Chicken is one type of meat most of my family can agree upon. Not everyone likes beef or seafood. But if I roast a chicken, or if I dice up a chicken breast and serve it with some simmer sauce and rice, everyone loves it.
Apparently, a lot of Trader Joe’s shoppers like chicken as well because they ranked several chicken dishes among their favorites in the grocer’s 14th Annual Customer Choice Awards. TJ’s Butter Chicken — a personal favorite of mine — came in as the winner in the entrée category. Their Chicken Tikka Masala was a runner up, as was their Kung Pao Chicken. Another runner up was this BBQ Teriyaki Chicken. When I spotted it in the freezer aisle at Trader Joe’s, I bought a bag.
Trader Joe’s BBQ Teriyaki Chicken cost $5.99 for a 21-ounce package at the time of publication. The package describes this as “marinated barbecue chopped dark chicken meat with authentic teriyaki sauce.”
Ingredients include boneless skinless chicken leg meat, water, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, modified cornstarch, salt, lime juice concentrate, ginger, garlic, and green onion.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains soy and wheat.
Nutrition information, ingredients, and heating instructions. (Click to enlarge.)
One package has about four 1-cup servings. One serving has 240 calories, 9 grams of total fat (12% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 710 mg of sodium (31% DV), 11 grams of total carbohydrates (4% DV), and 10 grams of added sugars (20% DV). It does contain some added sugars, but that’s typical of any teriyaki dish.
This is sold frozen. It’s fully cooked and simply needs to be heated and served. The back of the bag has directions for heating this in a microwave or on the stovetop.
To microwave, open the bag and put frozen chicken strips into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and heat for 3-4 minutes. Pour sauce on top of the chicken and toss. Continue heating in 1- to 2-minute increments until fully warmed.
To heat on the stovetop, heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add chicken and stir fry until heated through, about 6-8 minutes. Add sauce and stir until hot.
Chicken after heating in a skillet.
I opted to heat this in my Aldi Awesome Pan on the stovetop. It was a cinch to prepare. I stirred the chicken often as it heated to keep it from sticking, and it was easy to add in the two teriyaki sauce packets included in the package.
This meal was an instant hit with my family. My pickiest young eater took one bite and said, “Yum!” Then they reached for the serving spoon to get some more chicken, and they ended up eating another helping later. The bite-sized pieces of dark meat chicken are tender and flavorful, and the teriyaki sauce tastes just right. I served this with some white rice, egg rolls, and other Chinese-American takeout style foods.
Given how much my family liked this, and considering that the ingredients list features mostly recognizable, whole ingredients (although it does have some added sugars), I’ll probably buy this again.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s BBQ Teriyaki Chicken is an easy frozen meal that is great when you need a quick dinner on a busy evening. Simply dump the frozen chicken into a skillet, heat it through, and add the teriyaki sauce packets. Make it a complete meal by serving it alongside rice, veggies, and/or other takeout-style sides. Even the picky eaters among our taste testers loved this dish and went back for seconds.
