12 Aidell's Chicken Teriyaki & Caramelized Onions

Friday, January 8, 2010

Okay, so I have MAD love for Aidells brand chicken sausages and meatballs, particularly the Chicken Teriyaki & Pineapple Meatballs.  I mean, we keep these guys in business with the amount we buy.  Thank goodness they sell them at Costco, otherwise I'd be lost.  LOST.

The following recipe is one of our most favorite and comforting meals, and even the kidlet loves it.

1 package of  Aidells Chicken Teriyaki & Pineapple Meatballs, mushed up in the bag
1 large yellow onion, sliced very thinly
1.5 cups jasmine or basmati rice, cooked (yield is like...4 cups? cooked)
oil
salt & pepper

Heat your largest pan over high flame and add about 2 tbls of cooking oil - any kind, canola, olive, doesn't really matter.

Throw in your sliced onions, and add about 1 tsp of salt and ground pepper.  Arrange evenly in the pan, and don't touch it for at least a minute or two.  Let it start caramelizing.


See?



While the onions are caramelizing, you want to take your bag of meatballs and while the bag is still closed, mush and smoosh up all the meatballs into small chunks.

Before (that is a bit of ice...I keep extra bags in the freezer!):


Apres-smooshing:




Before I got smart, I used to use a knife and cutting board to chop them up.  Took me a few months to realize that the mush-and-smoosh method was so much easier.  And less messy.

Let's check on the onions.


Perfect!  They are now deliciously brown, and sweet.  Now, for the smooshed teriyaki meatballs.  Dump those in with the onions.



Now, I cook these for quite a while over high flame, at least 10 minutes so that the chicken also gets brown and caramelized.  Soooo good!  Add more oil if things start sticking too much.

Last comes the rice.  You did remember to make the rice, right?  Here's a crash course on how to make it.


In this application I normally make the rice a bit ahead of time so it has time to cool down (uncovered), and is not steaming when I add it to the onions and meatballs.  Let's add it now.



Good, good.  This rice is UNsalted.  I never, ever salt the rice before it is fully cooked, and sometimes I do salt it before using it, but for this, we'll just mix it up, and the saltiness of the meat will help flavor the rice.  You can always add salt after mixing it through.


Look at those onions!  Look at that yummy chicken teriyaki!  It's to die for, you really should try it.  Find Aidells in your grocery store, or order it online for heaven's sake.  You won't regret.






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12 comments:

Donna @ Aidells Sausage Co. said...

We, here at Aidells have come across your blog and enjoyed reading how much you love our product. Because you're such a fan, we would love to send you one of our famous "Not Just Another Weenie" tshirts. You can send us the T-shirt size to: info@aidells.com along with your address and we'll get that right out to you. Thanks again for being such a great fan!!! And by the way, your recipe sounds wonderful!!!

Emily @ Bentobloggy.com said...

Thanks, Donna! I emailed you =)

Michimama said...

Emily,
I found your blog while I was looking for a recipe for the Aidell's Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs. Love your site and Love how you made it into 'Cha-han' (Fried rice) American style.
While the idea of fried rice was very tempting, I wanted to add more vegetable into the dish, so I made it slightly differently - perhaps you'd like to give it a try for a different way to eat the meatballs next time!
(1) open up the frozen meatballs in a large pan and pour over 1/3 water, cover and heat
(2) after the meatballs are thoroughly heated through, take out the meatballs and put them aside for now, - you will have juicy sauce in the pan. use kitchen scissors and cut up the meatballs.
(3) put in the sliced onions into the pan and sautee until caramelized - this eliminated the need for oil
(4) I added 'Nira' (Asian Chives) and sliced shiitake mushrooms and sauteed some more (If I had some colorful peppers, I would have used them, but I didn't have any. I think red/green/yellow peppers would make a nice dish as well, instead of the Nira and shiitake)
(5) put the meatballs back in the pan along with a little more water if necessary
(6) cover and simmer until the vegetables are cooked to your liking
(7) serve over rice

I have 2 teenage boys and they love it! Thank you for the sauteeing with onion idea!
I'll be checking your site because I like to make bento boxes too, for my family.

Michi in Rye, NY :D

Bentobloggy said...

Michi, thank you for the recipe, I think it's a great one! I will definitely need to give this a try soon. =)

Eileen said...

I recently bought a couple of packages of these Aidell's meatballs & wanted to see if someone came up with a great recipe using them. I found your blog. As luck would have it I have all the ingredients & will be making this tonight. It looks great & I'm sure it will taste wonderful too. Thanks for a great recipe!

Bentobloggy said...

@ Eileen, it's so yummy! Let me know how you like it. :)

Anonymous said...

Sooooooo good! Thank you!!!

Genealogy Joanie said...

This was a fast and easy dinner when I was too tired to cook up something more complicated. I didn't have basmati rice so used regular white rice. Put a little soy sauce over it in my bowl. And I baked some yams in the microwave to go with it. Delicious. Thanks

Retro said...

Nice to see your blog. I'm really greatful . . . . Thank's for your nice posts

T$ said...

This was super yummy. Made enough for me to take to school for lunch tomorrow.

Unknown said...

This recipe changed my life. I now make this at least once a week. I added green and red peppers at the onion stage.

Emily @ Bentobloggy.com said...

@Aimee - yay! So glad you like it! I will have to try peppers next time I make this!

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