Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage Bowls

Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage Bowls with fresh vegetables, homemade teriyaki sauce, and tender chicken breasts. This nutritious dinner recipe is easy to toss together and results in a high-protein meal with plenty of fiber and micronutrients. 

After making and loving my Thai Chicken and Cabbage Bowls, I had to swing back around with a teriyaki version.

Meals like this are such a blessing for busy weeknights when we want to keep eating mindful but don’t want to spend a huge amount of time cooking or break the budget.

This Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage Bowls recipe tastes fresh, is easy to customize using a variety of produce or proteins, and leaves you feeling satisfied. 

If you love the flavor of teriyaki sauce and are a chicken or cabbage lover, you’ll want to put this easy dinner recipe at the top of your To Make list!

Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for teriyaki chicken and cabbage.

Ingredients For Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage:

Avocado Oil: Used to sauté the vegetables and cook the chicken, we use avocado oil as our high-temperature cooking oil of choice.

If you have olive oil on hand, feel free to use it instead.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: One of the main ingredients here, we use boneless chicken breast to get a boost of protein without adding excess fat.

Feel free to swap out the chicken breasts with boneless chicken thighs if you prefer. I love this recipe with chicken thighs!

If you prefer using ground meats like ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey, feel free to make the switch. 

Green Cabbage: The co-star in this healthy recipe is green cabbage. You’ll need 1 head of cabbage, which should equate to about 6 to 8 cups of shredded cabbage. 

To save time, use coleslaw mix instead which is typically a combination of shredded green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots.

Yellow Onion, Bell Peppers, Carrots, Green Onions: The fresh veggies in this recipe that give it a slightly sweet flavor with a well-rounded boldness. 

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce: Liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos) rice vinegar, avocado oil, fresh ginger, fresh garlic cloves, and honey or pure maple syrup (or brown sugar), tapioca flour (or cornstarch). 

Recipe Adaptations: 

• Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and/or fish sauce to the teriyaki sauce if you like the flavor and have them on hand. 
• Feel free to add in your favorite vegetables, including broccoli florets, red onions, cauliflower, zucchini, snap peas, snow peas, bean sprouts, bok choy, etc.
• Add hot sauce like sriracha for a little kick of spice.

To save time, use store-bought traditional teriyaki sauce instead of whipping up my recipe for homemade teriyaki sauce.

If you’re always under a time crunch and looking to cut corners with cooking, I’ve got you! Here are three ways you can easily speed up this quick dinner and minimize prep.

Meal Prep Tricks to Save Time:

Buy two (14-oz) bags of coleslaw mix to replace the cabbage and the carrot. This eliminates the step of chopping the cabbage and grating the carrot.

Use leftover chicken, store-bought pre-cooked chicken, or rotisserie chicken instead of buying raw chicken breasts.

Rather than making the homemade sauce in this recipe, use ¼ cup to ⅓ cup of store-bought teriyaki sauce, or use the amount that tastes best to you.

Chop the chicken into bite-size pieces or thin strips while the fresh veggies are cooking. 

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s make these teriyaki chicken bowls!

How to Make Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage Bowls:

Add the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce to a small bowl or measuring cup and stir until combined. Set aside until ready to use. Note: if you’re using store-bought teriyaki sauce, skip this step.

Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven. A large 12-inch nonstick skillet or sauté pan will work too if it has a deep lip. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until it begins to soften.

Add the chopped cabbage, grated carrot, and bell pepper and cover the pot or skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has wilted, about 8 to 10 minutes. 

Scoot the vegetables off to one side of the pot (or skillet) and add the chopped chicken and green onions.

Allow the chicken to brown for 5 to 8 minutes, giving it a stir or two while keeping it separate from the vegetables.

After the chicken has browned, stir it in with the vegetables.

Cover the pot and continue cooking over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken has cooked through, about 8 to 15 minutes.

Chicken is fully cooked with it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The exact cooking time depends on your desired level of doneness and also the temperature of all of the ingredients going into the pot. 

Pour the teriyaki sauce into the pot and stir well until everything is coated with sauce. Continue cooking at a high heat and stirring until much of the liquid has burned off (if it hasn’t already).

Taste the meal for flavor and add more liquid aminos (or soy sauce), vinegar, fresh lime juice, kosher salt, black pepper, etc. to your personal taste. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and extra chopped green onions if you’d like.

You can serve this meal with additional side dishes like brown rice, cauliflower rice or extra sauteed vegetables.

Serve Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage in large bowls, and enjoy! Serve with lime wedges and extra teriyaki sauce for drizzling over the meal.

Store leftover teriyaki chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

And that’s it! This teriyaki chicken stir fry is perfect meal prep recipe for healthy weeknight meals to keep you feeling full and satisfied.

If you love quick and easy dinner recipes like this one, also check out these clean eating meals.

More Healthy Dinner Recipes:

• Thai Zucchini and Chicken Skillet
• Zucchini and Ground Turkey Skillet
• Unstuffed Cabbage Bowls  
• 30-Minute Cabbage and Sausage Skillet  
• Ground Turkey Egg Roll Bowls  
• 30-Minute Ground Beef and Vegetable Skillet  

Teriyaki chicken for life!

Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage Skillet

An easy high-protein meal with plenty of fiber and micronutrients for a balanced dinner! This simple recipe is easy to customize and perfect for healthy weeknight meals.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

4 Servings

Equipment

• ▢
  1 large pot such as a Dutch oven

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 Tbsp avocado oil
• ▢ 1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
• ▢ 6 to 8 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced*
• ▢ 1 large carrot, grated
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
• ▢ 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces**
• ▢ 5 stalks green onion, chopped
• ▢ 1 pinch sea salt, to taste

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce:

• ▢ 5 Tbsp liquid aminos, or soy sauce***
• ▢ 1 Tbsp avocado oil
• ▢ 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• ▢ 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup, or honey
• ▢ 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• ▢ 1 Tbsp tapioca flour, or cornstarch****

Instructions

• Add the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce to a small bowl or measuring cup and stir until combined. Set aside until ready to use. Note: if you’re using store-bought teriyaki sauce, skip this step.
• Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven. A large skillet such as a 12-inch nonstick skillet or sauté pan will work too if it has a deep lip. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until it begins to soften.
• Add the chopped cabbage, grated carrot, and bell pepper and cover the pot or skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has wilted, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Scoot the vegetables off to one side of the pot (or skillet) and add the chopped chicken and green onions. Allow the chicken to brown for 5 to 8 minutes, giving it a stir or two while keeping it separate from the vegetables. After the chicken has browned, stir it in with the vegetables.
• Cover the pot and continue cooking over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken has cooked through, about 8 to 15 minutes. Chicken is fully cooked with it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The exact cooking time depends on your desired level of doneness and also the temperature of all of the ingredients going into the pot.
• Pour the teriyaki sauce into the pot and stir well until everything is coated with sauce. Continue cooking at a high heat and stirring until much of the liquid has burned off (if it hasn’t already).
• Taste the meal for flavor and add more liquid aminos (or soy sauce), vinegar, fresh lime juice, kosher salt, black pepper, etc. to your personal taste. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and extra chopped green onions if you’d like.
• You can serve this meal with additional side dishes like brown rice, cauliflower rice or extra sauteed vegetables.
• Serve Teriyaki Chicken and Cabbage in large bowls, and enjoy! Serve with lime wedges and extra teriyaki sauce for drizzling over the meal.

Notes

*This is equivalent to about 1 medium-sized head green cabbage or two 14-oz. Bags of coleslaw mix.

**Use leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken to save time if you’d like.

Rather than making your own teriyaki sauce, you can use ¼ cup to ⅓ cup of your favorite store-bought teriyaki sauce.

***You can use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce for a paleo version that is soy-free. If you do so, you can omit the honey or pure maple syrup because coconut aminos are already sweet tasting. 

****The tapioca flour or cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce. If you aren’t concerned about the sauce turning out like a teriyaki glaze, you can skip it.

 

Store leftover teriyaki chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serving (of 4) – Calories: 475kcal – Carbohydrates: 32g – Protein: 60g – Fat: 13g – Saturated Fat: 3g – Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g – Monounsaturated Fat: 7g – Cholesterol: 145mg – Sodium: 1393mg – Potassium: 1065mg – Fiber: 8g – Sugar: 19g

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cabbage, chicken, dairy free, gluten free, one-pot meals, paleo

Servings: 4 Servings

Calories: 475kcal

Author: Julia

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