Make a delicious dinner with Air Fryer Sesame Chicken!

I’ll tell you this again but one of my favorite air fryer chicken recipes is this Air Fryer Honey Garlic Chicken. I have found though that I can easily use the same method with a variety of sauces.

I decided to adapt this Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken and use the sauce for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken.

I wasn’t disappointed, it was delicious and a wonderful switch from our honey garlic variety.

What do you need for Air Fryer Sesame Chicken?

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
Cornstarch
Soy Sauce
Brown Sugar
Orange Juice
Hoisin Sauce
Ginger
Garlic
Sesame Seeds
Green Onions

Optional items that you could add would be rice and green beans, which is our preferred foods to serve sesame chicken with.

If you are using a Ninja Foodi, you can even cook the sauce right in the pot of the Ninja Foodi with the saute function.

The sauce would be made after the chicken is cooked and removed from the Foodi.

Once the sauce is cooked, just add the chicken back in and mix it up.

It actually makes it a one-pot meal with the Ninja Foodi versus using the Air Fryer plus a saucepan.

Air Fryer Sesame Chicken Recipe

Print Recipe

Make a delicious air fryer chicken dinner with Air Fryer Sesame Chicken!

Author: Julia
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 1x
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

Chicken

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
1/2 Cup Cornstarch
Olive Oil Spray

Sauce

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Orange Juice
5 Tsp Hoisin Sauce or Gluten-Free Sauce
1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Garlic Clove Crushed
1 Tbsp Cold Water
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
2 Tsp Sesame Seeds

Optional

Green Onions
Cooked Rice

Instructions

Cut the chicken into cubed chunks, then toss in a bowl with Cornstarch or Potato Starch. Use enough to coat the chicken evenly.
Place in the Air Fryer and cook according to your Air Fryer Manual for chicken. (Note – I cooked ours on 390* for 15-20 minutes, the internal temperature needs to be at least 165*F to be considered well done.)When the chicken is in the air fryer, add a nice even coat of olive oil cooking spray, once it’s in the air fryer, it works best to mix it up halfway through cook time and add an additional coat of spray.
While the chicken is cooking, in a small saucepan, begin to make the sauce.
Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, hoisin sauce, ground ginger, and garlic to the saucepan on medium-high heat. Whisk this up until well combined.
Once the sugar has fully dissolved and a low boil is reached, whisk in the water and cornstarch.
Mix in the sesame seeds. (The sauce should only take about 5 minutes or less to make on the stove and then an additional 5 minutes to thicken up.)
Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
Once the chicken is done, remove from the air fryer and place in a bowl, and then coat with the sauce.
Serve topped over rice and beans.

Notes

It’s important to be sure to look at the cooking time for chicken in the manual of your air fryer. Each air fryer will heat differently. The goal is to get it to 165 degrees, for my Ninja Foodi Air Fryer that’s typically 10-12 minutes on each side; however, other air fryers heat differently. Start with the cooking time for chicken in your air fryer, being sure to stir it or mix it halfway through.

If you are using a Ninja Foodi, you can make the sauce in the pot of the foodi.