Soy Molasses Chicken

I’m still mourning the loss of my favorite honey garlic teriyaki sauce that is no longer available for purchase. When I pass the neatly lined up jars of prepared marinade on the grocery store shelf, I look longingly for my preferred brand. It’s not there. The company inexplicably discontinued this product and in spite of a great hue and cry from their loyal customers, it remained unmoved. But I’ve discovered a recipe that infinitely surpasses the prepared sauce that I was using. This recipe for soy molasses chicken makes its own thick and glossy teriyaki sauce while it bakes. It couldn’t be easier, faster or tastier. Rose Reisman’s chicken with soy molasses sauce is from her outstanding cookbook Weekday Wonders : Healthy Light Meals for Every Day.

Soy Molasses Chicken

This recipe calls for molasses, an ingredient that is commonly used when making gingerbread cookies. Molasses is the dark, sweet, syrupy byproduct produced during the extraction of sugars from sugarcane and sugar beets. Molasses adds a rich, sweet but slightly burnt flavor to baked goods and savory dishes alike. It is a unique ingredient that does not have a clear substitute. But don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you without options.
If you’re working on a recipe that calls for molasses, but that’s not something that you usually keep on hand, try using one of the following substitutes. 
Replace one cup of molasses with one of the following:
• 1 cup dark corn syrup, honey, or maple syrup
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup water
These substitutions may change the taste of your recipe a bit. If the molasses flavor is central to your recipe, try the brown sugar substitute. Since brown sugar is made from granulated sugar and molasses, it’ll be the closest flavor match. Molasses has a long shelf life and is quite inexpensive. If you have access to this product, tuck a container of it away in your pantry.
The recipe for this soy molasses chicken takes 20 minutes from start to finish. You can prepare the sauce up to one day in advance. Sauté the chicken, add the sauce and bake it when you’re almost ready to serve.

Assemble your ingredients. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts. (I weighed out 4 chicken breasts and sliced down vertically to create 8 pieces.) Dust the chicken breasts with corn starch, and brown them lightly in 2 tablespoons of oil. Do not cook the chicken breasts completely. They should still be raw in the middle.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Finely mince or grate 2 cloves of garlic and a 1 inch knob of fresh ginger. You can use frozen cubes if you like. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, water , molasses, cornstarch, garlic and ginger to a 9X13 pan. Stir to mix the sauce ingredients until smooth. Add the browned chicken pieces to the pan and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, uncovered. Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the rich and glossy teriyaki sauce over the chicken.

Transfer the chicken to your serving dish and garnish them with sesame seeds and sliced green onion if you like. This chicken is delicious served with rice.

Print Recipe

Soy Molasses Chicken

Meat, Chicken and Fish

By Rose Reisman, Weekday Wonders: Healthy Light Meals for Every Day – Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 5 minutes – Cooking Time: 15 minutes – Total Time: 20 minutes

Lightly browned chicken breasts coated with a thick and rich teriyaki sauce with a deep umami flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated (2 frozen cubes)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped or grated (1 frozen cube)
• Garnish
• 3 green onions sliced on the bias (green part only) (optional)
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 425 F.

2

Cut 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts (about 4 pieces) in half, from top to bottom. You still want thick cutlets, just smaller pieces. Dust the chicken breasts with cornstarch.

3

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan.

4

When the oil is hot, add the pieces of chicken breast to the frying pan. Brown lightly on both sides. Do not cook through.

5

In a 9X13 inch pan, combine all of the sauce ingredients. Add the chicken to the pan and spoon the sauce over the chicken.

6

Bake uncovered on the middle rack of the oven for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken as the chicken cooks.

7

Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the sauce over the chicken.

8

Transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish and scrape out the remaining sauce from the pan over the chicken. Garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions if you like.

Notes

If you're pressed for time, you can use frozen ginger cubes and frozen garlic cubes to make the marinade.