A couple weeks ago when I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner, he made a surprise request: chicken teriyaki. Chicken teriyaki was not a staple in our house, mainly because I was intimated by the dish. I didn’t think I could find a recipe I would be able to successfully execute, much less a recipe that everyone in my house would enjoy, and trying to make it healthy could be a challenge… Boy, was I wrong!
After searching the internet for a recipe that accommodated what I already had on hand, I used one from Natasha’s Kitchen as a base and made some changes to suit my family’s needs.
Y’all… this is so good you could make it once a week!
(Yes, we’ve been having it once a week without any complaints since I discovered it.) It’s healthy, easy, and kid-friendly! My three boys (5 years old and younger) went crazy over it, and my husband and I love it.
Enough talk, here’s the recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of chicken thighs, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 3 cups chopped vegetables of your choice
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons honey (or brown sugar will work too)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
1. Combine the soy sauce, orange juice, honey, garlic, and ginger. Marinate the cut chicken thighs in the sauce for 15 minutes.
2. While the chicken is marinating, sauté the chopped vegetables until tender. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan, transfer the chicken thighs only (not the sauce) and cook over medium high heat until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add the sauce and butter and bring to a boil. Cook boiling until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Turn on low heat and add back in the vegetables and chicken.
6. Serve over cooked rice or noodles and enjoy!
7. If you want to get fancy, you can top with green onions and/or toasted sesame seeds.
Notes
- This recipe is very versatile. You can cater it to your family’s tastebuds. If I was just serving this for adults, I’d love it with some heat! You can add crushed red peppers to give it some spice if you like.
- We love this recipe with chopped onion, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli. Add whatever vegetables you have on hand, just make sure to chop them in similar sizes to help with cooking evenly.
- I’ve used this with orange juice, lime juice, and even orange-mango-peach juice when that was all we had. So, if you don’t have orange juice on hand, you can always use a different citrus juice.
- You can also use fresh garlic and ginger. Just grate or finely chop it in the sauce. When I first made the recipe, I was out of fresh garlic and ginger and found the dried spices work just as well!