This homemade, Paleo teriyaki sauce on chicken thighs and perfectly steamed bok choy is going to knock your socks right the heck off. For my 2nd contribution to our Summer CSA series, I’d love to highlight this delicious, healthy, and abundant vegetable!
To help maximize flavor, I like to brown the chicken first and then, after placing the chicken on a plate in the oven to keep warm, use the brown bits and drippings as a start for the Paleo teriyaki sauce. The sauce takes a little patience to pull together as we need to reduce coconut aminos until they thicken, but it is WORTH THE WAIT. Trust me on this. It’s major. In just 20 minutes, you can have the tastiest, stickiest, most satisfying teriyaki sauce to cross your kitchen stove.
If making the Paleo teriyaki sauce is intimidating, let me reassure you of its ease! You simply pour the coconut aminos (plus a couple other ingredients) into the pan with the leftover butter and seasoning from the cooked chicken, whisk up the brown bits, and stir occasionally until it’s thick and lovely. The garlic and ginger used to season the chicken then help to add that characteristic teriyaki flavor to the sauce. It all works together so well!
The bok choy is simply cooked by a quick steam (via either the stove top or microwave) and then the whole dish is tossed in the delicious sauce just before serving. Enjoy it as-is for a lower-carb meal option or serve it up alongside some white rice (if you tolerate it well)!
Remember that this Summer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) series is a partnership with my girls Juli of PaleOMG an Lexi of Lexi’s Clean Kitchen, so be sure to check out their amazing new recipes, too! Juli made this incredible Huevos Racheros Tostadas with Creamy Tomatillo Salsa and Lexi crafted up a delicious Herb Cucumber Salad.
Paleo Teriyaki Chicken Thighs with Bok Choy
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
- 1 pound bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (may also use boneless, skinless), rinsed and patted dry
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 pound baby bok choy may also use bok choy
- 2 teaspoons white sesame seeds
Instructions
- For the chicken, melt the butter in a large frying pan over high heat. Season the skin-side of the chicken thigh with half of the salt, garlic, and ginger. Once the butter is hot and melted, add the chicken skin-side down in the pan. Season the upward-facing side with the remaining half of the seasoning. Sear on high for 4 minutes, or until the skin starts to crisp and brown. Flip the chicken over, cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Once finished, transfer chicken to a plate, cover with foil, and palace in the oven or microwave (not turned on) to keep warm.
- For the Paleo teriyaki sauce, to the pan with drippings, add the coconut aminos, vinegar, and fish sauce. Whisk to combine and pull up any brown bits in the pan. Continue to whisk for 15-20 minutes while it simmers. When the sauce is close to being finished, it will start to noticeably thicken. At this point, turn the heat down and continue to whisk together in order to incorporate everything completely. If it starts to thicken too quickly, remove from heat and whisk until combined.
- For the bok choy, simply place the leaves in a steamer pot over simmering water or covered microwave-safe bowl with 1/2 cup water. Steam or microwave for 5 minutes, or until the leaves are bright green and less turgid.
- To assemble, toss the chicken and bok choy into the large pan with the teriyaki sauce. Stir to evenly coat and then plate with the sesame seeds.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Made this tonight! Decided to leave the salt out of the seasoning of the chicken since the aminos are salty enough, cut the amino amount to 3/4 cup, didn’t have fish sauce but squeezed a raspberry orange’s juice (cut the saltiness and the raspberry orange is rather tart) in and added a bit of grated fresh ginger….delish!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Marlene!
This was a great use for my bok choy that I totally got from our CSA too! I actually cooked it right in the sauce before it thickened up. Whole thing was super flavorful and delicious! Great for a week night!
So glad to hear that, Mikayla!! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Mine turned out way too salty. What happened?
Coconut aminos are pretty salty! We use the Coconut Secret brand and find that they are a little bit less salty than other brands. Which brand of coconut aminos did you use?
Being unfamiliar with coconut aminos, are Googled them and Quinton formed that they substitute 1 to 1 with soy sauce. One cup sounds like a lot of soy sauce for this recipe! Also they have a link to two major grocery stores that’s supposedly carried coconut aminos, Publix and Winn-Dixie. They have no results when I search them for coconut aminos. Otherwise, this looks like a delicious recipe, but I’m not going to chance it! Please write back with suggestions / Solutions. Thank you, Kirk Cavender
Hi Kirk! One cup is correct. Soy sauce tends to be a bit saltier than coconut aminos, and we’ve found that reducing coconut aminos (like in this recipe) creates a really yummy, sticky sauce. Coconut aminos can actually be found in most grocery stores!
My sauce separated and almost burnt. Big disappointment when following the recipe exactly.
Oh no! We’re so sorry. I wish we could’ve been there with you to see where it may have gone wrong!
Really? The chicken cooks in 9 minutes? Not a chance I want to take.
9 minutes should do the trick, Laurie, but feel free to add extra time if you need to!
Did I do something wrong with the chicken? By searing it it completely burned and it wasn’t done on the inside.
Same. Normally for chicken thighs in a recipe like this you’d sear it and then bake it…not sure what’s up with the 9 min suggested fry time. Doesn’t seem sufficient.
Same and it smoked up my whole place in 5 mins
Oh no! I’m so sorry that happened. We’ll definitely look into this!
Though me and my family are not paleo, it just looked too yummy to not make it, and it was delicious! The chicken was so tender, the sauce was sticky and salty, and the bok choy was lovely and broke through the saltiness. Overall, a keeper that the whole family enjoyed. Thanks!
I’m thrilled to know y’all enjoyed it, TJ!
Just a note that subbing tamari for coconut aminos didn’t work out well – it is too salty and intensly flavored. I’ll try again as per the recipe as the chicken and bok choy turned out well.
Good to know, Lucy! Thanks for sharing.
What a bummer! This turned out way too salty for my taste. I had to doctor the heck out of it just to make it palatable.
This is my first recipe from your site. So simple and so delicious! Thank you for the Monday night inspiration. We’re adding this one to the recipe box.
I have made this twice in the past week- its FANTASTIC! 🙂 Also my first Fed & Fit recipe, and I can’t wait to order your new book! Thank you!
My first Fed and Fit recipe, and my fiancé and I both loved it!!
Thanks!
Awesome!! You’re so welcome!
Made this for dinner tonight…YUM. Even hubby, who isn’t paleo loved it.
That’s the BEST, isn’t it? When I get my husband’s approval, I know it’s blog-worthy 😉