If you enjoy this chicken teriyaki recipe, check out our baked Teriyaki Salmon. This recipe for Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry was inspired by our recent obsession with our local Japanese takeout. When we crave a healthy Asian dinner, we often reach for the phone and order Teriyaki Donburi Rice Bowls. They are absolutely delicious! As this has been happening more and more often, I decided to recreate our favourite flavours at home in the form of teriyaki chicken stir fry. In order to do that, we need to know…
What goes into Teriyaki Sauce?
You might be as surprised as I was to find out that the term teriyaki actually refers to the method of cooking, which is grilling, rather than the sauce. However, there is a classic sauce that is a telltale sign of chicken, salmon or beef teriyaki. Just think of it as a Japanese barbecue sauce. The main ingredients that make the teriyaki sauce are usually mirin, soy sauce, grated ginger and sugar or honey. In this recipe the teriyaki sauce has a double purpose. To intensify flavours I recommend first marinating your chicken in the teriyaki sauce overnight or at least for 3 hours prior to cooking. Then using the marinade as a sauce in your stir fry. I often get asked if it’s safe to use the marinade as part of the sauce and the answer is. Yes it absolutely is! It would be silly not use it after you put all the best flavours in your marinade. It is absolutely safe as long as the marinade gets boiled for 5 minutes to destroy the bacteria.
What vegetables to use
The short answer is anything you like, as long as your vegetable mix is of similar texture, meaning all vegetables will cook at the same time. Otherwise, you can cut the hardier vegetables like carrots or broccoli stems into thin strips to speed up the cooking time. I am happy to share my personal favourites for stir fries. I nearly always use snow peas and red or yellow peppers for their sweetness, texture and the way they look. For this stir fry I also went with a quartered bok choy, a small red onion, and the real winner, grilled scallions aka green onions. Since teriyaki is supposed to be grilled, I decided to infuse my stir fry with a bit of smokiness that comes from grilled onions. They only take a minute to get those nice char marks but they absolutely transform this simple stir fry.
Vegetable suggestions for stir fries
broccoli asparagus carrots cut into thin strips, matchsticks baby corn kale red, yellow and green peppers zucchini
Protein suggestions for teriyaki stir fries
skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs salmon thin beef strips shrimp duck tofu
As you can see, adding your personal touch to this stir fry recipe, as long as you keep the suggested cooking method and the teriyaki sauce, will get you a delicious and exciting dinner.
More favourite stir fries
Beef, Mushroom and Snow Pea Stir Fry Speedy Sesame Shrimp Stir Fry Filipino Noodles with Pork and Shrimp Easy Shrimp Chow Mein Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
