Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Can’t Go Out? Make Your Own Teriyaki Chicken

OK, we’re all pretty much stuck in our houses by now with whatever you picked up at the grocery store. You managed to get some chicken, some frozen veggies, and an assortment of other things that you’re not totally sure what to do with (Hello, bag of canned mackerel in oil!). Come dinner time, when you’re trying to figure out how to stave off cabin fever and feed yourself, we have a suggestion for an easy, delicious meal that you can make with your provisions: chicken teriyaki.

Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Amy Ellis Photography

Now, you could make this a little more complicated — you could make your own teriyaki sauce or dice your own vegetables — but we’re not about that in this case. Instead, all you need to do is buy pre-made sauce and frozen chopped vegetables.  Then in under a half-hour, you can have a nice, fresh meal that looks like it came from your local hibachi joint (sans pageantry, of course, unless you added that in yourself). As long as you hide the bags that the veggies came in, this could also easily be turned into a great date meal, as you cover the different food groups and you won’t feel weighed down after.

If you are turning it into a date night, you’ll want to make sure you have the right playlist and the right wine (or maybe some sake). Beyond that, you’re good to go for an easy, delicious meal.

Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry Recipe

(Serves four)

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 1 cup teriyaki sauce
  • 1 cup jasmine rice
  • 1 bag stir fry vegetables
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Sesame seeds for garnish
  • Chili oil, optional

Method:

  1. Set rice to cook on the stovetop, in a rice cooker, or an Instant Pot (our personal favorite method) according to the instructions before cooking the rest. For more flavorful rice, add a cube of chicken bouillon to the rice while cooking it.
  2. Pre-cook stir-fry vegetables and set aside (using a steam-in-a-bag option is great here).
  3. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
  4. In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add chicken and stir occasionally, cooking until a light brown in color. The chicken should be cooked, but not all the way through (around eight to 10 minutes).
  5. Add stir-fry vegetables and sauce.
  6. Stir to mix and simmer until chicken is cooked thoroughly (another five to eight minutes or so).
  7. Serve on top of rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
The sriracha shortage is real – but making your own sriracha is so easy you might not even care
Best of all: You basically don't do anything
Empty sriacha bottle

Most of us fell in love with sriracha ages ago, when it could still be found on almost every casual restaurant table, and grocery store shelves were bursting with the bottle's signature green cap and rooster logo. Even more cruel a memory? At the time, one of those bottles would only set you back a couple of bucks. Remember those days? Sadly, times have changed, and just one 28-ounce bottle of Huy Fong Foods' favorite condiment is running over $20 on sites like Amazon. And even those bottles are selling like crazy, hotter than their delicious contents. So if you don't mind spending five times what you did just a few precious years ago on your beloved brand, you'd better do so fast.

In a sriracha shortage that has now gone on for three long years, it seems that the always-fun combination of legal battles and climate change is to blame. A dispute between Huy Fong Foods and its pepper supplier, Underwood Ranches, that started in 2017 is still causing problems that just don't seem to be getting any better. Pair that drama with terrible drought and unpredictable weather conditions, and there doesn't seem to be any reprieve in sight for Huy Fong Foods' popular sriracha sauce.

Read more
The ‘Wall Street Hustle’ sous vide cocktail is simple elegance we can’t get enough of
Sous vide makes this cocktail recipe come alive
Wall Street Hustle Cocktail

While the art of sous vide cooking has been around in restaurants for ages, it's really just been in the last decade or so that this wonderfully consistent, always delicious cooking method has made its way into home kitchens. We love the sous vide method for its ease of use, reliability, and succulently perfect results, every time. And while many home cooks were skeptical at first, most have (whether they care to admit it or not) come around and finally admitted that a sous vide machine is truly the best way to cook almost everything, from delicate desserts to hearty barbecue ribs. (Seriously. Ribs. Just try them, and we promise you'll never cook them another way again.)
For all of the sous vide recipes floating around out there, though, there may still be one thing you may not have considered preparing in your sous vide machine. And now is the time to remedy that situation because sous vide cocktails are about to become your new favorite indulgence.
Admittedly, the idea may sound a little bit peculiar at first, but there's just no other method of mixology that allows the fusing of flavors the way a sous vide bath does. By gently cooking cocktail ingredients in a vacuum-sealed bag, each element of your drink has time to infuse and intensify. The depth and complexity of flavor this creates is really quite astonishing when compared to a simply shaken and poured cocktail.
The wonderful thing about this method is the creative freedom you can take in becoming your own modern-day mixologist. Of course, your classic favorites will likely rise to a whole new level of sublime when prepared in this way, but feel free to experiment with any spirit you love, from tequila to vodka to gin to whiskey — they'll all taste even better after an infusion with your own mix of fresh herbs and spices, fruits, or any other cocktail ingredient that comes to mind.
And while part of the fun is creating up with your own mixes, if you're looking for sexy in a glass, we've got just the thing — The Wall Street Hustle. This sophisticated and sultry whiskey cocktail from Breville is beyond beautiful in its layered depth of flavor.
So even if cooking isn't exactly your thing, now you have a great excuse to pull down and dust off that sous vide machine you got last Christmas. Trust us.

Wall Street Hustle recipe
Makes nine cocktails
Ingredients:

Read more
Out of brown sugar? Here’s how to make your own
Here's how to reverse-engineer brown sugar to create the ultimate version
A jar of brown sugar.

In all its forms, sugar plays a fundamental role in baking, but none more prominent than as brown sugar. Brown sugar often stands out with its distinctly warm caramel notes, perfect for your favorite cookies. But what if you’re out of it? While it's readily available in stores, you can easily make your own brown sugar at home using a combination of white sugar and molasses.

Read on as we reverse-engineer this amazing ingredient to create the ultimate brown sugar at home. Here’s what you should do.
How to make brown sugar
Gather the ingredients
To make brown sugar, you'll need two primary ingredients: White granulated sugar and molasses. White sugar is refined and devoid of molasses, which is responsible for the distinct color and taste of brown sugar. Molasses, a thick syrup obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet processing, is the key to achieving the desired result. By adding the molasses back into the white sugar, you can create the ultimate brown sugar.
Determine the ratio
The ratio of white sugar to molasses will determine the darkness and flavor intensity of your brown sugar, so it’s highly customizable.

Read more