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–+ servings
rice and cauliflower rice bowl with Japanese barbecue chicken garnished with scallions, sesame seeds, and yum yum sauce

Japanese Barbecue Chicken

Extra lean ground chicken breast with a sweet and savory homemade Japanese barbecue sauce.
4.50 from 4 votes
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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 8 Servings
Calories: 240kcal
Author: Mason Woodruff

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Tablespoon 8g Olive Oil
  • 2 pounds Ground Chicken Breast

For the Japanese Barbecue Sauce

  • 1/2 cup 120g Maple Syrup
  • 1/4 cup 60g Dark Soy Sauce*
  • 1/3 cup 84g Tomato Paste
  • 1/4 cup 60g Mirin
  • 1/4 cup 60g Rice Vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons 32g Toasted Sesame Oil
  • 4 teaspoons Ginger crushed or minced
  • 4 cloves Garlic crushed or minced
  • 3 Scallions greens and whites separated and thinly sliced

Instructions

  • Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Once hot, add the ground chicken and brown one side for 3-4 minutes until golden brown before breaking apart and fully cooking.
  • While the chicken cooks, whisk all the sauce ingredients except the scallion greens together.
  • Once the chicken is fully cooked, add the sauce and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Stir in the sliced scallion greens at the end right before serving.
  • Serve the chicken over rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, freshly sliced scallions, and optional yum yum sauce (see notes below).

Notes

*You can use any soy sauce or coconut aminos in place of dark soy sauce, but your chicken will have a lighter color. If you're unfamiliar with dark soy sauce, you may want to start with half dark soy sauce and half light soy sauce to ensure you like the more developed flavors of dark soy sauce. For shopping reference, Kikkoman's Naturally Brewed soy sauce is available in most stores, and it is a koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce). You can learn more about the different types of soy sauce here.

Serving Tips

To make a low calorie spin on Japanese yum yum sauce, you can mix together 2 tablespoons (42g) honey, 3 to 4 tablespoons (46-60g) sriracha, 1/2 cup (120g) light mayo, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons (30g) rice vinegar. You can add 1-2 tablespoons of water to thin the sauce to your desired consistency.
For a lower calorie rice blend, I like mixing 4 cups of cooked jasmine rice with 2 cups of riced cauliflower (or an Asian stir fry blend in photos here). That leaves you with 3/4 cup or about 4 oz of the rice blend for each serving of ground chicken.
The nutrition information is for the ground chicken breast and sauce only.

Nutrition

Serving: 4.25 oz | Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 8g