Juicy and tender chicken glazed in a flavorful homemade sauce, this classic Chicken Teriyaki prepared in the authentic Japanese cooking method will be on your dinner routine. It’s so easy, and no bottled teriyaki sauce needed!
Everybody loves some good, juicy chicken with crispy skin that is blanketed with a sweet sticky glaze. Which is why chicken teriyaki, a humble Japanese dish, is so popular everywhere in the world! In this recipe, I’ll show you how to make authentic Chicken Teriyaki at home—the way it is done in Japan.
With the fool-proof Japanese method, you’ll get the most flavorful meat and the crispiest skin. It’s so good, and so easy! You and your family are going to love it.
What is Chicken Teriyaki
Teriyaki (照り焼き) commonly refers to a style of cooking, but it also refers to the name of the cooked dish and the name of the sauce that is used to brush over the food.
To help you understand better: teri (照り) means “luster” given by the sweet soy sauce marinade while yaki (焼き) has a wider definition which can denote “cook or pan-fry or grill”. When translated literally, the dish means “shiny or glossy grilled chicken” as it describes the lustrous glaze on the chicken created by the teriyaki sauce.
There are a lot of teriyaki chicken recipes online, and to be honest, many of them have been modified or deviated from the proper way of making the dish. Here are a few things you might want to know:
- The Japanese don’t bake the chicken or cook them in an Instant Pot or cook in a sheet pan with vegetables.
- We don’t grill the chicken either as most Japanese homes are too small to own a grill.
- There are no bottled teriyaki sauces in Japan. We make our own sauce with usually 4 simple pantry ingredients.
So how do we prepare it in Japan? Chicken teriyaki is done by pan frying the meat over the stove until the skin is nicely seared, and then simmer it with the sauce until it thickens and caramelizes, leaving the chicken with an irresistibly glossy finish.
Watch How To Make Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients for Chicken Teriyaki
Best Cut of Chicken For Teriyaki
Boneless, skin-on chicken thighs are always a preferred choice because they don’t dry out quickly. We almost always use skin-on because the skin provides a safety layer between the chicken flesh and the hot pan. The chicken skin also acts like a magnet for the sticky sauce so it absorbs better and works its way into the meat. As a result, you get moist, flavorful, and juicy meat every time.
Authentic Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
The basic teriyaki sauce is made of only 4 simple ingredients:
- Soy sauce – This is the most important and obvious ingredient as it gives teriyaki sauce the rich dark color. It imparts umami and saltiness. You want to use Japanese soy sauce, and not any kind of soy sauce.
- Sake – This is Japanese rice wine, an essential ingredient in Japanese cooking. Aside from tenderizing the meat, the amino acids in sake also removes any unpleasant odor of the chicken. Other key reasons to use sake is it adds subtle sweetness and umami to the dish. See my recommended sake brand and substitution here.
- Mirin – This sweetened rice wine adds a natural sweetness that helps to temper the saltiness in the sauce. Besides adding a nice shine to the sauce, it also helps the flavor to sink in and fully develop. Read more about mirin here.
- Sugar – Sugar plays an important role to balance out the saltiness of soy sauce, lending teriyaki sauce its signature sweet and savory flavor. We also need the sugar to thicken the sauce so it will caramelize beautifully and create a beautiful glossy sheen that coats the chicken.
Optional ingredients: Sometimes aromatics like grated ginger can be added for extra flavors. Each time I make teriyaki recipes, I would change things up slightly based on the ingredients. In this recipe, I added grated onion and ginger to the sauce for additional depth and zing.
The ratio of my basic homemade teriyaki sauce is 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts sake, 2 parts mirin, and 1 part sugar. Feel free to adjust the ratio to suit your taste. Easy?! You can even make a big batch and store it in a bottle in the refrigerator.
FAQ – Do I Add These Ingredients in Teriyaki Sauce?
I’ve seen many non-Japanese recipes that include ingredients such as rice vinegar, honey, brown sugar, or garlic in the teriyaki sauce. I would not recommend them if you wish to follow the authentic Japanese cooking method.
Some people also use corn starch to thicken the sauce, but it is not needed for my recipe. As the alcohol from sake and mirin evaporates, the sauce will naturally reduced and thicken with the sugar caramelizing during the simmering process.
3 Tips to Make Chicken Teriyaki – Japanese Method
1. Prick the chicken: It’s important to prick the chicken’s skin with a fork so that it releases the oil easily while cooking and the flavors will be absorbed quickly. It is an extra step, but it makes a difference in the end.
2. Pan-fry the chicken: Japanese home cooks prepare this dish by pan-frying the chicken. It’s quick, easy, and all you need is a reliable frying pan. When you cook the chicken, remember to start with skin-side down, let it sear undisturbed until the skin crisps up and nicely browned.
3. Patiently spoon over the teriyaki sauce: Once the teriyaki sauce is poured over the chicken, tilt the frying pan to spoon the sauce and pour over the chicken. Repeat this process until the chicken absorbs the delicious glaze and starts to shine.
What to Serve With Chicken Teriyaki
Simple and bursting with sweet yet savory flavor, I believe anyone can cook up this classic Japanese dish at home. Serve the Chicken Teriyaki with steamed rice with a salad, or steamed vegetables like broccoli, and perhaps green onions and sesame seeds for garnish on the side. You will have a delicious weeknight meal for the whole family!
Other Teriyaki Recipes You May Enjoy
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Chicken Teriyaki
Video
Ingredients
- 1 knob ginger (1", 2.5 cm)
- ¼ onion (1 oz, 30 g)
- 1 lb boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
- kosher or sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc.) (for step 7)
- 2 Tbsp sake (for steaming)
- 1 tsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc.) (for step 10)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make Teriyaki Sauce
- In a large bowl, combine grated ginger and grated onion, including juices. I use this grater to grate the ginger.
- Add all the ingredients for teriyaki sauce in the bowl and mix together.
To Prepare Chicken
- Prick both sides of the chicken with a fork so it absorbs more flavor.
- Cut the excess skin and fat and lightly season with salt and pepper.
- Optionally, you can marinate the chicken for 30 minutes. In Japan, we don’t usually marinate the chicken prior to pan-frying as it can easily burn. I normally go straight to cook the chicken without marinating, yet chicken teriyaki has a wonderful flavor. Today I’ll show you this optional method because I want to point out key points in case you decide to marinade.
To Cook Teriyaki Chicken
- Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Remove marinade from the chicken as much as possible so the chicken gets a nice sear and won't end up cooking/steaming in the sauce. Place the chicken skin side down, RESERVING the sauce. Use a splatter screen if you have one (it’s a pretty neat tool to prevent splatter especially you cook bacon and oily foods).
- When fat renders and skin is golden brown, flip the chicken and add sake. Quickly cover with the lid and steam the chicken over medium-low heat for 8 minutes.
- Open the lid and transfer the chicken to a plate. Wipe off excess grease from the pan.
- Heat 1 tsp oil and put the chicken back in the pan, skin side down.
- Flip the chicken and now the skin side is up. Pour the reserved teriyaki sauce. Cook until the sauce is reduced to about half, frequently spooning the sauce over the chicken. Once alcohol from sake and mirin evaporates, sugar crystallizes and the sauce gets thicken. Turn off the heat.
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and slice into bite-size pieces.
- Serve on a plate and drizzle the remaining sauce on top.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Mar 22, 2012. The new images and video are added and content is updated in September 2017.
