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This simple Sheet Pan Sticky Ginger Sesame Chicken and Crispy Brussels Sprouts dinner is about to become your new go-to meal. Easy homemade Asian inspired chicken, tossed in a gingery, sweet, spicy, and extra sticky soy pomegranate sauce. Serve this meal with roasted brussels sprouts, cooked right alongside the chicken, for the easiest sheet pan dinner. Then add a side of steamed rice topped with plenty of sesame seeds. And the best part…this sticky chicken is made quicker than any take-out meal and much healthier too. A delicious, fun, and healthy dinner any night of the week!
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I love a good Asian inspired recipe more than you know. Anything that semi resembles take-out style meals seem to end up as a family favorite. Well, we love pizza and pasta too. That’s why I try to provide a variety of recipes here on HBH for whatever food mood you’re in.
Anyway, tonight we’re going the take-out at home route and I’m excited. It’s been a while since I’ve shared a “take-out” style recipe.
I originally had the idea to make this chicken last week, but then we had snow. The cold swayed me towards creating a cozier rosemary chicken and rice pilaf. But this week, the sun is shining and we’re back to normal fall weather around here. Enter this chicken, it’s the perfect fall dinner that highlights in-season brussels sprouts and sweet pomegranates.
Making this sheet pan sticky ginger chicken is easy…
Here are all the details. I wasn’t planning on breading the chicken, but as I was testing, a light went off in my head. Sure, I wanted a sticky sauce, but how would the sauce really stick to the chicken without any coating?
So I quickly decided to toss the chicken with a beaten egg and dredge it through some flour. This is a very, very light coating, but it’s just enough to help all that sticky sauce actually stick to the chicken. Once you’ve coated the chicken in flour, arrange it to one side of a large greased baking sheet. Then drizzle generously with sesame oil (or olive oil) to help the chicken crisp up a bit.
Now that you’ve got the chicken ready, let’s talk about those sprouts.
First off, sure you can use broccoli if you hate brussels sprouts. But I LOVE a well-roasted sprout and also find them delicious when paired with a salty Asian recipe.
I kept the sprouts basic, just sesame oil, salt, and pepper. But the real secret? Getting them extra crispy in the oven. Since the chicken cooks at such a high temperature, the sprouts have time to roast, soften, turn crisp, and lightly char on the outside. Delicious.
While everything is roasting, make the sticky sauce.
The truth? The sauce is truly why you should make this recipe. The sauce + the sprouts, because I really do love brussels sprouts the most.
Oh, and the sauce? It’s honestly so addicting. Sweet, tangy, a touch spicy and once boiled down, super sticky. The secret ingredient is one of my autumn favorites, pomegranate juice. I know it might sound odd, but please, don’t doubt me here. The pomegranate juice adds sweetness, tanginess, and deep dark color too. It’s one of my favorite ingredients to use in Asian inspired recipes. Plus, I always love the added pop of color, especially this time of year when the pomegranates are coming into season.
The sauce takes only a few minutes to thicken up on the stove. It’s usually ready by the time the chicken has finished cooking.
Then just toss the sauce with the chicken, return to the oven for a few more minutes, and you’re done. I was shocked at how well the timing of everything ended up working out.
Nothing fancy here, just simple cooking, but very delicious.
Serving suggestions?
Steamed rice, plenty of green onions, toasted sesame seeds, and pomegranate arils – if you can find them. Sadly ours have yet to show up for the season, but they’ll be here soon! Then drizzle with a generous amount of the leftover sauce…because saucy sticky chicken is the only way to go.
Tip…double the recipe and save the leftovers for quick and easy lunches. The chicken would also be great atop a chopped salad or served with rice noodles.
If you’re looking for something fresh and healthy…ish for dinner this week, make this sticky chicken!
Looking for other Asian style recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Thai Basil Sesame Cashew Chicken with Coconut Rice
Weeknight Sesame Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger Rice
Ginger Sesame Chicken Potstickers with Sweet Chili Pomegranate Sauce
Lastly, if you make this sheet pan sticky ginger sesame chicken and crispy brussels sprouts, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Sheet Pan Sticky Ginger Sesame Chicken and Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch cubes
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup all-purpose, or gluten free all-purpose flour
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 3/4 pound brussels sprouts, halved
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or sesame oil
- 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup pomegranate juice , (equal amounts of apple cider or orange juice are great substitutes)
- 1/4 cups honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon molasses or pomegranate molasses
- 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, use more or less to taste
- rice, sesame seeds, and green onions, for serving
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with oil.2. Add the chicken, egg, and a pinch of pepper to a bowl. Toss to combine. Add the flour to another bowl. Dredge the chicken in batches through the flour, tossing to coat. Place the chicken on one side of the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil. Add the brussels sprouts to the other side of the pan and toss with 2 tablespoon oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange cut side down. Bake for 12 minutes. Toss the sprouts, flip the chicken and return to the oven another 3-5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Reduce the oven temp to 400 degrees F.3. Meanwhile, combine the soy sauce, pomegranate juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, molasses, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Boil 5-8 minutes, until the sauce thickens and reduces by about 1/3. Remove from the heat.4. Pour half the sauce over the chicken, tossing to combine. Toss the sprouts with 1 tablespoon oil. Return everything to the oven for 3 minutes, until the sauce coats the chicken, watch close the sauce can burn. 5. Serve the chicken and sauce over bowls of rice topped with additional green onions, pomegranate arils, and sesame seeds. Serve the brussels sprouts on the side.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Loved by all! Definitely will be on a continued rotation on our family dinner plans. Very good! May back off a bit on the red pepper flakes next time…. Or not.
Hey Jill,
Fantastic! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! Have the best week! x
super easy to make — and all my favorite flavors. I checked my oven and it was at 475 — but my chicken never crisped up. Will definitely make this again — pretty close to a 30 minute recipe.
Hey Trisha,
Happy Sunday! So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it and your comment! xT
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much, Sofia!!
For Mary Rose…you can substitute Kecap Manis for the molasses and soy sauce together. So 2/3 cup for the total amount. Works great. Recap Manis is a thick soy sauce from Indonesia. You can buy it from all Asian shops.
Made this last night and LOVED it! Your tip about watching things is super important. Accidentally boiled over the sauce but caught in time. DELISH 😊😊
Hey Catherine,
Happy Monday! I appreciate you trying this recipe and your comment, I’m so glad it turned out well for you! xT
I’ve got some people with peanut allergies! Do you think the sauce would be okay without the peanut butter, or is there a substitute you would recommend?
Hi Annacie,
Sunflower seed butter would be a great option to use in place of the peanut butter. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Very good! But the sauce took like 20+ min to thicken! So I’d reduce the soy sauce next time too, like some of the other comments said. I thought the baked breaded chicken worked really well. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you SO much for trying out this recipe! Loveee to hear that you enjoyed it! 🙂 xT
Phenomenal! This is the only chicken recipe I’ve tried where it tastes like it’s straight out of a Chinese restaurant! This is definitely being added to the rotation!
Hi there! Thank you soooo much for trying out this recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 xT
Can I substitute anything for the molasses?
Hi there! I haven’t ever tried this without the molasses before so I can’t say for sure! xT
I ended up using chicken thighs instead of breasts and it turned out great! No issues with salt, as I used low sodium soy sauce.
Hey Katherine,
Fantastic! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it! Have a great weekend:)
I make this recipe all the time and follow the recipe almost exactly! I don’t find it too salty, but maybe that’s because I use tamari instead of soy sauce. Either way, it’s always a hit here! Thanks Tieghan!
Hey Megan,
Happy Wednesday!! So glad to hear that you enjoyed this dish, thanks a lot for trying it out! xT
Need smaller chicken pieces and better dredging method.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Trish!
Took all the feedback about the saltiness into account and used maybe 1/3-1/2 cup of soy sauce and pan fried the chicken. It came out very tasty!!
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe! Have a great week! xT
This was a bit of a miss for me. The flavors of the marinade were ok but I didn’t feel like the dish melded together. I also thought the texture of the chicken just baked instead of being pan fried with the flour was a little off too. I’d try pan frying the chicken pieces instead of just baking them next time.
Hey Catherine! I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe! Thank you for letting me know! xT
Reduced soy sauce slightly, conservative with garlic and fresh ginger, too. Only drizzled reduced sauce over chicken before returning to oven, serving the sauce in dipping bowls. Delicious!! Eager to make again for friends!! Thank you, Tieghan
Made this for dinner this evening and couldn’t believe how salty it turned out? I even used the low sodium soy sauce in it. I didn’t have pomegranate juice so I used orange juice and I used regular molasses. The flavor was still good but the salt overpowers the whole dish. I think if I made it again, I’d try doing half low sodium soy sauce and half coconut aminos. Also I felt like I had to use half the dishes in my kitchen to make this one so be prepared for that as well.
Oh no I’m so sorry about that! Thank you for letting me know! xT
Agreed – the salt is way too much and took forever to thicken, which makes me wonder if 3/4c soy instruction was supposed to be 3/4 TBSP? Definitely reduce the soy sauce.