What to Serve with Shoyu Chicken? 10 BEST Side Dishes

Shoyu chicken is a Hawaiian dish with Japanese roots. “Shoyu” means soy sauce in Japanese.

The dish is chicken marinated in a soy sauce-based marinade (so the name) and cooked on the grill.

Shoyu chicken is a popular item at most events as it’s delicious and versatile.

It pairs well with multiple items including vegetable stir fry, steamed white rice, buttered corn and sautéed bok choy.

Hence, you don’t have to worry too much about what to serve with shoyu chicken.

Check out below as we make a list of dishes to have with the yummy chicken dish.

Why Consider Serving Side Dishes with Shoyu Chicken?

Shoyu chicken is a popular feature in most gatherings where you serve food.

Everyone loves it but you can’t serve only one dish right? Else, you’ll have to make a huge batch of chicken to fill up everybody’s bellies.

It isn’t exciting to serve only one item even if it is as flavorful as shoyu chicken.

Mealtimes become more exciting when you have extra items to serve together.

One dish with meat doesn’t make a complete meal, even if it can stand alone.

You’ll need various items consisting of veggies and grains to have a full meal.

What to Serve with Shoyu Chicken? 10 BEST Side Dishes

These are some items you can serve with shoyu chicken.

1 – Grilled Mushrooms

–

Mushrooms have an earthy taste and meaty texture but they aren’t heavy.

Hence, they make a good side dish with veggies, grains and meat.

Mushrooms also complement shoyu chicken.

Grilled mushrooms are easy to make and you don’t have to use too many ingredients.

If you have mushrooms, olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and tamari or soy sauce, you can make a lovely dish to go with shoyu chicken.

There are plenty of mushroom varieties you can use to make the dish.

But portobellos are the first choice as they’re excellent for grilling and stuffing.

2 – Cucumber Salad

–

Cucumber salad will be ideal if you want to add crunch to match your juicy chicken.

It adds a fresh aspect, balances the meal and cleanses your palate.

It’s also a simple dish to make as there isn’t any cooking involved.

The salad also doesn’t require more than five ingredients and they include cucumbers, salt, pepper, rice vinegar and fresh herbs such as basil or dill.

Cucumbers can turn mushy as they have a high amount of water.

So, you may soak them in salt water first as it will reduce water quantity and not make your salad soggy.

3 – Sautéed Bok Choy

–

Bok choy or pak choi has a flavor between spinach and water chestnuts and belongs to the same family as cabbage.

It’s edible raw or cooked and either is delicious.

Bok choy also complements shoyu chicken whether cooked or raw but tastes wonderful when fried lightly.

You can therefore include a sautéed bok choy dish with the yummy chicken.

Since you already have a delicious meat dish, it’s best to keep the veggie dish simple.

You can make the dish with bok choy, garlic, sesame oil/safflower oil, soy sauce, ginger and salt (optional).

You’ll have juicy and tender leaves perfect for enjoying with chicken.

4 – Buttered Corn

–

Shoyu chicken pairs well with most foods, so we have a lot of variety on the list.

Corn is delicious, versatile and compatible with chicken.

It’s also a popular item on most occasions.

While grilled corn on the cob is the most popular corn dish, buttered corn is incredible too.

The dish doesn’t require many ingredients except corn, milk, butter, salt and pepper.

However, you must use fresh corn because they’re juicy, sugary sweet kernels that explode with flavor.

But if you can’t find fresh corn, go for frozen variety as they’re the next best thing.

5 – Grilled Pineapple

–

You can also serve fruit dishes with shoyu chicken and grilled pineapple makes one of the best combos.

Juicy pineapple when grilled is even tastier with a slight char and a smoky aroma.

Grilled pineapple is a simple dish requiring only a handful of ingredients, including the fruit, salt, hot pepper sauce, honey, and melted butter.

When combined, you’ll have the most flavorful fruit dish.

Raw pineapple won’t taste too good, though, so try to use ripe fruits but those that are at the right stage.

It must have a firm shell but be slightly soft when pressed.

Hard ones are raw so it’s best to reject them.

6 – Spicy Sesame Zoodles

–

Noodles also complement shoyu chicken, but we’ll add zoodles instead of regular noodles.

They’re zucchini noodles and taste as good as typical flour ones, but they’re healthier.

You can serve zoodles cooked or raw according to the demands of the recipe.

Spicy sesame zoodles require the zucchini noodles to be cooked, but you need not panic because they’re easy to make.

The zoodles consist of an Asian-flavored dressing made of rice vinegar, tamari, sugar, chili paste, garlic and ginger with peanut butter and sesame oil.

Don’t let the zoodles overcook or the dish will become soggy.

7 – Vegetable Stir Fry

–

You can also serve a simple vegetable stir fry with shoyu chicken.

It complements the chicken and you can work with many ingredients as there isn’t a strict rule to use only specific veggies.

Mushrooms, peas, carrots, corn, bell pepper, zucchini, broccoli, and onions are suitable for stir-frying.

Apart from the vegetables, you’ll need olive oil, green onions and sesame seeds for garnish and a sauce made of soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, chicken broth, cornstarch, and garlic.

Overcooked vegetables don’t taste good in stir-fries, so remove the wok or frying pan once the veggies are tender but not too soft.

8 – Coleslaw

–

A cabbage salad like coleslaw is a frequently served side dish at most occasions.

Everyone loves it because it’s compatible with most foods and is easy to make since they require everyday ingredients.

Coleslaw usually requires two types of dressing, vinaigrette and mayo-based.

For this dish, you may use the latter as it offers a tangy texture that will blend nicely with shoyu chicken.

Coleslaw tastes best with fresh veggies.

So when purchasing cabbage, select those that are heavy with tightly bound leaves.

There mustn’t be any soft spots as they can mean spoilage.

9 – Steamed White Rice

–

Rice is also a suitable item to serve with shoyu chicken.

It’s a staple in most areas of the world so you can easily find rice.

A steamed white rice dish with the chicken will fill you up without overwhelming you.

Steamed rice is one of the most accessible foods to cook because there’s no need to add any other ingredient.

However, you must follow the instructions carefully or the rice will be under or overcooked.

Long-grain rice is fluffy while short-grain variety is slightly sticky.

Both complement shoyu chicken so you can cook either type depending on preference and availability.

10 – Hawaiian Mac Salad

–

We have finally made it to the last dish on the list and we’ll close it with the delicious Hawaiian mac salad.

It makes a suitable pairing with shoyu chicken and is one of the most popular dishes.

Besides, it’s a simple pasta dish that requires only a handful of ingredients.

You’ll need macaroni pasta, carrots, celery ribs, green and yellow onion.

Mayo, dark brown sugar, salt, pepper, half and half and apple cider vinegar make up the ingredients for the dressing.

Only the pasta needs to be cooked for the salad.

All other ingredients remain uncooked, but you’ll have to combine everything and let the dish chill for at least two hours before eating or serving.

Conclusion

If you were worried about serving shoyu chicken before because you didn’t know about side dishes, you mustn’t worry anymore because you have at least ten dishes to serve alongside.

They all taste good with shoyu chicken so you can serve any item at any time.

But you mustn’t use the same dish twice in a row.

You should constantly rotate the dishes and use a different item at each event.

That way, you’ll feel like having a new item the next time even if it happens to be something you ate before.