Glazed with a delicious soy-butter sauce, this Butter Shoyu Chicken will win your family‘s heart! It is a simple recipe that produces a luxurious result. The chicken is exceptionally moist and tender and so flavorful. It‘s ready in just 25 minutes.
Looking to dial things up for your regular chicken recipes? This Butter Shoyu Chicken (バター醤油チキン) is going to be a win. It’s the tastiest, most foolproof chicken dinner I know, and my children can attest to that.
It will remind you of Teriyaki Sauce, but with the addition of butter, the sauce is creamier with a tinge of sweetness and depth of flavor.
What is Butter Shoyu Chicken
Shoyu (醤油) is soy sauce in Japanese, so butter shoyu means butter-flavored soy sauce. If you have never combined these two ingredients together, you will be pleasantly surprised by how delicious the duo brings to a dish.
In Japan, you will see many dishes flavored with this combination and we call it ‘butter shoyu aji‘ (醤油バター味). Whether it’s for a sauteed dish, grilled corn, or wafu pasta (Japanese-styled pasta), butter adds a rich creaminess and sweetness to the salty, savory soy sauce. It makes the most sumptuous sauce when glaze over meats, vegetables, or even noodle dishes. Not to mention, soy sauce gives us a familiar taste to the dish.
How to Make Butter Shoyu Chicken
The ingredients for the butter shoyu sauce is fairly basic and short, but it has all that it takes to enrich a dish.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Skin-on chicken thigh (see why in the cooking tips section)
- Sake
- Mirin
- Soy sauce
- Sugar
- Butter
3 Easy Steps
- Pan sear the chicken on the skin side until golden brown.
- Flip to cook the other side and add sake to steam the chicken until cooked through.
- Season the chicken with the sauce.
Cooking Tips
- Use skin-on chicken thighs – Instead of using chicken breasts, I prefer to use chicken thighs. Fattier than lean meat, they are less likely to turn dry on the heat. The skin from the thigh gives extra flavor and keeps the meat moist and juicy. I recommend removing the bone first so it’s faster to cook.
- Sear until golden brown – The moment the oil gets hot, it’s time to give the chicken a deep, nice sear for presentation and crispness. You’d want to go for a bit darker brown (not burnt) since we’ll be giving the meat a quick steam later that will take away some of the colors.
- Use sake for steaming – Sake not only masks unwanted gamey flavor but also adds nice umami. If you don’t have sake, you can use white wine (dry sherry would be a good sub). Alternatively you can use water, but no additional layer of flavor to the chicken.
- Spoon the sauce over the chicken – After adding the sauce to the pan, repeatedly spoon the sauce over the chicken while the sauce is being reduced. It’s an extra step, but I think it’s really worth it in the end.
What to Serve with Butter Shoyu Chicken
If you are thinking of cooking chicken tonight, definitely give this recipe a try. There is no need to marinate, and you can finish cooking in 20-30 minutes!
Serve the Butter Shoyu Chicken with steamed rice and miso soup alongside a vegetable side dish and you’ve got a delicious meal for the family.
Other Delicious Recipes
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Butter Shoyu Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 thighs; find them at a Japanese grocery store or ask your butcher to debone bone-in, skin-on thighs)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- 4 Tbsp sake (or water; for steaming)
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- From 1 lb boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cut each chicken thigh into 2 pieces (as you see, this chicken thigh is large). Cut off any excess fat. Prick the skin with the tip of the knife to help distribute the flavors and heat faster.
- Lightly sprinkle both sides with ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl: 2½ Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, and 1 Tbsp sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
To Cook the Chicken
- Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When it‘s hot, add 1 Tbsp neutral oil and distribute it evenly. Add the chicken, skin side down, to the hot pan. (If you‘re doubling the recipe, fry the chicken in batches and return it to the pan before continuing to the next section.)
- Cook the chicken until golden brown, roughly 4–5 minutes.
- When the bottom side is nicely brown and crisp, flip over and cook the other side for 3 minutes.
To Steam and Add the Sauce
- Add 4 Tbsp sake and cook, covered, until cooking liquid is gone.
- Remove the lid and wipe off any excess oil from the frying pan with a paper towel.
- Add the sauce ingredients and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter.
- Coat the chicken well with the sauce. Spoon it over the chicken a few times.
- Serve the chicken onto a plate and drizzle it with some sauce. I usually serve simple veggies like blanched broccoli and tomatoes (serve with homemade Wafu Dressing or Sesame Dressing).
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on February 14, 2011. The images and blog content have been updated in May 2021.
This was a delicious dinner and nice and easy for a beginner cook like me! I discovered a little ‘variation’ because I accidentally added the sauce into the pan at the beginning of cooking the chicken, rather than towards the end. I found this also gave a great flavour, you just have to be careful not to burn the sauce. Thanks, Nami, I love your website and will be trying more!
Hi Elerrina! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and our website! Happy Cooking!😊
I made this tonight and all 3 of my kids and husband absolutely loved it. My husband said it was one of the best meals I’ve ever made. My 15 year old son asked if I could make it everyday lol. This was a huge hit and pretty easy to make once you get all the ingredients. The only thing that took a long time was deboning the chicken thighs. If I decide to leave the bones in next time, how would that affect the cooking time? Thank you for all the great recipes!
Hi Angela! We are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this Nami’s Butter Shoyu Chicken recipe very much!🥰
To cook this dish using bone-in chicken depends on the size of the meat; it will take about 20~30 minutes. Please make sure that the meat’s internal temperature reached 165 F degrees when done. We hope this helps!
Can I use boneless skinless chicken thighs?
Hi Ray, Sure, you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Since it will be no skin, you can dust the chicken with some flour to keep the chicken moist.
We hope this helps!
Absolutely phenomenal dish – perfect for the week-night. While the chicken is better fresh off the pan, reheating this in the oven or the microwave (I would use the oven, if possible, since it makes for better texture) is no issue. With that said, this dish is perfect for meal prepping. I did this with boneless, skinless chicken thigh because it’s what I had, but I definitely plan to use skin-in, boneless chicken thighs in the (near) future.
The only the issue I came across was worrying about whether I cooked my chicken for long enough since I don’t have a thermometer pen which is a personal issue haha. All-in-all, I recommend this recipe to cooks of all skill-levels. Cheers!
Hi Isabella, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us. We are glad to hear you enjoyed this dish! As for the thermometer, we highly recommend it! It will be less stress worrying about the Chicken, and the meats are neve overcooked!😃
A quick and easy recipe. It didn’t require any ingredients that I don’t always have on hand. Great for a weeknight dinner with some rice and veg. Delicious!!
Thank you! I have yet to follow a Just One Cookbook recipe that wasn’t a hit!
Hi Gayle! Aww… Thank you very much for your kind word. We are so glad to hear you enjoyed this dish and many others. Thank you for trying our recipes!
Great recipe! I used breast as it’s what I had on hand (I imagine thigh would be even tastier) and it came out great. It’s a very rare recipe that’s quick and simple to do and is very tasty. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi Jason,
Aww…Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoy this dish.☺️
This recipe is amazing. I skipped the sake as I didn’t have any on-hand but it turned out delicious. Since I’m Malaysian, I paired it with the rice from Hainanese chicken rice recipe which I regularly cook and it pairs amazingly well.
Thank you for this and many other amazing recipes that I’ve tried on this website.
Hi Malaysian Fan,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so glad to hear the Chicken turned out delicious and you enjoyed it with Hainanese Chicken Rice. We have to try the combo one day.😋
I made this dish today and my family loved it, including my 2 year old picky eater. She kept pressing me to give her the chicken so I didn’t have time to snap a picture 😂 Thank you for another great recipe!
Hi Selina!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you and your family!
Next time, Please take a cute picture!😊
Hi Nami, I love Japanese food and really wanted to learn how to cook Japanese cuisine. I am so glad and very satisfied that I found your website. It made cooking easier because of you. Every recipe that I have tried really taste so good without adjusting anything. I sometimes have to adjust measurements of ingredients in some of the recipes I found in other websites and sometimes they don’t give all the ingredients. But with you, all good and tummy satisfying. Thank you for sharing your cooking!!
Hi Mildred!
We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you!
Your kind words meant to us a lot! Thank you for writing! 💕
Dear Nami, my parents were from Kumamoto and my mom was a great cook. She made a
similar dish which she called garlic butter chicken. She would fry the chicken in butter and when cooked, she would add a lot of minced fresh garlic and shoyu. It did not make a lot of sauce but enough to coat the chicken. It was delicious and since my dad was diabetic, he could eat it too.
The recipe is as follows: 4 boneless chicken thighs cut into 4, 2T butter, 4-5 cloves garlic minced, 1//3 C shoyu and fry til the shoyu becomes thick This is an approximate recipe as my mom never gave me a recipe to follow. Hope you like it.
Hi June,
Yummy! Garlic Butter Soy sauce Chicken! The aroma from garlic must be good!
Thank you for sharing. We will try in our kitchen! 😋
AWESOME! Reminded me of Bourbon chicken with the deep savory flavor and subtle sweetness to contrast. Rates 10000 on the umami scale
Hi Brayden, We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Is this similar taste to teriyaki except it’s got butter in it?
Hi El! Yes, indeed. 🙂
Thank you for another great recipe! 2nd time I modified to be a little bit like hawaiian stye shoyu chicken. The butter addition is a game changer!
Hi rHolmes! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and how nice you modified it to your liking second time! Thank you for your feedback!
Great recipe again 🙂 Made this with bone in full chicken legs (thigh + drumstick). Put some more sake in to steam it and still ended up divine. The sauce on rice is phenomenal!
Hi Jean! Oh that sounds so delicious with bone-in chicken! YUMMY! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, Jean!
I made this today. The family loved it! It’s so easy and the ingredients are basic so they are something I had on hand already. Definitely will be in rotation now. I have made a bunch of your recipes and they all were awesome! My husband says it’s better than the restaurants!
Hi Virginia! I’m so glad to hear your family enjoyed this recipe and thank you for your kind words. Thank you so much for trying many recipes. 🙂