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This recipe for skillet teriyaki chicken with chicken breasts uses just a handful of ingredients for an easy, healthy dinner! It’s a healthy meal, loaded with the right amount of vegetables and protein. Ready in 30 minutes, you’ll love the homemade orange infused-teriyaki sauce, and the dish’s natural sweetness. And if you love rice, you can pair it with this 10-minute Easy Rice!
Calling all meal planning procrastinators! This meal is for you. There are many times I find myself at that early evening pre-dinner time and wondering, “what the heck am I making for dinner??” This quick teriyaki chicken dinner was developed from one of these events. While I do love the ease of making my Lime Teriyaki Chicken in the Instant Pot or even my Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple, something about the skillet just hits different!
As a nutritionist, I am always looking for ways to vary up my proteins and vegetables. An easy stir-fry teriyaki chicken is such a perfect way to do this! With a homemade sauce, we can also be sure to maximize flavor with real food ingredients, and also minimize the sugar and sodium.
I love the use of fresh oranges and ginger for a hint of sweetness and kick. The chicken is sauteed perfectly and easily in a skillet, and combined with tender and crispy vegetables for texture.
For another fast skillet chicken dinner with bright, fresh flavors, my 15-Minute Skillet Cilantro Lime Chicken Tenderloins is a go-to. It’s tender, zesty, and ready in minutes for weeknights when you want something flavorful and family-friendly.
How to make Skillet Teriyaki Chicken
Let’s gather up these simple ingredients!
- Chicken
- Broccoli
- Red Bell pepper
- Carrots
- Avocado oil
- GF Tamari Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos
- Rice vinegar
- Oranges (for sweetness and zest)
- Fresh Ginger
- Garlic
- Sesame oil
- Honey (only if using soy sauce)
- Arrowroot starch or corn starch
We start by prepping our veggies and chicken. In a large skillet, heat to medium high heat. Once hot, add in avocado oil then toss in chicken pieces. Saute until lightly browned on all sides (may be slightly pink on the inside). Remove from heat and keep the pan hot. Add in additional oil if needed, then toss in vegetables.
Saute the vegetables for 6-8 minutes, or until lightly softened. Meanwhile, make the teriyaki sauce! In a saucepan, combine soy sauce, vinegar, orange juice, fresh ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and honey (if using). Heat to medium high, and lower the heat. Stir in the arrowroot with a tbsp of water into the mixture to thicken. Remove from heat and let the sauce thicken.
Combine the chicken back to the pan with the vegetables and stir in the sauce. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until everything is well coated and chicken is cooked through.
Adaptations
You can easily adapt this recipe with different substitutions!
- Protein: feel free to swap out the chicken with shrimp, or even steak!
- Vegetables: I used broccoli, bell pepper, and carrots but these are customizable. Zucchini, edamame, and green beans are all great substitutes! I like adding some zucchini for that subtle sweetness and added texture. It’s also perfect for my Lemon Basil Ratatouille, Zucchini Chips, and Vegetable Garden Pasta.
- Paleo or Whole30 version: be sure to use coconut aminos in place of soy sauce. If using this option, honey is not needed! There is a sweetness with coconut aminos
Serving and Storing:
I love to serve this over rice using my super easy method of cooking white rice like pasta. If you are following a low-carb diet, my Cilantro Cauliflower Rice or Coconut Lime Cauliflower Rice are both great options! Top with green onion or crushed red pepper.
Storing: store in the fridge for up to 1 week. This recipe is also fabulous for meal prep!
Quick Skillet Teriyaki Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Chicken breast
- 1 head Broccoli
- 1 red Bell pepper
- 3 Carrots
- 1-2 tbsp Avocado oil
- 1/2 cup GF Tamari Soy Sauce or Coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup Rice vinegar
- 1 large Orange*
- 2 tbsp Honey, (optional: see note)
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves Garlic, (minced)
- 1 tbsp Chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp Arrowroot starch
Instructions
- Prepare your vegetables and chicken. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Chop the broccol and bell pepper. Peel and dice the carrots.
- Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Once hot, add 1 tbsp avocado oil, then chicken. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned on all sides. Remove from heat, but keep the skillet hot.
- Now toss in the chopped vegetables. If you need extra oil, add in another tbsp. Saute the veggies until lightly softened, but still firm– about 6-8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sitr together all of the sauce ingredients: Tamari soy sauce, rice vinegar, the juice of an orange, honey, sesame oil, garlic, and chopped fresh ginger. Heat over medium high heat until it starts to gently bubble. In a small bowl, whisk together arrowroot starch with 1 tbsp water. Stir the arrowroot starch mixture and reduce heat to low. The sauce will begin thicken, remove from heat.
- Add the chicken back to the vegetables. Toss in the sauce and stir. Cover with a lid and let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve hot over rice or cauliflower rice.
If I want to use steak, what type do you recommend and how do I make sure it isn’t chewy? Should I marinate it first?
Personally, I would use filet mignon for a really tender and delicious steak! If you want a cheaper cut, top sirloin is also an option. Turn up your skillet to a higher heat and sear it on both sides for a few minutes, but cook it more medium-rare to medium if you don’t want it to be chewy. Hope that helps!
I made this tonight using steak instead of chicken (because we eat a ton of chicken!). Used some strip steaks I found in my freezer. After I thawed them, I looked online for instructions how to cook steaks in a cast iron skillet to medium rare, since I don’t have much experience with cooking steaks. I had decided to cook the steaks whole so they wouldn’t be tough or overcooked. Here’s the link to the instructions I used: https://www.chefsresource.com/faq/how-to-cook-medium-rare-steak-on-cast-iron/. After I cooked the steaks, I sliced them into strips and tossed them in with the cooked vegetables and added the sauce, as instructed in your recipe. The result – everyone LOVED it! The flavors are amazing – the orange flavor is perfect in this dish. It was restaurant quality and everyone rated it 10/10! We love your recipes Amy! They are so full of flavor and I also love how healthy they are! I served it with your recipe – (Jasmine) Rice “cooked like pasta” – which is the best shortcut ever! Perfect rice! Thank you for another great recipe!!