Garlic Teriyaki Chicken Donburi is a delicious, comforting rice bowl dish that's quick and easy to make! Juicy pan fried chicken thigh cooked in a sweet teriyaki sauce with a garlic kick served on a bed of fluffy, Japanese style white rice then topped with chopped green onion and a soft boiled egg. What's not to like?!
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Teriyaki Don
What is "Teriyaki"?
Teriyaki（照り焼き）is a method of cooking using a sweet soy sauce based sauce.
So technically, “teriyaki sauce” and “teriyaki” itself are a little different.
Teri（照り）means gloss and because of the sugar in the sauce, it will be glossy and kinda like a syrup.
Teriyaki sauce is often used for chicken and fish (often yellowtail is used in Japan) but of course you can use the technique for pretty much anything!
Ingredients
Teriyaki sauce is made up of four main ingredients:
These four ingredients are pretty accessible, you can find them in most well stocked supermarkets worldwide. It's such a simple recipe that I wouldn't recommend substituting ingredients, but in a pinch you can use white wine or dry sherry instead of sake.
I've also added garlic to this recipe to give the teriyaki a bit of a tasty kick, it works!
Teriyaki Recipes
You can see other teriyaki recipes on our website!
What is "don"?
"Don" is a shortened version of Japanese word "donburi" which means rice bowl.
If you put it simply, donburi dishes are a bowl of rice with something served on top. The most common ingredients are chicken, beef, fish, egg and spring onion. I don't think I've ever seen donburi without at least one of these... but donburi is very versatile and can technically be anything as long as it's served on a bowl of rice.
Rice
The rice used in donburi is always Japanese short grain white rice. For perfect and convenient rice I recommend using a rice cooker but if you don't have one you can check out our post on how to make fluffy, slightly sticky Japanese rice on the stove here.
Whenever I make rice, I always make too much and then store the leftovers in the freezer. Whenever I want to make a quick donburi meal or onigiri snack, I can just microwave it and it's ready to eat in a few minutes! I really recommend doing this, it's a great time saver!
Donburi as Fast Food
I don't know if you've noticed... but donburi recipes are often lacking in vegetables. That's because donburi in Japan is considered a fast food!
If you use microwaved rice and buy cooked meats, you can make a donburi in a few minutes, literally! Japan has lots of delicious premade fried things in supermarkets like deep fried pork katsu, tempura, ebi fry etc. that you can just put on rice. It's so easy and convenient!
But of course, you can make donburi a bit more nutritious. Here are some vegetables you might want to try adding.
- Brocolli
- Carrot
- Onion
- Spinach
- Bok choi
- Aubergine (eggplant)
It's a versatile dish so you can add whatever you like, these are just a few ideas.
Watch the video "How to make Garlic Teriyaki Chicken Donburi"
Step by step recipe
Garlic Teriyaki Chicken bowl (Teriyaki chicken donburi)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
How to make delicious Teriyaki Chicken Donburi. Juicy pan fried chicken thigh cooked in a sweet teriyaki sauce with a garlic kick served on a bed of fluffy, Japanese style white rice then topped with chopped green onion and a soft boiled egg.
Ingredients
Teriyaki Don
- 2 Eggs
- 300g Chicken thigh (skin on - see note)
- 2 pinches of salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp oil
- ⅓ (40g) Spring onion (scallion)
- 2 Bowls of Cooked Rice
Garlic Teriyaki Sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Sake
- 1 tsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Garlic paste (or 1 crushed garlic clove)
Garnish (optional)
- 2 tbsp Chopped spring onion
- 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
- ¼ sheet of Nori (cut into small strips)
- Chili threads
Instructions
Soft Boiled Egg
- Fill a small pan with water and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer so that it's not bubbling too much when you add the egg.
- Add the eggs to the pan, turn up the heat and set a timer for 6 minutes.
- Fill a bowl with ice cold water.
- Once 6 minutes have passed, transfer the eggs straight to the ice cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Peel and set aside for later.
Teriyaki Don
- Heat a frying pan on medium.
- Sprinkle the chicken thigh with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Once the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp oil and place the chicken thigh skin face down.
- Once the skin is browned and crispy, flip the chicken over and cover with a lid. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Cut the spring onion into diagonal pieces. (about 1 inch or 2 cm pieces.)
- Once 3 minutes is up, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add the spring onion to the pan and fry in the chicken juices for a few minutes until softened slightly.
- Put the chicken back in the pan and add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sake, 1 tsp mirin, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp honey and 1 tsp garlic paste.
- Move the chicken around the pan so that the sauce covers the surface, cook until the sauce is thick and like a syrup.
- Fill two bowls with rice, make sure to leave enough space for chicken.
- Place the chicken and spring onion on top of the rice, make sure to drizzle any excess teriyaki sauce over the top.
- Drizzle with mayonnaise, sprinkle with chopped spring onion and/or nori.
- Cut the soft boiled eggs in half and place two halves in the centre of each bowl. (I make a nest with chopped spring onion to stop it from rolling.) Add chili threads / chili flakes for decoration and a spicy kick!
- Enjoy!
Notes
You can also use other parts of chicken such as breast.
This recipe works well with pork, beef and salmon too!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Meat
- Method: Fry
- Cuisine: Japanese
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Other kinds of Donburi
Donburi rice bowl dishes are usually quick and easy to make, not to mention filling, tasty and comforting! Here are some more examples of popular donburi dishes:
- Katsudon (pork cutlet and egg)
- Gyudon (beef and onion)
- Oyakodon (chicken and egg)
- Chashu don (chashu pork)
- Yakiniku don (Korean BBQ style beef)
- Smoked Salmon and Avocado donburi
- Karaage don (fried chicken)
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