Teriyaki Chicken - Sarku Japan Style!

So I know I already have a post for teriyaki - and it's super easy and definitely still tasty! - but if you're willing to work for it, this chicken teriyaki recipe is TO DIE FOR. When I was pregnant last year, Sarku Japan was a huge craving of mine, so I learned this recipe, and it is excellent! It does involve a lot of prep, though. I always have to set a lot of reminders for myself when I make this recipe because you need to marinate it overnight! So be warned!

Ingredients
3 lbs boneless chicken thighs (if you're using less, make sure to make half the amount of the teriyaki sauce. I don't usually use this much chicken, so I make less sauce otherwise I have wayyy too much leftover)

MARINADE 
1 cup water 
⅛ cups Shaoxing wine or cooking sherry  (I omit this)
1 tsp garlic powder 
1¼ tsp pepper 
1 tsp baking soda 
½ cups Kikkoman soy sauce 
¼ cups Canola oil 

TERIYAKI SAUCE 
2½ cups chicken stock 
¾ cups + 2 tbs Kikkoman teriyaki sauce  
¼ cups Kikkoman soy sauce 
2 garlic cloves sliced (I didn't have this on hand, so I just added more garlic powder)
a piece of ginger, sliced (I omitted this)
¾ cups + 2 tbs of brown sugar 
2½ tbs cornstarch 

2½ tbs cold water

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli

Another favorite of mine! Super easy, very delicious, and very healthy! This is a slow cooker recipe with very minimal prep. It's a great recipe to have because it includes ingredients you usually have on hand. On a regular basis, the only ingredient I need to go out of my way to buy is broccoli, but that's only if I don't have frozen florets somewhere in the depths of my freezer.

If you usually follow my link to the original recipe, you'll notice I altered it quite a bit. The original recipe says to add the broth a little at a time throughout the cooking duration, but who has time for that?? If I'm at work all day, I can't keep adding broth. So instead, I increased the quantity of rice to make sure it's thick enough for an entire container of chicken broth.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1½ pounds chicken breasts, cut into large chunks

1 small onion, chopped (I never use an entire onion, just half or a quarter so I can save it for other recipes)

2 1/4 cup uncooked long grain rice (white or brown, your choice)

1 32 ounce box chicken broth

1¼ teaspoon salt

⅓ teaspoon pepper

2 cups of chopped broccoli

1¼ cheddar cheese

Chicken Teriyaki & Fried Rice

This one is a double feature! The fried rice is a good recipe to make by itself - just add bacon and some extra veggies. In this case, I'm using the teriyaki chicken as the meat, so I'm omitting the bacon.

If you're like me, then with every recipe that calls for chicken, you just put in one package of chicken, from Publix or Costco or wherever, without checking how many pounds it is, because you know that's what will feed your family. However, I tried that with this recipe, and it was way too sweet. So, if you don't often measure your amounts of chicken, make sure to put two packages of chicken in the slow cooker. You'll thank me later!

This combination of recipes may seem complicated, but I omit a lot of unnecessary ingredients. Often I have so many of the main ingredients on hand that I don't need to buy anything extra. Keep in mind, you will have to buy a bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of rice vinegar the first time you make this, but they last a long time!