Chicken Teriyaki Zoodles

I am straight up exhausted. Flip-flopping my schedule has been harder than I thought. I worked until 11 last night, then woke up at 7 to go to a doctor’s appointment today—and will go to bed at around 4 in the afternoon so I can get up at 2 am tomorrow morning. Ugh.

Despite the dramatic change in my routine, I’ve stil stayed on track with the keto diet. Granted, I did have to drink a Red Bull to get through the back half of yesterday, but it was sugar-free, so…I don’t think it counts.

On Sunday I had brought this recipe for lunch with me to work. I couldn’t put it down. I had planned to work through my lunchbreak and takes bites here or there—but the entire tupperware container was gone in about 2 minutes flat. It was that good.

Being on the keto diet means no sugar, so I had to adapt to making my own teriyaki sauce. Your typical teriyaki sauce has brown sugar in it, and a lot of it at that. For this one, I used erythritol. I’ve sung the praises of the granulated sugar alcohol on here before, but I’ll do it again. It’s the best sugar substitute I’ve found thus far. It doesn’t have a funky aftertaste like splenda or stevia, and tastes exactly like sugar, albeit not as sweet. If you don’t like the weird taste of splenda or stevia, than this substitute is for you.

Other than adapting with the sugar, everything else follows your basic chicken teriyaki recipe. Nice amounts of sesame oil. Plenty of garlic and green onion. I added a couple of dabs of sambal oelek for spice. And bam! My teriyaki sauce was made.

Make sure you thinly slice your chicken so you can get good amounts of sauce on it with every bite. This sauce didn’t thicken up as much as a normal teriyaki sauce since there’s no thickener in it like corn starch, so you need all the help you can get. I added mushrooms to my chicken to amp it up some more, but you can leave them out if you’re like my husband and loathe mushrooms.

Who hates mushrooms?! I love mushrooms. They’re the best.

When you’re done and plating this, make sure you sprinkle it with some green onions and sesame seeds. Everything will come together and taste wonderful. I just barely sauted the zucchini noodles in some sesame oil. That makes the zucchini still have some crunch—and not get bogged down and soggy from the sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken Teriyaki Zoodles

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 25 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Simple chicken and mushrooms in teriyaki sauce, served over zucchini noodles.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 4 TBS. sesame oil, divided
• salt & pepper
• 2 large zucchini, spiralized
• 2 cups baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup erythritol
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, sliced, saving green tops for later
• 2 TBS. rice vinegar
• 1 TBS. sambal oelek or Sriracha
• 1 tsp. dried ginger
• Seasame seeds & green onions, for topping

Directions

1. Heat two tablespoons sesame oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot oil. Cook, stirring, until chicken is no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, for about 3-4 minutes. Remove to a plate.
2. Heat another tablespoon oil skillet over medium high heat. Add zucchini noodles and saute for 1-2 minutes. Remove to a plate.
3. In a small saucepan, heat remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add garlic and green onions and saute for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Pour in soy sauce, vinegar, erythritol, sambal oelek, and ginger. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until mixture is reduced.
4. Toss chicken and mushrooms with teriyaki sauce and zoodles. Serve topped with sesame seeds and green onion tops.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Heat two tablespoons sesame oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot oil. Cook, stirring, until chicken is no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, for about 3-4 minutes. Remove to a plate. Heat another tablespoon oil skillet over medium high heat. Add zucchini noodles and saute for 1-2 minutes. Remove to a plate.

In a small saucepan, heat remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add garlic and green onions and saute for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.

Pour in soy sauce, vinegar, erythritol, sambal oelek, and ginger. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until mixture is reduced. Toss chicken and mushrooms with teriyaki sauce and zoodles. Serve topped with sesame seeds and green onion tops.