The other day, The Kid had a special request for dinner. Since she hardly ever asks for anything in particular for dinner, I squealed with excitement jumped at the chance to grant her wish and make chicken teriyaki. Even if I had teriyaki sauce in the house (I don’t), I’m not one to use it since homemade just about anything is much better and doesn’t take much extra effort.
I looked through the pantry and the fridge and figured I could make something that came pretty close to teriyaki sauce. I gathered up my random ingredients, poured, stirred, and tasted as I went. Thankfully I also wrote down measurements or this recipe would never have made it to publication here. The Kid gave the pic a like on Instagram which is her way of telling me that it was a success.
She came up with that code herself so she didn’t have to hurt my feelings by telling me something sucked. This one must have been good because when I picked her up from school the next day, I asked her if it was still good at lunchtime. She told me she’d eaten it before lunch because she couldn’t wait. Winner! So in an instant, you too could have chicken teriyaki.
In An Instant Chicken Teriyaki 
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 8 oz grilled chicken breasts
- 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sake or rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice powder
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup fresh broccoli florets
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 2 green onions, white and green parts chopped
- 1 tsp minced garlic
Prepare the rice according to package directions. I made mine in my handy dandy rice steamer. Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and set aside. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, sake or vinegar, ginger, 5 spice, and sugar. Stir to combine.
Heat a wok or skillet over medium high heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add the garlic, onions, celery, and broccoli and stir fry for about 5 minutes. I added just about 1/4 cup of water after 3 minutes or so to help steam the broccoli a bit. When the broccoli is pretty much cooked to your liking, add the chicken breasts and pour in the soy sauce mixture.
Stir fry for another minute or so just to toss the sauce, chicken and veggies together. Remove from heat and serve with the rice. Makes 2 servings at approximately 323 calories each – 30g protein, 44g carbs, and 3g fat.
Notes
- Play with the amounts of veggies that you like. I had one broccoli crown and 2 celery stalks so I used that. If I’d had more, I probably would have used more of each. I also had just a tiny bit of spiralized zucchini leftover (24g to be exact) and I tossed that in just to use it up. You can also use different veggies too if you prefer.
- Having the chicken breasts in the fridge made this recipe fly by, hence the name. If you don’t have pre-cooked chicken, cut raw chicken into bite sized pieces and stir fry the meat first before adding in the veggies.
- I used sake because by golly I still have leftover sake in my fridge from the Korean Beef Soup, Shrimp and Grits, and Asian Chicken Stir Fry. I freely admit I’m a food pack rat and hate to throw anything out if it can be used. Yes, wine can turn into vinegar but that just adds to the flavor. If you want to go the normal route, use vinegar if you must.
- I used ginger and garlic from a jar because it’s much easier than slicing and dicing the real thing. Save time where you can is my motto.
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