I love it when parents email or send me a message on Facebook asking me to make healthy versions of their family’s favorite recipes. Hands down, one of the most requested one is Chicken Teriyaki. I adore Chicken Teriyaki. What’s not to adore? Teriyaki sauce’s sweet and savory flavor is something that most kids enjoy, and adding it livens up the most simple of foods like salmon, vegetables and of course, chicken.
One of the biggest pitfalls of buying pre-made teriyaki sauce from the grocery is that most brands generally contain loads of corn syrup (a big no-no in my book!). I’ve been buying a corn syrup-free brand from Whole Foods for a long time, but it’s expensive, and when you need a good amount of sauce to marinate the chicken, it’s just not worth it. So, I decided to play around with the general flavors in teriyaki sauce (pineapple, soy and ginger) to see if I could produce a healthy version that still retained teriyaki’s great taste. I can’t believe how incredible the results were and once I found the right balance, it took me no time to throw the ingredients together.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever received as many “this is incredible!” responses from my informal tasting group as I did with this dish. Now I’m adding this recipe to my rotation. So for all of you who suggested it, thank you, and keep the ideas coming!
Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place the crushed pineapple and juice, soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place the chicken breasts in a bowl (or a zipper bag for easy clean up) cover with 2/3rds of the teriyaki sauce (reserving the remaining for the sauce) and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes (**keeping the chicken in the marinade overnight will make it even tastier**)
- Preheat the oven to the broil setting and place the rack in the middle shelf of the oven (at this point you can discard the sauce that you marinated the chicken in).
- Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and broil for 8-10 minutes on each side for a total of 16-20 minutes (if the chicken is thick, it may take an extra minute or two). The chicken can also be grilled for 6 minutes on each side.
- While the chicken is broiling, put the remaining teriyaki sauce in a saucepan, add 1 tsp of cornstarch and cook over medium heat for 1 minute or until thickened.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes.
- Slice the chicken, cover with sauce and serve.
- Make extra sauce and freeze for up to 4 months!
Hi, Do you think I could sub coconut aminos for the soy sauce?
Hi! That substitution would work just fine. Hope you enjoy!
When you say “broil”, do you mean for it to be on high or lo?
I’m torn between trying this version and the one from your Lunches cookbook. Which do you prefer?
I like to give meats a quick sear on the stove top and then place it in the oven at a lower setting (350 or so) for 10-20 minutes depending on how much it cooks while searing.
Do you have a suggestion for baking in oven or on top of stove? Thanks!
Yes! That would be so yummy!
Do you think you could make this with salmon?
I have been working on a crock pot version! It works well and tastes great if you follow this recipe but cook in the crock pot on high for 2-3 hours. I’m figuring out a way to get the sauce just right, though!
Do you think this could be made in a crock pot? Based on other recipes, I would try cooking on low with the marinade for 2 1/2 hours. Would this work? Any changes?
This ROCKS! Thank you. I love to make my own marinade and the flavor is right on. We cooked our chicken on the grill.
Such a great recipe, thank you! I’ve made this a few times for my family, and tonight’s try was a little different but the best yet so I thought I’d share: I put all the sauce ingredients into the blender then marinated cubed chicken breasts. I cooked it on the stove rather than broiling. My husband and I fought over the leftovers 🙂 Thanks again for the inspiration!