Teriyaki Chicken Casserole [+ Video]
It’s everything you love about takeout without leaving your house. Teriyaki chicken casserole full of fried rice, chicken and veggies for dinner!
Learning to Be Grateful for What We Have
I know, this is kind of like a souped up fried rice, but I’m still calling it a casserole since we are adding in a few extras. I love this fried rice recipe with the ham in it (if you haven’t already, you’re going to want to read this post because there’s a secret to making perfect fried rice).
Well, after we made a huge batch of the fried rice our fridge died. And I mean, died. We went just over two weeks without the dang thing while we waited for parts to come in. That first day I knew I needed to throw together a casserole because we didn’t have anything for dinner that night, so the teriyaki chicken casserole was born and what a blessing in disguise because it turned out awesome-sauce!
Thankful Despite Having No Fridge or Furnace
We’ve always worked really hard on trying to be grateful for the things that we have in our lives. It can actually be kind of hard sometimes too. Either you’re going through a rough time and the blessings seem to be distant memories, or you just get lazy and stop thinking about them.
Well, there were a few months that were bitterly cold and we were feeling so grateful for a warm house. Because almost two weeks after the fridge died our furnace went out. Yaaaaaay. (Can you hear my sarcasm?).
Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Now don’t get me wrong, living without a fridge STINKS. First, we lost a ton of the food in our fridge and freezer. Some of it was frozen, which is why were able to have this chicken teriyaki casserole, but the rest in the fridge molded faster than I could believe — overnight, in fact.
Creating This Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
We eat a lot of produce and green smoothies, protein shakes, and dairy — all of that went out the window. Thankfully it was still crazy cold, so we were able to put a few things outside in a little cooler that didn’t matter if they froze or not. And don’t tell me sour cream, cheese, milk etc does well frozen because it doesn’t. Not to me at least. It changes the consistency and texture.
Anyway, we also stored milk and eggs at a sweet neighbor’s house (the one I’m desperately trying to learn from since she’s such a pure, tender hearted person) and the rest we did without. What a blessing it was that it was winter so we were able to keep those condiments, butter, and such outside.
We learned that we can survive without the fridge. It changed our eating habits and was quite hard, especially for a food blogger, but it just took creativity for meals and helped us to remember to be grateful for our modern day conveniences.
I love the stories of the pioneers and feel such strength from what they endured, so it may be cheesy to you but I feel like I can shoulder my burdens a little better and with a happier heart knowing they endured much worse than I. And that’s what we did, we joked about it and moved on.
The furnace, well, we froze for 3 days and wore snow clothes inside the house and used space heaters but it wasn’t that bad. Definitely a lot of snuggling up.
And in the end we made a killer rice casserole recipe with teriyaki chicken, broccoli, fried rice and extra sauce. So maybe in the end the whole fridge debacle was worth it. Because this teriyaki chicken casserole is that delicious.
What’s in Teriyaki Chicken Casserole?
For this easy chicken casserole, you’ll need fried rice, a chicken breast, a package of stir-fry vegetables, and teriyaki sauce (either homemade or store-bought). We prefer making homemade teriyaki sauce whenever possible, and we make ours with soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, ground ginger, water, garlic, corn starch, and sesame oil.
For the stir-fry vegetables, you should be able to find a blend of bagged, pre-chopped veggies in the produce section of your grocery store. If your store doesn’t carry them, you can buy whatever veggies you want! Think: snow peas, baby corn, grated carrots, bell pepper, etc.
How to Make Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
This teriyaki baked chicken and rice casserole takes just 10 minutes to prep and is a great clean out the fridge meal (which in our case we literally had to do). Here’s how to make this teriyaki chicken casserole recipe:
- Make the fried rice (we’ve linked our go-to recipe in the recipe card below).
- Make the homemade teriyaki sauce. If you’ve never learned how to make teriyaki sauce, don’t worry, it’s super easy! You basically just add all the ingredients into a pan, bring the mixture to a boil, and let it simmer until thickened.
- Place the chicken in a baking dish and pour a little teriyaki sauce over top. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and shred the chicken (I just used two forks).
- Stir together the steamed veggies, shredded chicken, fried rice, and teriyaki sauce and bake until heated through.
When making this recipe, I highly recommend using up any leftover white rice you may have when prepping the fried rice. Properly stored, cooked white rice will last for 4 to 6 days in the refrigerator, so keep this chicken teriyaki casserole in mind the next time you have leftover rice!
Can Teriyaki Sauce Be Frozen?
Yes, teriyaki sauce can be frozen. Place it in an airtight container or heavy duty freezer bag and freeze. Teriyaki sauce can be frozen indefinitely.
Can I Make This Chicken Casserole Recipe with Plain Rice?
Absolutely! If you don’t have the time to make fried rice, feel free to use plain white or brown rice instead. The homemade teriyaki sauce is really flavorful, so your baked chicken and rice casserole will still taste amazing.
How to Reheat Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
Thanks to the homemade teriyaki sauce in this casserole, it reheats really well and doesn’t dry out easily. To reheat leftovers (or if you want to prep this casserole ahead of time and reheat for dinner later), I recommend covering it with aluminum foil and baking for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
More Asian Recipes:
- Easy Asian Orange Chicken
- Korean Asian Braised Short Ribs
- Quick and Easy 15-Minute Chicken Stir Fry
- One Pan Simple Asian Shrimp Noodles
- Thai Noodles with Peanut Butter Sauce
- Asian Chicken Skewers with Honey Garlic Sauce
- Pork Dumplings
- Quick and Easy Cashew Chicken
- Teriyaki Chicken Noodles
- Sweet and Spicy Orange Salmon
- Grilled Sweet and Sour Chicken
- …All of Our Asian Recipes!
More TERIYAKI Recipes:
- Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad
- Teriyaki Beef Casserole
- Easy Chicken Teriyaki
- Teriyaki Pina Colada Burger
- Teriyaki Veggie Bowl
- Easy Teriyaki Chicken Salad
- Teriyaki Beef Wrap
- Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla
- Pina Colada Teriyaki Chicken Strips
- Teriyaki Chicken Noodles
- All our family friendly ASIAN INSPIRED RECIPES here!
Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
Our new book is now available!
This unique cookbook guides the way through every step, including meal lists and easy-to-follow recipes, and features dollops of heartwarming family stories.
Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups [Fried Rice]
- 1 breast of chicken
- 1 package stir fry vegetables found in produce department, including broccoli, sprouts, carrots and snow peas
teriyaki sauce
- 3/4 cup San-J Tamari soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 small garlic clove minced fine
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Make the fried rice per the link above.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- for the teriyaki sauce
- in a medium saucepan, stir together the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, honey, ground ginger, sesame oil, and garlic.
- bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
- in a small bowl, stir together the water and cornstarch.
- add 1 teaspoon of the hot soy mixture to the cornstarch mixture and then slowly pour everything into the boiling soy mixture, whisking until it begins to thicken. set aside.
- Place the chicken in a baking dish and pour 1 cup of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken.
- Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and shred.
- Steam the veggies and then add the veggies, rice and chicken to an 8x9" baking dish.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the leftover teriyaki sauce and stir to combine.
- Place the dish back in the oven for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and drizzle with a little more sauce.
- Serve immediately.
