Ginger Chicken Bento Recipe How To Pack A Bento Lunch

Packing a Bento

These days, there are so many styles of bento that there aren’t any hard and fast rules. That being said, here are three guidelines I like to follow to ensure my bentos are practical, balanced, and beautiful:

How to Make Ginger Chicken Bento

Proteins

I try and limit the protein to about a quarter of the bento, and for this one, I’ve added some Ginger Chicken and Tamagoyaki.

Ginger Chicken - With tender, juicy chicken glazed in a sweet and savory sauce that’s redolent of ginger, making this easy bento entree is as simple as pan-frying some chicken, and then glazing it with sake, soy sauce, sugar, and ginger. Tamagoyaki - Tamagoyaki is a Japanese omelette made by rolling thin sheets of seasoned egg and then slicing the resulting log, exposing the layers of egg. It’s a staple of Japanese breakfasts, and the leftovers are perfect for adding a splash of color and protein to this Ginger Chicken Bento.

Carbs

In a traditional Japanese bento, up to half of the bento is rice, but I like to cut that back to about a quarter of the bento. For my Ginger Chicken Bento, I’m using partially milled rice, which is a perfect middle ground between unmilled brown rice and white rice, which has had the most nutritious parts milled away. You could also swap out the rice for Japanese Potato Salad, which includes a colorful array of vegetables.

Vegetables and Fruits

$3 Bento Challenge

Some of you may know me as the host of Bento Expo, and one thing I’ve learned while doing the show is that bringing a bento lunch from home is perhaps one of the best ways to save money while eating healthier. Unfortunately, Japanese food is often considered expensive or unapproachable, so I want to try and change this perception.