Copycat Whiskey-Glazed Sesame Chicken Strips — The Recipe That Taught Me What Military Wife Food Can Be

The book has a cover. Clara sent the design on Wednesday and I stared at it for forty-five minutes without blinking. The cover: a kitchen table, photographed from above. On the table: a cast iron skillet, a recipe card in handwritten script, a wooden spoon, and a small vase of wildflowers. Warm light. The title in serif font: 'Dinner at 1800: A Military Wife's Kitchen.' My name underneath: Rachel Abernathy. My name. On a book cover. RACHEL ABERNATHY. I showed Ryan. He held my phone and looked at the cover and his face did the thing — the soft thing, the proposal-park thing, the Caleb-birth thing — and he said, 'That's your name.' 'That's my name.' 'On a book.' 'On a book.' He kissed my forehead. He smelled like sand and sunscreen (field week) and I didn't care. I sent the cover to Mom. She called within three minutes. 'Is that... is that a cast iron skillet?' 'Yes, Mom.' 'On the cover of your book?' 'Yes.' 'The cast iron is on the COVER, Rachel.' Her voice was doing something I rarely hear — awe. Donna Abernathy, awed. By a cast iron skillet on a book cover. 'The cast iron is the family, Mom. It goes on the cover.' Dad got on the phone. 'I like the wildflowers,' he said. 'Are those from a garden?' 'I don't know, Dad. It's a stock photo.' 'They should be from a garden. Real flowers. From a real garden.' Kevin Abernathy, art director. Wants real flowers on the book cover. Preferably from his garden. The blog this week: I shared the cover. The response was overwhelming — thousands of likes, hundreds of comments, pre-order links going live. People are pre-ordering a book that won't exist for eleven months. They're buying the IDEA of it. The promise of it. Made Soo-Jin's Korean short ribs tonight. The recipe that will be in the book. The recipe that changed my cooking and my friendship and my understanding of what military wife food can be. The cover is real. The book is real. My name is on the cover. Dinner at 1800. The book. The life. The same thing. Always the same thing.

The night the book cover became real, it felt right to make the kind of recipe that started all of this—something bold and a little unexpected, the kind of dish that reminds you food can be a friendship and a philosophy all at once. These whiskey-glazed sesame chicken strips carry that same spirit: a sticky, savory glaze that builds in the pan the way a good story builds on the page, layer by layer, until something extraordinary is sitting right there on your table. Soo-Jin taught me that military wife food doesn’t have to be plain or apologetic, and every time I make a recipe like this one, I feel that lesson all over again.

Copycat Whiskey-Glazed Sesame Chicken Strips

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup whiskey (bourbon works beautifully)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for cooking
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, whiskey, brown sugar, honey, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
2. Prep the slurry. In a separate small bowl, stir the cornstarch and water together until smooth. Set aside near the stove.
3. Sear the chicken. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken strips in a single layer—work in batches if needed—and cook 3–4 minutes per side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
4. Build the glaze. Pour the whiskey-soy mixture into the same pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let it bubble for 2 minutes.
5. Thicken the sauce. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook, stirring constantly, for 1–2 minutes until the glaze thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
6. Finish the dish. Return the chicken strips to the pan and toss to coat evenly in the glaze. Cook 1 minute more until everything is glossy and heated through.
7. Serve. Plate over steamed white rice and finish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 380 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 980mg