Chicken Stir-Fry with homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Since I have started this blog I have been trying to eat better. That means no more eating McDonald's way too many times in a week than I care to share. It was almost disturbing how much fast food I could consume my sophomore year of college. It really didn't help that McDonald's was literally a block away from my apartment. The sad part is I would often drive there... I wouldn't even walk. Lazy college student.. lazy I tell you. But, you see, I've come a long way. I actually like adding broccoli to every meal I can. I crave granola and fruit. I yearn for a good recipe that has lots of veggies. This recipe is just that. It has a chock-full o' veggies full of bright colors. Even better is that it's an easily customizable dish. Don't like broccoli? That's fine, add some carrots instead. You're a vegetarian you say? Try tofu instead of chicken and so on. Let me just tell you about this teriyaki sauce for a bit. You know the teriyaki sauce from really good restaurants that you feel like you could never recreate? Oh you can. This is it. Trust me.  I made the teriyaki sauce before I cooked everything else so I found myself constantly having a little taste of the sauce every time I passed by it. It's perfectly spiced, a little sweet, and you can still taste a little bit of the soy sauce. The best part is you know exactly what is in it. Perfect.

look at those veggies!

**Note: This is a Jeff approved recipe. To read more about Jeff aka Head Taste Tester check out my post on Classic Brownies.


Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients:
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tbsp honey
5 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Directions:
In a medium sized sauce pan, combine soy sauce, 1 cup water, ground ginger, garlic powder and honey. Mix together over medium heat. In a cup, combine cornstarch and cold water and mix until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce pan and mix until the sauce has thickened. If it becomes too thick you can always add a little more water to thin it out.

Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients:
2 - 2 1/2 cups broccoli, rinsed and chopped in bite size pieces
1 yellow bell pepper sliced
1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 1/2 lb chicken, thawed and sliced into bite size pieces
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
teriyaki sauce (as prepared above)
rice, for serving (I cooked 1 cup of rice with 2 cups water)

Directions:
Chop and slice vegetables and put them in a bowl. Marvel at how healthy you're being. In a medium saute pan, heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook about 2-3 minutes on eat side, or until cooked fully through. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and put on a plate for the time being. Discard chicken fat from the pan and add 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil. Add the vegetables and cook until fragrant and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken back to the pan and 1/4 cup of the teriyaki sauce. Mix so the sauce is well incorporated. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Add the rest of the teriyaki sauce and serve immediately over a bed of rice.

Source: Teriyaki sauce from The Basic Cookbook. Stir Fry recipe is an A Dash of Megnut original.