Last Thursday I had the biggest craving for sesame chicken.  Rather than order 2 pounds of chicken (with dark, grayish meat.. ew), eating it in it’s entirety, then be sluggish and useless for the rest of the day, I decided to make my own.

Recently I discovered Wegmans chicken breast strips are all white meat and low-cal. These were perfect for my healthier chinese food creations.

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

6 breaded white meat chicken tenders
2 cups white rice, cooked
1 cup broccoli florets, steamed (for sesame chicken)

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tbsp ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Sesame Sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp sesame seeds
a pinch of ginger and cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

1.  Combine all ingredients for sweet and sour sauce in small bowl. Mix well and refrigerate for one hour.

2. Pre-heat oven. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with chicken tenders.  Let bake for however long your time instructions provide, but take out 10 minutes early.  Pour a generous amount of sauce over each chicken tender and put in the oven for 5 minutes.  Flip tenders over and pour sauce on the other side then put back in the oven for the remaining 5 minutes.

3.  Let cool for a few minutes, then cut tenders into 2″ pieces. Spoon over rice, add a little more sauce if you’d like, and serve!

Sesame Chicken:

1. Preheat oven. Combine all ingredients for sesame sauce in a small bowl. No need to refrigerate.

2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with chicken tenders.  Let bake for however long your time instructions provide, but take out 6 minutes early.  Pour a generous amount of sauce over each chicken tender and put in the oven for 3 minutes.  Flip tenders over and pour sauce on the other side then put back in the oven for the remaining 3 minutes.

3.  Let cool then cut tenders into 2″ pieces.  Mix in a bowl with steamed broccoli add a little more sauce to ensure that broccoli is lightly coated.  Spoon sesame chicken and broccoli over rice and serve.

It’s possible to make them both at the same time as long as you take into account the final detail: adding the sesame sauce a little later than the sweet and sour.  I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the brown sugar, but the sesame sauce will burn and blacken if in the oven too long.  These were both DELICIOUS and satisfied my takeout craving.  Can’t wait to make this again!

Sauces adapted from here and here