grilledchickenbreasts

Jump to Recipe

You can easily buy a marinade for chicken, like our old standby Soy Vay, but this recipe for Miso-Glazed Chicken Breasts is super easy, more flavorful and totally homemade!

Not your average, boring chicken!

To be honest, I get a little sick of chicken.  We eat it every single week.  It’s a healthy protein that’s easy to cook, so it tends to get more than its fair share of time on our weekly dinner menu.  We love Japanese foods and flavors, so I stumbled on this marinade recipe a few years ago, made some tweaks, and now it’s a family staple. Miso makes chicken just a bit more exciting!  

Miso paste is the key ingredient

You can use any cut of chicken, but I prefer boneless chicken breasts with this recipe. Miso paste is the key ingredient here.  It’s salty, earthy and has that rich umami flavor that most taste buds seem to adore.  Either red or white miso paste work well for this recipe.  If you don’t have any miso, it’s definitely worth picking up. You’ll find its one of the most versatile condiments in your refrigerator! Marinades, salad dressings, soups…the uses are endless.

For this Miso-Glazed Chicken recipe, just scoop out 2 tablespoons of miso paste and mix in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (or water), 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of grated ginger or ginger paste, and 1 clove of minced garlic. The consistency should be smooth, like a creamy paste.  Cover 4 chicken breasts with the marinade and let sit for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 hours.  There is something about the miso that tenderizes the meat so that it’s extra juicy and flavorful. 

A grill pan works great!

Remove the chicken from the glaze and wipe off any excess.  At this point, you can either grill the chicken for 10 minutes (flipping mid-way) or pan fry.  We don’t have a grill in Singapore, so we purchased a grill pan and it’s been a total life-saver! I was looking for an eco-friendly, non-stick ceramic grill pan and chose the Scanpan grill pan, which is a Danish brand that wasn’t super expensive but has great quality.  If you don’t have a grill pan, and don’t feel like firing up the grill, you can easily pan fry.  Heat up a bit of  canola oil and cook the chicken breasts around 5 minutes per side.

Miso-glazed chicken breasts can be served this with a variety of side dishes, but I had a bunch of spelt on hand and wanted to make use of it.  I know this sounds strange, but as expats, we often empty out our pantries and alcohol cabinets before moving home. My dear friend Gabriela was an amazing cook with a vegan husband, beautiful children and pantry full of healthy staples.  Though we personally suffered from their departure, my kitchen definitely benefited. Instead of half-empty bottles of liquor, I was the lucky beneficiary of spelt, several bags of hazelnuts, madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, organic cocoa, and a variety of amazing spices.  

Toasted corn and spelt with miso dressing

This was my first time trying this recipe for a toasted corn and spelt salad with a miso dressing and we were pleasantly surprised. We made a few changes, based on what we had in our pantry (regular almonds, not smoked, and regular rice vinegar, not brown), but it still turned out great. You could also pair this with any rice side dish and salad, preferably with a soy-sauce or Japanese dressing.