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Soy-Glazed Chicken Breasts With Pickled Cucumbers
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- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1shallot, peeled, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise
- ¼cup rice vinegar
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- ¼cup low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 2tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 4boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1½ to 2 pounds)
- 2tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2garlic cloves, smashed
- 1teaspoon coriander seeds, roughly smashed with the side of a heavy knife
- Cilantro leaves and tender stems, for serving
- Steamed rice, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, toss to combine the cucumber, shallot, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper; set aside while you make the chicken.
- Step 2
In a shallow dish, stir soy sauce and honey together; add chicken and turn to coat.
- Step 3
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add garlic and coriander and stir to coat. Add chicken breasts (reserve the marinade) and cook until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. (Browning happens a little faster than usual here because of the honey and soy; if the marinade is getting too dark, lower the heat slightly.)
- Step 4
Add reserved marinade and ¼ cup water to the skillet. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes more per side.
- Step 5
Uncover the skillet, increase heat to medium-high and cook, turning chicken occasionally, until liquid is reduced and chicken is glazed, about 5 minutes. Serve chicken drizzled with any leftover glaze over rice with cucumber salad and cilantro.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Make sure to use low sodium soy sauce. I used the regular kind and I can see every vein in my body and have consumed at least three glasses of water trying to reconstitute my blood stream. Salad was great.
add a little sugar to cucumber marinade
Tasty and super simple, but would recommend a couple of changes: - thighs instead of breasts if you don’t hate yourself - use about 2/3 of the recommended salt on the cucumber salad - a half-half split of seasoned rice vinegar and lime juice as the acid for the salad was terrific; add the rest of the lime to the marinade right before step 4 - garnish with sliced scallion greens ( cilantro) if ya got em
If you use a dark surfaced frying pan, like a cast-iron skillet, try medium-low heat, at least for the initial browning. The chicken will brown too quickly on medium-high. The cucumber/onion salad is an excellent balance for the sweet sauce.
Ran out of rice vinegar and used apple cider vinegar which gave a little bit of sweetness to the cucumbers. Super delish and not over powering.
I made this recipe as written and the garlic/coriander were completely scorched by the time the chicken was browned (step 3). Most recipes recommend 30-60 seconds for garlic before it becomes burnt and bitter-- 6 minutes on medium high heat as written here would burn the aromatics on even on the most conservative of "medium high" heats. Next time I will strain the garlic and coriander seeds out of the oil before adding chicken, and add them back in prior to step 4.
Yes to an inch of ginger grated into the chicken marinade. Put garlic and coriander into the marinade rather than in the skillet before the chicken. Why burn them and ruin the recipe? Turned out well. Yes to toasted sesame oil in the salad plus a big pinch of sugar. Did lime AND rice vinegar. Also put a healthy bit of red pepper flakes in the salad. Thank you everyone else who wrote notes! Your creative suggestions made a first go at this meal a huge success!
I added grated 1 inch of fresh ginger to the marinade, and it made for a delicious sauce. But the resulting chicken breasts were tough and chewy, like all but the most expertly cooked chicken breasts tend to be. The preparation here is delicious, but it won't transform your chicken breast into a more delicious cut of meat. If you're on a diet that can spare it, use this marinade on chicken thighs for a far tastier meal. The cucumbers are a very tasty accompaniment.
My husband and I made this together just as written - absolutely great. Use good soy sauce. The pickles were such a good accompaniment. We made miso soup to round everything out. A pleasure to make this dish in our tiny Tokyo kitchen!
Try lime juice instead of vinegar for the cucumber. And I agree with the pinch of sugar. No say for me, I used low sodium tamari.
Use a sugar-free maple syrup (ie Cary's) or honey substitute (Nature's Hollow makes one). Skip the rice and use riced cauliflower, squash noodles (zucchini, spaghetti, etc), hearts of palm noodles, or kelp noodles!
marinated chicken (i used thighs instead of breast for flavor) in recommended amount of soy and honey; added 3 garlic cloves, 1inch minced ginger, ground pepper, a dash of sesame oil and sriracha and marinated for an hourish. also added radishes to the pickle mixture. along with “seasoned” rice vinegar which has sugar as some cooks recommended. served over seasoned cauliflower rice. FABULOUS.
Very popular with adults and children alike. I used rice noodles instead of rice, and made a spicy Asian aioli to drizzle on top because the chicken itself did not have much sauce. Also made a tempeh version with the same marinade for my vegetarian.
Very easy, healthy weeknight dinner. The chicken was fully cooked by the time I was reducing the glaze so I just removed the breasts from the pan and added them back when the sauce was reduced. I also added a little hoisin sauce to the glaze.
didn't have coriander seeds so i used a little ground coriander. still was great! i cooked some broccoli in the sauce at the end and served over rice. will also add some sugar to the cucumbers next time. this was the rare recipe where a chicken breast actually cooked through in the time quoted.
Added fresh grated ginger and it was delicious!
tasted fine cucumber salad v good but good lord did the glaze make the apartment STINK
Very tasty and easy to cook. I used seasoned Rice Vinegar which has just the right amount of sugar. Slice the cukes as thinly as possible! Radishes do sound like a great idea as well.
Delicious, chicken thighs cook faster than breasts so check temp frequently. Served with coconut rice
Cooked on April 22 2024. Everyone liked it. Very moist chicken. Added lime to the pickle. Could have sliced the red onion in rings.
Used tamari and still very salty. Also fully agree with others who said aromatics are burnt. Would suggest adding aromatics 30 sec before you introduce marinade into pan.
This recipe is fantastic! I used low sodium soy sauce, doubled up on the soy and honey, and added a splash of sesame for the perfect balance. It’s a light and satisfying dish that will definitely be in my regular rotation.
I used a red miso infused tamari, turned out great! Also pulled the chicken out before cranking the heat to reduce the sauce and feel like that definitely kept the chicken from overcooking.
I put the garlic and coriander, plus some ginger, in the soy sauce/honey marinade. Browned chicken on both sides, then added the marinade (plus 2 T water), covered and simmered 2 min on each side. Removed the chicken and cooked the sauce down to glaze, then added the chicken back to the pan and rolled it around in the glaze. Plated chicken and dribbled remaining glaze on a scoop of rice.
This is great but when cooked according to the recipe my glaze always ended up gloopy and overcooked in the time it takes to fully cook the chicken breast. I highly recommend searing the chicken first, removing it from the pan, then briefly sautée-ing the garlic and coriander before adding the reserved marinade and water. Then add the chicken back to the pan and follow the rest of the recipe. Chicken was not overcooked and I finally achieved the glazed chicken and silky sauce I’ve been wanting!
Love all the flavours in this - the coriander seeds really make it. However, I would definitely use thighs next time, or at the very least, halve the chicken breasts, and flatten out for a quick sear & cook - & remove from the pan while the sauce reduces. Then back in for a glaze. Otherwise, this is a keeper for the flavours alone.
I like to add a few chopped peanuts and a dab of chili paste! Scallions make a less-strong substitute for shallots with the cucumbers We serve this over rice ramen instead of rice for fun.
This was so good!! Def adding to monthly rotation of meals!
Add a teaspoon of coriander to the vinegar marinade. It adds a sweet and flavorful crunch
If you're a lazy, single meal-prepper who enjoy's chicken below the FDA 165 suggestion like myself, remove the chicken and let rest at step five (stick a thermometer in to check it though) - reduce sauce on its own, then slice the chicken & return it to the pan.
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