Teriyaki Chicken

Michael Eisenwasser

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Pan-seared chicken thighs glazed in a scratch low-FODMAP teriyaki sauce, served over jasmine rice with scallion greens and sesame seeds.

Prep 10 min

Cook 20 min

Serves 4

Gluten-freeDairy-free

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breast), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional, for a silkier coating)

Teriyaki Sauce

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) gluten-free tamari
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or packed brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (from a 1-inch knob)
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water (for the slurry)

Optional Vegetable (pick one)

• 3 cups broccoli florets (about 300 g total, ~75 g per serving), OR
• 4 cups bok choy, roughly chopped (about 1 packed cup per serving)

To Serve

• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice (1 cup per serving)
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Mix the Sauce

1. In a small saucepan, whisk the 1/2 cup water, tamari, maple syrup, rice vinegar, grated ginger, and sesame oil. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce to medium-low and cook for 3 to 4 minutes to infuse the ginger and soften the vinegar edge.
2. Stir the 1 tablespoon cornstarch into 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth with no lumps. Whisk into the simmering sauce in a slow stream and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, whisking constantly, until glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pull off the heat and set aside.

Sear the Chicken

1. Toss the chicken pieces with a pinch of salt and the 1 teaspoon cornstarch if using.
2. Heat the garlic-infused oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
3. Add the chicken in a single layer. Let it sit untouched for 2 minutes to take on color, then stir and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until just cooked through (165°F / 74°C). Work in two batches if the pan crowds.

Cook the Vegetable (Optional)

1. If using broccoli or bok choy, push the cooked chicken to one side of the pan (or remove to a plate).
2. Add the vegetable with 2 tablespoons water and cover for 2 minutes, until the broccoli turns bright green or the bok choy leaves wilt. Uncover and toss for 30 seconds to drive off the extra moisture.

Glaze

1. Return any reserved chicken to the pan. Pour the teriyaki sauce over the top and toss for about 1 minute until the chicken and vegetable are fully coated in the glossy glaze.
2. Taste and adjust: a splash more tamari for salt or a drizzle more maple for sweetness.

Serve

1. Spoon over jasmine rice. Scatter scallion greens and sesame seeds over the top.

Tips & Substitutions

• Thighs hold up better than breast. Boneless skinless thighs stay juicy through the glaze and reheat well the next day. Breast works if you prefer it — slice it slightly thinner and pull it off the heat the moment it hits 165°F to keep it from drying out.
• Use gluten-free tamari, not bottled teriyaki. Kikkoman, Soy Vay, and most supermarket teriyaki sauces list garlic, onion, honey, or high-fructose corn syrup. Monash lists gluten-free tamari at 2 tablespoons per serve; 1/4 cup split across 4 servings comes in at 1 tablespoon per portion, well under that amount.
• Green tops of scallions only. The white and light-green parts of scallions contain fructans; the dark green tops are low-FODMAP and carry the oniony flavor without the trigger.
• Fresh ginger, not ground. A microplane on a knob of fresh ginger gives you the signature teriyaki warmth. Ground ginger tastes flat here.
• Sub brown sugar for maple. Both are low-FODMAP at typical amounts. Maple gives a rounder flavor; brown sugar gives a more classic teriyaki sweetness. Don't substitute honey or agave — both are high in fructose.
• Batch the sauce. The scratch low-FODMAP teriyaki sauce keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge. Make a double batch and you'll have enough for salmon bowls, tofu stir-fry, or a second round of chicken later in the week.
• Skip raw garlic entirely. Garlic's fructans dissolve in water, not oil, so any minced garlic added to the sauce pot would pull fructans straight into every serving. Garlic-infused olive oil is the only way to get garlic flavor into a simmered sauce safely.

Why This Works

Scratch sauce instead of bottled. Bottled teriyaki almost universally lists garlic, onion, or "natural flavors" plus high-fructose corn syrup or honey. Whisking low-FODMAP teriyaki sauce from six pantry items takes less time than a grocery run and keeps the trigger list short.

Garlic-infused oil for the sear. Garlic's fructans don't dissolve in oil, so infusing olive oil with garlic and straining out the solids gives you the savory depth of a garlic-forward pan sauce without the FODMAP load.

Cornstarch slurry, not reduction. Reducing teriyaki concentrates the tamari and can push the salt past where you want it. A slurry hits glossy thickness in two minutes without boiling off volume or intensifying the salt, and it gives the chicken a cleaner glaze.

Portioned vegetables stay in Monash range. Broccoli heads are low-FODMAP at 3/4 cup / 75 g per serve, and bok choy at 1 cup. Measuring at the pan instead of the plate keeps per-bowl serves inside Monash ranges without a scale at the table.

Storage

Refrigerate in a sealed container for 2 to 3 days. Reheat in a hot pan with a splash of water to loosen the glaze; the microwave tends to turn the sauce gummy. Freeze the glazed chicken alone (without the rice) for up to 2 months — thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stove. If you're making this for meal prep, store the rice, chicken, and scallion-sesame garnish separately so the rice doesn't absorb the sauce overnight.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.