Tasty Keto Sesame Chicken

Keto sesame chicken with broccoli, sprinkled with sesame seeds, on a white plate over a red polka-dot napkin
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Introduction

In our pre-keto days, Chinese takeout was one of our favorite go-to meals, and sesame chicken was our go-to order — sweet, salty and gingery, with a coating that held up under the sauce.

This version gets there without the sugar or the cornstarch. What it will not give you is the deep-fried shell of a takeout container: the chicken is seared in a skillet, not dropped in a fryer, so the coating is thin and crisp at the edges rather than craggy all over.

How Can Sesame Chicken Be Keto?

Three substitutions carry it.

Xanthan gum replaces the cornstarch dredge. Worth being precise about, because it is easy to assume it goes in the sauce: half a tablespoon goes in a bag with the raw chicken and gets shaken until every piece is coated, and that coating is what meets the pan.

Golden monk fruit replaces the brown sugar that a takeout sauce is built on. It is the golden kind rather than white for the same reason brown sugar is used in the first place. If the bag in your cupboard is the classic white one, our guide to monk fruit sweeteners goes through what changes when you swap one form for another.

Sesame oil is a flavor here, not the frying fat. Two teaspoons all told, divided — one goes into the skillet alongside a tablespoon of olive oil, and the other is stirred into the sauce at the end, where it does not get cooked off.

How To Make Keto Sesame Chicken

The recipe card below has the full method, with step photos for coating the chicken, searing it in batches, mixing the sauce, and bringing it together with the broccoli.

You’ll find the full per-serving breakdown — calories, fat, fiber, protein, and net carbs — in the Nutrition Facts panel with the recipe below.

Have you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog? Please rate it below and let us know what you think in the comments! We love hearing from you!

Serve it over cauliflower rice, or on its own with the broccoli.

If you’re looking for more ways to cook bite-sized chicken, our Low Carb Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites use seasoned almond flour and bake in the oven. Our Air Fryer Keto Chicken Nuggets get their coating from crushed pork rinds and parmesan instead.

You can also share it on Instagram and use the hashtag #buttertogetherkitchen and we will feature you on our page.

Tasty Keto Sesame Chicken

Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total Time
25 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
Chinese-American

Ingredients

All Ingredients

Nutrition Facts

4 servings per recipe
Trans Fat 0g 0% 0g 0%
Total Sugars 0g 0% 0g 0%
Allulose 0g 0% 0g 0%

About these numbers: We are home cooks, not certified nutritionists. Nutrition is shared as a courtesy. We pick a representative product for each ingredient, and our recipe system works out the totals from the amounts in this recipe, so please treat them as a helpful estimate rather than a guarantee. The brands you buy, any swaps you make, and how generously you portion the recipe will all move these numbers.

Directions

  1. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, and coat in salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Place the chicken pieces into a Ziploc bag, and sprinkle in ½ tbsp of Xanthan gum. Close the bag and shake to coat all the chicken pieces evenly.

  3. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of sesame oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

  5. Add the chicken pieces to the heated skillet. You may need to cook the chicken in two different batches. Do not overcrowd the skillet, or the chicken will not get a good sear.

  6. Let the chicken sit for 3-4 minutes on one side, and then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until cooked through and seared well. The xanthan gum should allow the chicken to get a bit crispy and crunchy on the outside.

  7. While the chicken is cooking, add the soy sauce, Lakanto Golden Sweetener (brown sugar substitute), ginger paste, minced garlic, white vinegar, and 1 tsp of sesame oil to a small bowl, and whisk to combine.

  8. Put a small pot of water on to boil, and blanch some broccoli for 2-3 minutes if you would like to add it to your dish.

  10. Drain the broccoli and add it to the skillet with the chicken.

  11. Pour the sauce over the mixture in the skillet, and cook for another minute or two, stirring to combine.

  12. Serve with sesame seeds and/or fresh chopped green onions for garnish.

Updated — September 22, 2026: The xanthan gum coats the chicken rather than thickening the sauce, and the sesame oil is a flavor split between the pan and the sauce rather than what the chicken fries in.

Correction — August 23, 2026: The article overstated this dish at about 338 calories and 53.6 g protein per serving. Per-serving figures now come from the recipe's Nutrition Facts panel, calculated from the ingredient list.