My Chicken Teriyaki Bento recipe makes packing lunch easy. Just cook extra chicken teriyaki for dinner to speed packing your bento the next morning. In this guide, I‘ll show you how to add cucumber salad, apple bunnies, and steamed rice to complete this balanced meal to go.
TGIF! How was your week? I cannot believe we are already at the end of September. Didn’t schools just start not long ago? Just like any other families with children, I sometimes find it difficult to prepare dinner with everything that’s going on. I cook dinner almost every day, so quick and easy recipe like Chicken Teriyaki comes in handy. It’s especially tasty with the homemade sauce.
If your rice cooker has a timer, you can wash rice and set it to be ready for your dinner time. I defrost chicken in the morning before I drop off my children at schools. And when I come home for lunch after picking up my daughter, I quickly marinate the meat. If you are working full-time, you might have to plan ahead so that you can marinate the chicken before going to work.
About 40 minutes prior to dinner time, you can start cooking the chicken. While you are doing so, you can make quick Miso Soup and a simple salad. If you still have some time, you can make another quick side dish like Sunomono (Cucumber Salad). There you go, healthy homemade food!
I wish everyone a fantastic weekend. I definitely need to catch up some sleep as well as some blogging work, and of course, have some fun with my family. Enjoy!
Previous Dinner was:
Chicken Teriyaki (I used chicken thigh WITHOUT skin this time), and quick side dish Sunomono (Cucumber Salad).
Lunch Next Day:
- Chicken Teriyaki Bento
- A small size box of fruits: strawberries.
- Water bottle
Other Homemade Bento Ideas:
Chicken Teriyaki Bento
Ingredients
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice (enough to fill half the bento box)
- chicken teriyaki (pre-made; you can make my Chicken Teriyaki recipe)
- lettuce (for garnish)
- cherry tomatoes
- Sunomono (Japanese Cucumber Salad) (pre-made; you can make my easy Sunomono recipe)
- 2 slices bunny-shaped apple (see my tutorial on how to make an apple bunny)
- furikake (rice seasoning) (you can make homemade Furikake)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Gather all the ingredients. For the steamed rice, please note that ¾ cup (150 g, 1 rice cooker cup) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yields 2¼ US cups (330 g) of cooked rice. See how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot on the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe.
- Fill up half of the bento box with cooked Japanese short-grain rice. Let it cool so that the hot rice will not warm up the other cool food.
- Reheat the leftover chicken teriyaki in a frying pan until it‘s warmed thoroughly. Let it cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, wash some lettuce and cherry tomatoes and pat dry. Place them nicely in the bento box once the rice is slightly cooled.
- Pack the cooled chicken teriyaki on top of the lettuce.
- Add some Sunomono (Japanese Cucumber Salad) to a silicone cup and put it in the bento box. Make sure you do not include any liquid.
- Pack 2 slices bunny-shaped apple in an open space in the bento box.
- Sprinkle furikake (rice seasoning) on top of the slightly cooled rice.
- Cool down completely before closing the bento box.
Notes
Nutrition
Click here to see how to make Apple Bunnies (Apple Rabbits).
Enjoy making bento!
Hi Nami-san, i’m looking into ideas for bento boxes for my daughter and stumbled upon your website. Do you wait for the chicken teriyaki to be cool before placing in the lunch box? Do you also add an ice pack? I’ve tried giving my daughter cold rice and it works great with Nori. Need some more tips about packing cold meat. Thank you!
Hi Judy, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post.
We highly recommend re-heating the food before packing and cool down the food completely before closing the bento box. And YES! Please don’t forget to keep ice packs in a lunch bag! Here Nami explains more about how to pack bento. We hope this is helpful.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-bento/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/food-safety-tips-for-bento/
I made this for dinner last night and it was outstanding. It will be one of my favorite JustOneCookbook recipes.
Hi Angelo! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
I just stumbled upon your site and I love your bento recipes. They are not too kiddie for me which I can also prepare for dinner. I have bought lovely traditional bento boxes here: http://www.katachiware.com.au/bento-boxes.html which I haven’t any idea yet what food should I put there. And your recipes were prefect to try out with my new babies <3 Thanks
Hi Cee! You have very nice traditional bento boxes. Hope you enjoy making bento! So happy to hear you like my bento posts. 🙂
Hey! I just love how you explain how to make these pretty bentos. I’m not a Japanese, and how these pretty and tasty things are made are such a mystery to me. Maybe one day I’ll try sprucing up my bento like this. 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂
Thanks for the instructions on making the apple bunnies!! Recently, I’ve been packing a banana and some grapes with my lunch, but it’s time for some variety. =) I usually use a little lemon juice to keep apples from browning, but I’m going to try the salt water technique you mentioned!
Hi Kimmi! Japanese use salt water for apples, and I didn’t know about lemon juice until I came to the US. 🙂 Salt water always work perfectly, so please give it a try when you don’t have a lemon! 🙂