This healthy chicken and rice dinner is packed with Japanese flavor and is perfect for busy weekdays. A classic Japanese-American teriyaki chicken dish can easily be made at home with a five-ingredient teriyaki sauce and about 30 minutes of your time.
Ingredients for Japanese chicken with vegetables and rice
- 3/4 pounds of boneless, skinned chicken thighs or skinless chicken breasts or pork tenderloin
- 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons of mirin (sweet sake)
- 2 tablespoons of sake
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 pinch of grated fresh ginger or more to taste
- 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil or other cooking oil
How to make Japanese chicken with vegetables and rice
- Gather the ingredients. Skewer the chicken with a fork to help absorb the flavors of the teriyaki sauce as it cooks.
- Make the teriyaki sauce. In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and ginger and mix well.
- Add the chicken to the bowl and marinate the chicken in the teriyaki sauce for 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Chicken marinated in the teriyaki sauce for some time.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Place the chicken skin side down (if your chicken has skin) in the pan, cooking until golden brown. Now start cooking the chicken in oil in a pan and flip the chicken to cook the other side, turning the heat down to low. Pour in the teriyaki sauce that was used to marinate the chicken in the pan. - Cover the pan with a lid and steam the chicken over low heat until cooked through – the core temperature of the chicken should reach 165 F and the juices should be clear.
Remove the lid and cook until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the pan from the heat. Now the chicken is ready with the thickened sauce in the pan. - Slice the chicken and serve on a plate. Pour the remaining thickened teriyaki sauce over the chicken. Sliced chicken is served over rice with gravy.
Optional: If desired, garnish the chicken with more grated ginger.
Suggestions
- Use boneless chicken thighs for tender, juicy meat, or replace them with boneless chicken breasts or leaner cuts of fillet.
- For best cooking results, use boneless chicken with the skin on, and after the chicken is cooked, you have the option to remove the skin before eating. When using skinless chicken, there is a chance that the chicken will dry out during cooking.
- Adjust the amount of sugar to adapt the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce to your taste.
- Freshly grated ginger can be replaced with easy-to-use pre-grated raw ginger in a tube, available in Japanese and Asian grocery stores. It is stable until opened and can be stored in the refrigerator.
- It’s a great shortcut for adding raw ginger to any recipe. Decorate the teriyaki chicken with more grated ginger.
Important info: It is not necessary to add potato starch or cornstarch to thicken the sauce. The sauce thickens naturally after a few minutes of cooking.
