Chicken Teriyaki

In the past, one of my favorite cooking shortcuts was to pour a store-bought marinade over some meat and cook it up.  These marinades were always super-tasty and easy to have on hand, turning some chicken breasts from the freezer into an easy weeknight meal.  Unfortunately, the more I become obsessed with reading ingredient lists, the more difficult it has become to find marinades that I'm willing to use because so many have tons of sodium, artificial flavors, corn syrup, and other scary ingredients.  On the flip side, home-made marinade recipes often require tons of ingredients that are not easy to have on hand.

Until Weelicious came to the rescue, yet again, with a recipe for teriyaki sauce that only has 5 ingredients, all easy to keep around.  I could not wait to give this a try, and I'm so glad I did because it is delicious, and so easy!  Of course I did change a couple of things...skipped the garlic because I wasn't in the mood, and increased most of the other ingredients because I could only find a 14 oz can of organic crushed pineapple and I didn't want the rest to go to waste.  This ended up making a ton, so I froze half for the next time I make this, which will certainly be soon! 

Oh, and one more change - you might notice that my sauce does not look nearly as pretty as the picture on Weelicious, and that's because I didn't read carefully and therefore missed the part about thickening the sauce with cornstarch.  Oops...I would recommend either following this step (I've included the original instructions below) or just pureeing the bit you intend to spoon over the chicken because otherwise the runny marinade with chunks of pineapple is not the best texture for a sauce.  Nonetheless, this was a successful dish with hubby and me (we ate it with brown rice and some roasted broccoli), as well as the munchkin, who got bits of the chicken tossed with rice, peas, corn, and a little extra sauce - yum!

Chicken Teriyaki
adapted from Weelicious

1 14 ounce can crushed pineapple in juice
3/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tablespoon fresh grated ginger*
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Place the crushed pineapple and juice, soy sauce, honey, and ginger in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Place the chicken breasts in a zip top bag add with enough of the teriyaki sauce to coat well (reserving the remaining for the sauce).  Marinate in the refrigerate for at least 30-60 minutes, or up to 24 hours for maximum flavor.

Preheat your oven to the broil setting and place the rack in the upper third of the oven (at this point you can discard the sauce that you marinated the chicken in).  Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and broil for 5-7 minutes on each side (monitor carefully for doneness; if the chicken is thick, it may take an extra minute or two).

While the chicken is broiling, put approximately 3/4 cup of reserved teriyaki sauce in a saucepan, add 1 tsp of cornstarch and cook over medium heat for 1 minute or until thickened.  Alternatively, puree sauce with an immersion blender, or in a blender or food processor to smooth out consistency.  (You can freeze any unused marinade for next time).

Remove the chicken breasts from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes.  Slice the chicken, cover with sauce and serve.

Serves 4
*I keep a peeled piece of ginger in my freezer - it is easier to grate this way and becomes an ingredient I can always have on hand!