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I was first introduced to Japanese chicken by my cousin Rachel Z. when she was in the middle of planning her wedding menu, and it was so good that I knew I’d have to come up with a healthy version! In case you’re not familiar with it, Japanese chicken is breaded, fried, then baked with a delicious sweet-and-sour sauce. The combination of the cooking method (hello, fried chicken!) and the acidic sauce makes for a super-duper-tender chicken that you and your family are going to love!
Taking the extra step of frying the chicken before baking may be a turn-off to some, but it’s so worth it! Plus, this recipe makes enough for 8-10 servings, so unless you have a really big family, chances are that you’ll have some leftovers for another meal. Think of the frying step as a time investment into two awesome chicken dinners.
When I made this Japanese chicken for my family, I served it with mashed caulitoes and green peas. (Trim Healthy Mamas, go easy on the green peas in an S setting since they’re a little higher in carbs than non-starchy veggies like green beans.) Need a mashed caulitoes recipe? Try these Garlic Mashed Caulitoes!
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
You may also enjoy:
- Starting THM
- my recipe index
- my recipes grouped by fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- all my entrée recipes
Want more family favorite entrée recipes? Check out my cookbook!
- 2½ lb. chicken tenders or chicken breasts cut into strips
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¾ c. oat fiber
- ¾ c. golden flaxmeal
- 4 T. salted butter
- ¾ c. reduced-sodium soy sauce
- ¾ c. water
- ½ c. + 2 T. white vinegar
- 1 T. THM Super Sweet Blend
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1½ tsp. xanthan gum
- Whisk the oat fiber and flaxmeal together to make a breading.
- Heat the butter in a skillet.
- Roll the chicken strips in the beaten egg, then in the breading, and fry the strips in the butter on both sides just until golden brown.
- Transfer the chicken strips to baking dishes. I used a 9"x13" and a 7½"x11" baking dish.
- Whisk the sauce ingredients together, adding the xanthan gum last slowly while whisking so it doesn't clump. Pour the sauce over the chicken, then bake (uncovered) at 350* for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Suggested products:
- Oat Fiber
- THM Oat Fiber (gluten-free)
- Golden Flax Seed Meal (iHerb)
- THM Super Sweet Blend
- Xanthan Gum (iHerb)
Could I sub gluccie for xanthan gum?
That would probably work. I personally find that xanthan gum is sometimes less slimy in recipes like this.
Is the cookbook and page # listed somewhere or am I just missing it? If it’s not there I would love to know where to go find it. I love your cookbooks!!! I like to cook from a cookbook and not a computer so I can write down my tweaks for my family. Thanks so much for all the wonderful recipes and ideas!! ?
Hi there! This recipe is in the Main Dish section of Convenient Food. I’m afraid I haven’t had time to go through and mark which recipes are in Convenient Food, but that’s on my list to do when I can. 🙂 After Necessary Food was released I went through all the recipes on my site and marked which ones were in that book. There’s generally a note on those right above the recipe card in the blog post. Generally all the recipes published through July 2016 are in Necessary Food and all the recipes from August 2016-May 2018 are in Convenient Food. I’ll try to go back through and mark which book as well as page numbers when I have time to do some update work on my site.
Great recipe! Thank you for creating it. I added a little lemon extract to the sauce which resulted in a lemon chicken flavor and am really happy with how it turned out.
Happy New Year!
Great idea, Kathy! I’m glad it turned out for you!
Could this be used as a “deep S” in a fuel cycle?
No, I’m afraid that flaxmeal is not Deep S compatible. (It is considered a seed, and seeds and nuts are something we stay away from in a Deep S setting.)
That’s the ingredient I was insure of. ? Thank you.
Could you use THM Baking Blend as a substitute?
It would be worth a try!
Where do you find the oat fiber? The only place I can find it is on Amazon and it is not cheap.
Help?
This looks delicious!
Hi Jill! We usually buy ours from Netrition.com (affiliate link): https://www.briana-thomas.com/recommends/oat-fiber/
That brand tastes the best of any I’ve tried. 🙂 For future reference, I try to include links to the ingredients I use in the recipe and in the Suggested Products section below the recipe.
Oh my goodness! That is MUCH MUCH cheaper! I was looking at a bag for $20! I can do this one. Thank you!
I made this tonight, and it was delicious! Thanks!
I totally forgot about my recipe for Japanese Chicken from my “before” days! I’ll have to try this one. I love your cookbook too! It has a special spot on my counter!
Are the recipes in your cookbook tagged with THM labels (i.e. S, E, etc)?
No, unfortunately due to trademark laws I was not able to use the THM labels, but I made my own categories that are easy to understand. 🙂 You can see them in the book preview here (check out page 10) >> https://www.bookcentra.com/sites/default/files/book_previews/NecessaryFoodPreview.pdf
Put simply, Healthy Fats = S, Healthy Carbs = E, Low Carb/Low Fat = FP, Healthy Carbs & Healthy Fats = crossover, and Foundation Fats = Deep S.
Thank you for helping me decide what’s for dinner tonight… Japanese chicken, with your garlic mashed cauliflower! We are loving your cookbook as well. Thank you for all your hard work and helping this Trim Healthy Mama stay the course! God bless you and I look forward to your next cookbook and more yummy delicious recipes!
I have enjoyed your cookbook. Thanks much for taking time to do this.