Chinese Restaurant-Style Sesame Chicken

This recipe was my worst cooking experience ever. The flavor was horrifying after a messy and time consuming preparation. I would not recommend this recipe to anyone with functioning taste buds.

My daughter spent a lot of time and money preparing this dish for a family gathering. What a humiliating experience it turned out to be for her! All the guests were aghast upon tasting this dish! They turned greener with each bite and no one finished it. The dinner party was a disaster. I'm sorry but this "sesame chicken" was absolutely not meant for human consumption.

I love Sesame Chicken but this recipe was not to my taste at all

If I could give this recipe zero or below on this farse of a scale I would. It is truly stomach wrenching.

I bought the ingredients before reading the reviews for this recipe. I decided to make it anyway but I made a few changes. First of all I omitted the maple syrup and the 5 spice powder. I added 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 TBS of honey. I cut the chicken into long strips about an inch wide. I did everything else the same except I fried the floured chicken in batches and added a little water at the end of each batch to scrape up the browned bits on the pan and then adding a little more oil before each batch. After the last batch was cooked I poured the remaining marinade in the pan with about 1\2 cup of water and reduced it. Then I poured it over the cooked chicken and sprinkled the sesame seeds on top. It may not taste like a restaurant made it but with these changes it becomes very edible.

This wasn't like the sesame chicken I've ever had. The spices were too strong. I won't make this again.

I strictly followed the recipe instructions and do not believe this recipe is correct. The sauce ingredients don't make up enough to marinate and recoat the chicken, plus, when you boil the sauce, it crystalizes and hardens. Instead, I had to marinate, then discard original sauce. Then I mixed together another dose of sauce, and coated after chicken was cooked. Also, I don't think 1/2 teaspoon peanut oil is correct, I used quiet a bit more, to keep my chicken from burning. Before I make this recipe again, I think I'll look for a better glaze style sauce to dip in after the chicken is cooked.

Not like any sesame chicken in any restaurant I've been to (as claimed by author), and I've been to many. Closer to a General Tso's chicken. I think the key may be in the maple syrup. It probably should be honey instead, IMHO. Otherwise, it's a good recipe.

Um, yeah, this is probably the worst recipe I've ever tried in my entire life.

I was so disappointed by this recipe! My husband wouldn't even touch it. I could kick myself for not reading the reviews first before spending the money to try this recipe out!

This isn't mall foodcourt type sesame chicken but it's still quite good if you like spicy chinese. Do increase the sauce, and serve over white rice with green beans sauted with sesame seeds. The ginger flavor was quite strong, consider decreasing it for a milder taste.

i looked at several other recipe on this side inclunding the reviews and decided to try out this one here. i also decided to leave out what i personally don't like and didn't feel like to shop for. so i bought some sweet soy sauce, added some honey and maple syrup and fresh grounded pepper and grounded ginger. marinated the chicken in it for about 20 min. then i coated the chicken with seasoned flour as instructed and fried it in a pan. the remaining marinate i broiled and added some sugar, because my man likes it more sweet. later poured the sauce over the fried chicken mixed it thouroughly. meanwhile i have toasted the sesame in the oven as instructed until they where nice brown. then i placed the chicken on the plate and tossed the toasted sesame just over it. my man loved it, i loved it. therefore a simple advice, just modify recipes to your own taste. success guaranteed. ;)

HORRIBLE!!!!! Don't even try to attempt this one.

WOW!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!! THANKS FOR THE GREAT RECIPE!!!!

I'm one of those that really doesn't understand why so many people seem to dislike this recipe. It *is* messy and a little time-consuming. Every time I've made it, it's been a two-person process where my friend will dredge the chicken and drop it into the pan while I cook the chicken. I guess some notes (that others have also given) - make more marinade. it certainly doesn't hurt they sell toasted sesame seeds - saves some time and energy just sprinkle the seeds on at the end as well use more oil. I'm sure we use much more than the oil listed in the recipe (vegetable oil with a little bit of sesame oil works as a substitute as well). the flour soaks up the oil as it cooks, though, so be ready to add more (not as healthy, but it's tasty) it works to cook a little chicken at a time and then set aside. at the end we just add it all back in the pan with the marinade and cook for a bit (I've never boiled the marinade separately - just cooked it for a bit longer at the end). It's not really like I'd imagined before making it the first time - certainly not like any Chinese Restaurant sesame chicken that I've ever had, but it is still delicious in its own way. Just only 4 stars because it's not really something that I expect to ever make on my own (need the helper!)

this recipe called for way too much chinese five spice in my opinion. My chicken came out tasting and smelling like liquorice! also after dipping it in just flour and nothing before so the flour actually STICKS to the chicken, it looked very..unpleasant.

I did not care for this.

Simple and very tasty, but I wouldn't compare it directly to a Chinese restaurant's professionally prepared Sesame Chicken. However, it was very easy (and fun) to make, and it was *extremely* tasty. I do recommend that you double, triple, or quadruple the liquid (soy, maple syrup, sherry, etc.) because there just simply isn't enough to coat all the chicken, nor is there enough to create a sauce. Also, I added 1-1/2 tsp of canola oil to the 1/2 tsp peanut oil -- it increased the crispiness of the chicken, and subdued the strong flavor of the peanut oil. I served it over white rice instead of the lettuce and tomato. Good starchy Chinese rice complements the dish very nicely :)

This was very easy to prepare, and tasted good, but wasn't like any Sesame Chicken I've had in a restaurant, which was a disappointment - it may have been that we found the star anise flavor in the 5-Spice powder we had purchased to be too overwhelming. I'll make it again, but not so much 5-spice.

This is an excellent sesame chicken recipe! I don't usually bother to toast the sesame seeds but I've made this plenty of times with slight variations (and approximations) in the recipe. I do always at least double the recipe. A very good base for forming your own style of sesame chicken! I used pork once in the recipe successfully too. I have no idea how so many people could hate this recipe.. I even make it spicier and licoricier by adding extra fennel clove and cinnamon!

As everyone said, the marinade is wrong. Need to at least double or triple. Also, I think rolling the chicken in sesame seed is overkill. probably better to sprinkle on top.

Although not necessarily a "Restaurant-Style" Sesame Chicken, I've found this recipe to be a great success with some brown rice and broccoli. It may get a little messy, but getting involved with the recipe is part of the fun!!! I would suggest doubling or tripling the ingredients for the marinade as you will need extra to ensure the chicken remains moist.

I did not care for this recipe.

I did not like this recipe. It was really lacking any "punch" in the flavor...and the flavor from the sauce does not come out very well. I think there should probably be something sweeter added into it - maybe some orange juice to make it like an Orange Sesame Chicken. All in all, won't try it again (did inspire me to try other sesame chicken recipes though).

I didn't have dry sherry, so I used regular drinking sherry and some white wine. I'm not sure if that was what caused the problem or not, but I got as far as the marinade in this recipe, and disliked the flavor so much that I poured it down the drain and started again from scratch, without the recipe. I used soy sauce, maple syrup, black pepper, white wine, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and far less five spice powder than called for in the recipe to make the marinade. I also added sesame seeds to the flour mixture for dredging, and added steamed broccoli and carrots to the chicken for the final stir-fry step. It ended up great, but I would definitely recommend tasting the marinade as you go and adjusting the recipe to suit your tastes.

You will definitely want to increase the marinade. I used 4 Tblsp of soy and maple syrup, 1 of sherry and 1 of seasoned rice vinegar. Be careful not to toast your sesame seeds too long, or they taste burnt. And you'll want to use more oil, as 1/2 teaspoon is not enough. I used olive and sesame oils.

This was NOT RESTAURANT STYLE SESAME CHICKEN!

I agree, not like the take-out we all know and love!

This recipe was terrible... I wish I'd read the reviews the day I cooked it, because I had already forgotten the tips by the time I got to it. Doesn't taste anything like what I was expecting.

Although the dish is tasty, it is not the same dish served in restaurants. The dish has a much thinner texture than that of restaurants.

I was very disappointed as it was NOTHING like any restaurant-style sesame chicken I have tried.

I agreed with the one review that doubled the liquid. I tripled it, and next time will quadruple. My family likes the sauce to mix in with rice. I also added the garlic and some veggies to get a well-rounded meal.

This recipe does not resemble "resturant" sesame chicken at all.

This can not be restaunt style. I did not like it at all.

The marinade for this recipe is great! But amounts should be altered. Use boneless thighs instead of breasts. I added extra syrup, soy sauce, semsame oil and 2 cloves minced garlic to the marinade to make enough sauce to cover broccoli, onions and carrots. Taste is great - my kids love it.

Rating a 4 based on my modifications. This wasn't bad. I substituted honey for the maple syrup, and quadrupled the sauce. I also used more peanut oil to fry the chicken. I also seasoned the flour dredge with garlic powder and ground ginger.