Teriyaki chicken bowls
Glossy homemade teriyaki chicken over fluffy rice with cool, crunchy cucumber.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.25 a serving
- 790 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 1¼ cups water
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 790 calories, 55 g protein, 101 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $3.25 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer under cold water until the water runs mostly clear.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Put the rice, 1¼ cups water and the salt in a medium and on high.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. Then move it off the heat and leave the lid on.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: No peeking. Lifting the lid lets out the steam that finishes the rice.Stir the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, garlic, ginger, cornstarch and ¼ cup water together in a measuring cup until smooth.
the cucumber into rounds and set it aside for the top.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and them dry, then wash your hands and the board.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high until it . Add the chicken in one layer and cook 4 minutes without stirring, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
Stir and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until the biggest piece is white all the way through and reads 165°F.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Turn the heat to medium, stir the sauce again, and pour it in. Stir 1 to 2 minutes, until it bubbles into a thick, glossy that coats the chicken.
Glaze. A glaze is a thin, glossy coating, often sweet, brushed or spooned over food near the end. It adds shine and flavor, and because it has sugar, it can burn quickly.
How you’ll know: The food looks shiny and evenly coated, sticky at the edges but not blackened.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Cornstarch sinks while it sits, so stir the sauce right before it goes in.Fluff the rice and top with the chicken, cucumber and green onions.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Sticky crispy tofu rice bowls
45 min
Korean-style beef bowls
30 min
Hainanese-style ginger chicken and rice
60 min
Cucumber avocado sushi bowls
40 min
High-protein dinners ›Easy dinner bowls ›What to make with chicken and rice ›What to make with rice and cucumber ›What to make with chicken and cucumber ›