I LOVE Yaki Tacos from Islands Restaurant! To be honest, had I not worked there back in high school, I probably would have never tried them, but I am so glad I did! Who would have thought that teriyaki would go so well with tacos?
We're moving in a few weeks and we are trying to use up any and all food in our house before we leave. So this recipe uses ground pork because, again, that's what we had, but you can use grilled or sautéed bite size chicken to make it more like the real Yaki Tacos at Islands. When the recipe gets down to the garnishes, I didn't add amounts, it's up to you how much you want to add. :-)
Pork Yaki Tacos
Ingredients
1 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c onion, finely diced
1 lb lean ground pork
1 tbsp flour
10 flour tortillas
Pepper jack cheese, shredded (you can also you regular jack cheese, we just like spicy food!)
Romaine lettuce, shredded (you can use ice berg too)
Cilantro, chopped
Green onions, sliced
Jalapeños, diced
Pineapple, chopped (we used a drained can of pineapple, but fresh would work too)
Ranch dressing
In a small sauce pan, mix pineapple juice and the following through the onion powder. Heat on medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved; set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-hight heat and sautée onions until translucent, but not brown. Add the pork and cook until no longer pink; stirring frequently. Sprinkle in the flour and cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sauce and reduce heat to low and simmer until the suave thickens, about 5 minutes.
Building the tacos from the bottom up: tortilla, cheese, pork, lettuce, cilantro, jalapeños, green onions, ranch (drizzle), and pineapples.
We ate our Yaki Tacos with some leftover pinto beans and it was amazing! Hope you enjoy theses as
much as we did!
Side note: this teriyaki sauce is great to use with any dish calling for teriyaki sauce. I've used it with chicken and served it with white rice and it was so yummy! My 15 month old loves this sauce because it's sweet and delicious!
