San-J Teriyaki Marinade

This weekend I went to Basics in Janesville, a natural food co-op that many church friends have encouraged me to try. Since I'm over an hour from the nearest Whole Foods, I was hopeful that Basics would fill the gluten-free product void in my heart.

The result? Pure awesomeness. Basics had many of my favorite products as well as many new products I hadn't seen anywhere else before. And it's only twenty minutes away. Prices were comparable to Whole Foods, and the store was easily navigable and well stocked.

For the next few days I'll be featuring some of these tasty gf products as I taste-test them throughout the week.

Today's product?

San-J Gluten-Free Teriyaki Marinade. Please ignore the dishes drying in the background... Just because I cooked well this week doesn't mean the dishes made it back in the cabinet!

I actually jumped up and down a little when I saw this Teriyaki marinade at Basics (which earned me a well-deserved weird look from the woman shopping next to me). Teriyaki! Gluten free!

One of the biggest complaints I have about gluten-free cooking is that it can easily be bland. When many marinades and dressings are in doubt, I tend to order things plain to be safe. No dressing on the salad. No marinade on the chicken. No spice mix on the baked potato.

But spices are... delicious! Marinades are... important! And I just hate eating bland food! Blech.

Yet in Wisconsin in the wintertime, fresh herbs are expensive and difficult to come by. Dried herbs can be kind of... meh.

But teriyaki sauce? This could be the  cat's pajamas.

Was it?

I poured it over some chicken breasts as a marinade, and let these sit in the fridge for several hours. After that I cooked the chicken at 350F for forty-five minutes. I didn't put another thing on them because I wanted to really check out the teriyaki. How would it be? Would it have that same sweet-savory flavor I have always loved in teriyaki? Or would it be sticky-sweet, or bland, or overdone?

It. Was. Awesome.

Flavorful, familiar, delicious.

Next time I cooked chicken teriyaki I would jazz it up with some stir-fried veggies, but not because the sauce needed anything more. Only because I liked it so much I want to put it on more deliciousness. San-J Teriyaki? A+!