hour and 25 mins. Towards the end I had two big pans going with oil to speed up the frying process. When I make this again (and I will, because it was amazing), I’ll make sure I have some extra hands to help with breading the chicken and such.
I completely agree, it took me about 2 hours as well. It was very delicious, but will definitely be using some help next time as well.
Same! I’m wondering how in the world it could be made faster. The coating of the chicken took me forever! It was so delicious, though. The 2nd time making it, I recruited help to speed it up, but good idea to have two pans going for frying. Attempt #3 will add the 2nd pan.
Came out great! I did use the air Cher but should have done a higher temp. I did 380 for about 20min and then a few minutes at 400 for crispy. Probably would do a full 5min on 400…will have to play with it. Yum!!
Enjoyed it. My chicken wasn’t as golden as the picture but would make it again. It’s not AMAZING but it is really good. Keep ’em coming. Instead of using a skillet for frying I’m going to use my deep fryer next time. See if I can get a little more “golden” hue on the exterior.
This is absolutely delicious ! So much flavor. You can not tell that there is no added sugar. Dates add just the right amount of sweetness. Highly recommend ! Love all the recipes I have tried from paleorunningmomma.
My husband couldn’t quit complementing this! Thanks, Michelle!!!!
This was super delicious and husband went for seconds. But man, it made a huge mess frying the chicken. Even with my splatter guard. Also, I tried to speed up the process and dumped all the chicken half way point into the arrowroot thinking I could just pick out and shake, note to self, don’t do that again. It all clumped up. I told my husband we are not making it again, I think he was sad about that, so I will need to find a way to cook without making such a huge mess.
Pretty tasty but took WAY longer than 30 minutes – and I’m a pretty efficient cook. Likely won’t make again because of the time it took unless I double the recipe for more leftovers.
Made this recipe and it is 🔥🔥 ! So delicious – the chicken was crispy and the sauce so very tasty. Will be adding to permanent rotation.
Amazing chicken dish! My kids loved it!!
I made this recipe for my family tonight, and it was a hit. The one change I made was oven frying the chicken on convection bake instead of pan frying it.
This recipe is 10/10! Best Whole30 compatible dinner recipe I’ve made – tastes just as good as takeout but without the crummy feeling afterwards! I made it for my husband too and he said you’d never know this wasn’t from a restaurant. I completely agree!
So good! The entire family loved. My son, who cannot eat Chic Fil A, was super happy. He has not had “fried” chicken in years! Thank you.
I’m having trouble with getting the sauce to look like thick Carmel. Is that an accurate description? There’s no picture to reference of that step. It would be great if you could add one.
Hi Michele,
I have to let you know that I have tried a few of your chicken recipes, and you never disappointed me with how good they taste.
This recipe takes longer than others, as I had to cover 2lbs of ck thighs with the tapioca starch, but it was worth the time. The family really liked it. I will continue to search for your recipes—much love to you and your loved ones.
Do you have any suggestions for a replacement for eggs in this recipe? I have two daughters who can’t have eggs but I’d like to still give this recipe a try!
Easy to put together and made with ingredients I already had. Amazing! Thank you!
I can’t wait to try this. I bought your cookbook and am looking forward to going home and making some of the recipes. I do hope that you create a cookbook with savory recipes – soon!
I added 2 tablespoon of honey instead of honey and it was delicious. You can add more if you like it sweeter. For me the sauce was balanced
It was fairly easy to make, although I think I over cooked the sauce but it’d still yummy
Make a double batch because this is so freaking good!! My whole family couldn’t get enough. I have tried so many sesame chicken recipes and this is by far the best!
It was a little more time consuming than I anticipated but the taste was well worth it! I loved it!
Super yummy! Reminds me of mall Chinese. Thank you for creating awesome recipes!
Restaurant quality, so so good. It’s not a hard recipe, but it does take a little bit of extra time, which is worth it because it’s delicious!! I served mine with coconut rice and roasted broccoli.