Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

At a glance

What stands out: With a medley of stir-fried vegetables, juicy chicken, and a sweet and tangy teriyaki sauce, this teriyaki chicken bowl is a balanced all-in-one meal! Ready in just 30 minutes, it’s a straightforward weeknight dinner.

How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowls, skillet
Servings: 4

The Teriyaki Bowl That Solves Dinner and Lunch

This teriyaki chicken bowl is one of those recipes that can make life a bit easier (and tastier!) with tender, saucy chicken, and colorful veggies. The leftovers can be reheated for a lunch you’re actually excited to eat.

And you know we don’t love doing dinner clean-up. This feels like a complete, balanced meal without requiring four burners and a sink full of dishes. It’s flexible, dependable, and exactly the kind of recipe we lean on during busy weeks. (And who has ever heard of a not-busy week?)

• From-scratch is SO much better: We’ve all been lured in by the siren song of those little bites of teriyaki chicken on toothpicks at the mall food court, but from-scratch is fresher and less expensive. (Our grilled teriyaki chicken and Instant Pot teriyaki chicken will help you get your fix, too!)
• Speedy and straightforward: Some bowl recipes require a lot of running around the kitchen to make a bunch of different components, but even with the from-scratch sauce, chicken, and stir-fried veggies, this teriyaki chicken bowl takes just 30 minutes total.
• Customizable: You can easily switch up the veggies, adjust the flavor of the sauce, or serve with different grains and garnishes.
• Meal prep friendly: Like our crockpot teriyaki chicken recipe, this teriyaki chicken bowl reheats beautifully and makes a rich make-ahead lunch or dinner option.

Deb Said:

“Great taste…. straightforward to prepare. Our family loved it. It tasted like our favorite restaurant.”

See More Reader Reviews

What goes in

You’ll find the full list of ingredients below, but here’s a speedy breakdown of each component of this teriyaki chicken bowl recipe.

• Teriyaki sauce: It’s straightforward to mix from-scratch teriyaki sauce with pantry ingredients like soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger (fresh is best, but dried ground ginger will work in a pinch!), plus cornstarch to thicken. It’s such a flavorful sauce you’ll want to put it on everything. Lately, we've been enjoying it on teriyaki salmon!
• Chicken: We like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts because they’re straightforward to cut up. We toss the pieces of chicken with a mixture of cornstarch, salt and pepper.
• Stir-fry veggies: You’ll use olive oil to sauté broccoli florets, crisp red bell pepper, and red onion.
• For serving: We usually serve this stir-fried meal with white, brown, or jasmine rice as a base for the bowls, garnished with sliced green onions. A sprinkle of sesame seeds is great, too.

How it comes together

Get started. Begin cooking the rice if you serving the bowls with rice. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the sauce ingredients.

Season the chicken. Cut the chicken into evenly-sized pieces (either ½-inch or ¾ -inch—just be consistent with whichever size you choose), then toss with the cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

Why Coat Chicken in Cornstarch?

The cornstarch has a few functions. It helps the seasoning adhere to the chicken, and it locks in the moisture as the chicken browns. Cornstarch also gives the chicken a crisp exterior.

Cook the chicken. Warm the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in a single layer. Let it cook without stirring for 4 minutes to get a nice crispy crust. Then, stir and keep cooking for 3 to 4 more minutes until the chicken is evenly browned and cooked through.

Make it saucy. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Give the sauce a good whisk to reincorporate the cornstarch, then pour it into the skillet. Stir and cook until the sauce thickens up and sticks to the chicken. This will only take a couple of minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and cover.

Stir fry the veggies. Wipe out the skillet if desired (careful, it’s hot!) and add another tablespoon of oil. Once it’s shimmering, stir in the veggies and sprinkle with salt. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until tender-crisp.

Assemble. Divide the rice into bowls and top with the chicken and veggies. Garnish each chicken teriyaki bowl with green onions and sesame seeds if you’re using them.

Ways to change it

• Make it spicy. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a drizzle of sriracha to the teriyaki sauce for some spicy heat.
• Use chicken thighs instead of breasts. Just keep in mind that chicken thighs take a bit longer to cook.
• Swap the protein. Try shrimp, tofu, or thinly sliced beef instead of chicken.
• Use different veggies. Snap peas, carrots, eggplant, mushrooms, or cabbage are all great additions. You can also use different colors of bell pepper if you’d like. You could add edamame for extra protein, or crumble nori on top.

Ways to serve it

Rice. We love using Instant Pot brown rice, but Instant Pot jasmine rice is excellent too!

Rice alternatives. Any grain works well for a bowl and some are more nutritious than white rice. Instant Pot quinoa will give you extra protein; Instant Pot farro is another wholesome grain. If you want to skip the grains altogether, go with cauliflower rice. The bowl would be pretty awesome with noodles, too! In all honesty, we often just eat the chicken and vegetables, and skip the rice entirely.

Go-alongs. Serve teriyaki chicken with air fryer egg rolls or air fryer crab rangoon. For dessert, try from-scratch gingersnaps or snickerdoodle cookies.

Keeping leftovers

Meal prep and refrigerator storage: Portion the rice, veggies, and chicken into containers for straightforward grab-and-go lunches during the week. They’ll last for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Freeze: You can freeze these teriyaki chicken bowls in airtight containers for up to 3 months. Ideally, thaw in the fridge before reheating, which helps everything reheat faster and more evenly. (If that’s not an option, you can reheat from frozen.)

Reheat: Warm leftovers in the microwave, stirring after 45 seconds to make sure everything reheats evenly.

• Yield: 4
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 15 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For Teriyaki Sauce:

• ¼ cup soy sauce (low sodium preferred)
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root (or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

For Chicken:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

For Stir-fry Veggies:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups small broccoli florets (about 1 crown)
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

For Serving:

• 2 cups cooked white or brown rice
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Method

1. If you’re cooking rice, get that started first.
2. In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients. Set aside.
3. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, about ½ to ¾-inches. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken pieces with 2 tablespoons cornstarch, salt, and pepper until evenly coated.
4. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 4 minutes until the bottom side is crisp and golden. Stir and continue cooking 3 to 4 minutes more, until browned and cooked through (see note).
5. Reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk the sauce one more time to mix up any cornstarch that has settled to the bottle. Add sauce to the skillet with the chicken. Cook while stirring until thickened and clear, about 2 minutes.
6. Remove pan from heat, put chicken and sauce into a clean bowl, and cover to keep warm. Carefully wipe out the skillet with paper towels.
7. In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add broccoli, bell pepper, and onion. Season with salt and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender.
8. Spoon rice into bowls. Top with teriyaki chicken and stir-fried veggies. Garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.

Notes

Alternative cooking method: There are two ways to cook this recipe. Sometimes, we remove the chicken from the pan without adding the sauce, then stir-fry the veggies (you won’t have to wipe out the skillet), add the chicken back to the pan, and then the sauce ingredients. Cook for a couple of. minutes until the sauce thickens. The veggies aren’t quite as crisp and colorful with this method but it saves a bit of time.

Vegetables: Broccoli, red bell peppers, and onion are a classic stir fry trio; however, feel free to substitute other vegetables you have on hand, such as edamame, snap peas, carrots, or cabbage. (we're usually pretty generous with the vegetables and add more than the amounts listed in the ingredient list!)

Variations: If you prefer, boneless skinless chicken thighs can be substituted. You could also use tofu or shrimp for the protein. Adjust the cooking time as needed. For a spicy teriyaki sauce, add a pinch of red pepper flakes or sriracha.

Meal prep: Teriyaki chicken is great for meal prep. Assemble the bowls in airtight containers; refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.