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This frugal bento costs just $1.80 to make, and is loaded with fresh vegetables and fruit, along with Ginger Chicken and Rice.

Ginger Chicken Bento

This colorful Ginger Chicken bento box comes together from just twelve simple ingredients that cost about $1.80 per box. With tender chicken coated in a fragrant ginger glaze, Tamagoyaki, and a fresh medley of vegetables and fruit, this bento lunch is a frugal yet flavorful meal that you can take on the go.
Course Entree
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword bento, bento box, lunch
Level Beginner
Main Ingredient Egg, Poultry
Diet Dairy-Free
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 2 bento boxes
Calories 514 kcal

Ingredients

For ginger chicken

  • 285 grams chicken thighs
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sake
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger

For packing bento

  • 1/2 batch tamagoyaki
  • 220 grams cooked rice
  • 16 grams frill lettuce
  • 60 grams broccoli (blanched)
  • 2 strawberries
  • 24 grams carrots (sliced, blanched, and cut into flowers)
Metric - US Imperial

Instructions

  1. To make the sauce for the ginger chicken, combine the soy sauce, sake, sugar and grated ginger in a small bowl and stir together until the sugar has dissolved.
    Mixing the sauce for ginger chicken together.
  2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat along with a splash of oil, and add the chicken in a single layer. Fry until it's browned on one side (about 2-3 minutes)
    Pan-frying chicken for making ginger chicken.
  3. Flip the chicken over and continue cooking until for another minute.
    Pan-fried chicken thighs for ginger chicken bento.
  4. Use a paper towel to soak up any excess oil in the pan.
    Wiping the fat out of a pan with paper towels.
  5. Add the sauce and caramelize it around the chicken until there's almost no liquid left. Let the chicken cool before packing it into a bento.
    Pan-fried chicken with a ginger soy glaze.
  6. To assemble the bento, add your rice to your bento box first. This provides a base to arrange all your other ingredients.
    Packing a bento starts with rice.
  7. Arrange the chicken next to the rice.
    Ginger chicken gets added next to the rice.
  8. Add some frill lettuce to separate the chicken from the vegetables, and if you have a deeper bento box, you may want to pad the bottom of the box with some lettuce too.
    Frill lettuce is used to partition the bento box.
  9. Add the slices of tamagoyaki using the broccoli to fill the spaces around them.
    Tamagoyaki and broccoli are added to the Ginger Chicken Bento.
  10. Fill the remaining space with the strawberry and slice it in half if necessary.
    A strawberry is added to the Ginger Chicken Bento.
  11. Decorate the bento with the flower-shaped carrots.
    Flowers cut from carrots are added to the Bento.
Nutrition Facts
Ginger Chicken Bento
Amount Per Serving
Calories 514 Calories from Fat 216
% Daily Value*
Fat 24g37%
Saturated Fat 6g30%
Cholesterol 139mg46%
Sodium 633mg26%
Potassium 501mg14%
Carbohydrates 42g14%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 8g9%
Protein 28g56%
Vitamin A 2345IU47%
Vitamin C 34.6mg42%
Calcium 37mg4%
Iron 1.6mg9%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.