Spatchcocking the Chicken:
- Place your chicken on a large stable cutting board and remove any parts inside the cavity such as neck and gizzards. (Save these in your freezer for making stock).
- Trim off both wings and prop the chicken up on its hind legs.
- With a paring knife, cut two slits on the collars bone and feel with your fingers for the wishbone and pull it out.
- Lay the chicken on its back. With poultry shears, cut on the right side of the chicken from the tailbone to the neck. Repeat this same process on the right side of the backbone and remove it. (Save along with the gizzards in your freezer for stock.)
- Press the chicken down on both sides (you will have to break open the breastbone) to lay it flat on the cutting board.
- You can leave the chicken at this point and continue with the marinade and roasting process. Or, you can go one step further and use a paring knife to trace around the breast bones and cartilage from the flesh and remove these bones all together as I have done in my picture above. The results will be the same, but the chicken that has more bones removed will cook faster.
Ingredients Are Below
Chicken: I like to try and buy the most organic, pasture-raised chicken I can find. The quality and taste are so much better, and you can feel safer about eating a cleaner and healthier bird.
Garlic and Ginger: This combination adds the perfect amount of aromatics that will permeate the chicken to provide fantastic flavor and subtle heat.
Scallions: I love using green onion for its color and delicacy. They add a nice sweet flavor to the chicken when roasted.
Soy Sauce: I always use low-sodium soy sauce to be healthier. However, any soy sauce will work for this recipe. Tamari is also fantastic!
Mirin: This is fermented Japanese rice wine. It’s similar to sake but has a lower alcohol content and is much sweeter. It adds great depth of flavor and should be a staple in your pantry.
Sesame Oil: Always buy a toasted sesame oil with a dark brown color for a richer, nuttier flavor.
Palm Sugar: I like to use coconut palm sugar as my sweetening agent. This sugar has both a low glycemic index and low fructose levels. It contains antioxidants, minerals, is unrefined, and contains no chemical breakdown alterations or artificial ingredients. It is pure and simple!
Coconut Oil: I use coconut oil to sear the chicken because it has a high smoking point and adds additional sweetness to the chicken. I like to buy unrefined coconut oil that is less processed.
Searing in a Cast Iron Skillet:
I love using cast iron to sear my meats. This wrought iron is a fantastic conductor of heat and always gives my protein a beautifully caramelized crust. The key to perfectly searing your chicken in the cast iron is NOT to TOUCH IT! The chicken’s skin-side is placed down into the smoking hot cast iron coated with coconut oil. If you move the chicken around or flip it, you will be disengaging it from the heat source. By doing this, you do not allow the heat to properly penetrate the chicken through the heated cast iron to get a beautiful dark brown skin. Once this color on this skin is achieved, turn off the heat and place it in the oven. I NEVER EVEN FLIP MY CHICKEN. By leaving it skin-side down in the pan, I can check on it periodically and see if the flesh is cooked through. IT’S THAT EASY!
Reducing the Marinade: This is a wonderful way to utilize the marinade for two purposed. 1) to impart flavor into the chicken when raw. 2) To become reduced to a glaze or sauce for the chicken. This step is quick is and is impossible to mess up. Place the marinade into a small saucepan and cook uncovered over high heat for 5-7 minutes until the mixture has reduced by half and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Best Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring Cup Set
- Large Sauté Pan with Cover
- Tongs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless, chicken breasts or thighs (optional to be skin on), any combination
- 2 tbs neutral oil
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
- 6 Green onions cut into thin 2-inch strips (save some for garnish)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup sake
- 4 tbs sugar
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry and then season with salt.
- Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add the oil.
- Allow the oil to get hot for about 2 minutes, and then add the chicken (if using skin-on breasts or thighs, make sure to put the skin side down first in the pan).
- Cook the chicken until a golden crust forms on that first side (do not touch the chicken), about 4-5 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low and flip the chicken onto the second side.
- Add the smashed garlic, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and cover. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes for the chicken thighs and 10-12 minutes for the chicken breasts. Periodically, baste the sauce over the top of the chicken two to three times.
- Remove the finished chicken to a plate and cook the sauce on high heat, uncovered to reduce. Cook until it becomes a tacky consistency, where you can draw your spoon down the center of the pan, and it looks like the parting of the Red Sea, and the sauce coats the back of your spoon, about 5 minutes.
- Glaze the finished chicken with the reduced sauce and finish with some of the green onions.
Notes
- Sugar: You can use light brown sugar instead of cane sugar.
- Gluten Allergy: You can use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Any neutral oil will also work to sear the chicken.
