Learn how to cook classic Chicken Teriyaki at home in less than 20 minutes using authentic Japanese cooking methods. You‘ll love the seared and juicy chicken thighs glazed in an easy and flavorful homemade sauce. No bottled teriyaki sauce needed!
Everybody loves some good, juicy chicken in a sweet sticky glaze. This 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—how it is done in Japan.
This foolproof Japanese method gives you the most flavorful meat and the crispest skin. It’s so good, easy, and a sure win for a weeknight dinner.
Table of Contents
What is Chicken Teriyaki?
Teriyaki (照り焼き) commonly refers to a style of cooking, but it also refers to the name of a cooked dish or 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 broader definition that 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 homemade teriyaki chicken recipes online, and to be honest, many of them have been modified or deviated from the original method. Here are a few things you might want to know:
- The Japanese don’t bake the chicken teriyaki in the oven, cook it in an Instant Pot, or cook it in a sheet pan with vegetables.
- We don’t grill the chicken at home either, as most Japanese homes are too small to own a grill.
- There are no bottled teriyaki sauces in Japan. We usually make our sauce with four simple pantry staples.
So, how do we cook chicken teriyaki in Japan? We pan-fry the chicken over the stove until we sear the skin, then simmer it with the sauce until it thickens and caramelizes, leaving the meat with an irresistibly glossy finish.
Ingredients for Chicken Teriyaki
It’s amazing that you only need a few pantry staples to make this classic Japanese recipe!
- Chicken thighs – For the traditional authentic version, choose boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, but you can also use skinless chicken thighs. How about chicken breasts? I’ll discuss about it in the next section.
- Salt and pepper – Just a little bit of these. Most flavors come from the teriyaki sauce.
- Homemade teriyaki sauce – 4 simple ingredients: Soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar.
Skinless or Skin-on Chicken
In Japan, boneless, skin-on chicken thighs are always preferred for chicken teriyaki because they don’t dry out quickly. The skin also provides a protective layer between the chicken flesh and the hot pan. Chicken skin yields a delicious flavor and acts like a magnet for the sticky sauce. As a result, you get moist, flavorful, and juicy meat every time. American grocery stores typically carry bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. You can ask the butcher to remove the bone for you, or you can debone the thighs with a sharp knife.
Here in the U.S., however, most people prefer boneless, skinless chicken thighs. So my teriyaki recipe below focuses on the recipe with skinless thighs. You can see my skin-on version at the end of the recipe instructions.
Chicken Thighs vs. Breast
When cooking chicken, thighs are more forgiving than breasts. Thighs can withstand higher temperatures and longer cooking times. Which is why thighs are ideal for this Chicken Teriyaki recipe.
The fat from chicken thighs keeps the meat moist and tender throughout cooking, resulting in a juicier and more flavorful dish.
You can use chicken breasts if that’s what you prefer. Just remember that chicken breasts have more fiber and tend to turn rubbery sooner than thighs.
Authentic Teriyaki Sauce
The basic teriyaki sauce is made of only four simple ingredients:
- Soy sauce is the most critical and prominent ingredient, giving teriyaki sauce a rich, dark color. It imparts umami and saltiness. You want to use Japanese soy sauce, not other Asian soy sauce.
- Sake is Japanese rice wine, an essential ingredient in Japanese cooking. In addition to tenderizing the meat, the amino acids in sake remove any odor of the chicken. Other key reasons to use sake? It adds subtle sweetness and umami to the dish. See my recommended sake brand and substitution here.
- Mirin is Japanese sweet rice wine. This syrupy condiment adds a nice shine and natural sweetness to the sauce, helping to temper its saltiness. It also helps the flavor sink in and fully develop. Read more about mirin here.
- Sugar plays a vital role in balancing 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 glossy sheen that coats the chicken.
My basic teriyaki sauce consists of two parts soy sauce, two parts sake, two parts mirin, and one part sugar (2:2:2:1). You can adjust the ratio to suit your taste.
You can even make a big batch of Homemade Teriyaki Sauce ahead of time and store it in a bottle in the refrigerator.
Optional Sauce Ingredients:
Sometimes, you can add optional ingredients such as grated ginger, grated onion, and minced garlic for additional depth and zing. You can change things slightly based on the ingredients (meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, and tofu).
Many teriyaki sauce recipes I’ve seen online call for rice vinegar, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, or apple cider vinegar in the sauce mixture. I would not recommend them if you wish to follow the authentic Japanese cooking method.
Some people even use cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but it is unnecessary. As the alcohol from sake and mirin evaporates, the sauce will naturally reduce and thicken with the sugar caramelizing during the simmering process.
Should we marinate the chicken in the teriyaki sauce?
In Japan, we don’t typically marinate chicken to make chicken teriyaki because we use a pan-frying method. When you cook the marinated chicken in the frying pan, it steams in a pool of the remaining marinade, making it more difficult to get a nice searing mark.
If you plan to cook the chicken on your BBQ grill, you can marinate it. Since you cook it over an open frame, the chicken will not stay in a pool of marinade and can get a nice char on it.
How to Make Chicken Teriyaki
Chicken teriyaki is so easy and quick to make. You will need a sharp knife, a cutting board, a large frying pan, and a small mixing bowl. In less than 20 minutes, you will be enjoying delicious chicken teriyaki!
- Mix the homemade teriyaki sauce. Heat it in the microwave and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Prepare the chicken. Score and flatten the thighs to create an even thickness. This step is really important, so please don‘t skip it!
- Pan-fry the chicken. Sear the presentation side, then cook for 5 minutes. Flip over, sear the other side, and cover and steam it for another 3 minutes.
- Add the teriyaki sauce to the pan. Spoon the sauce over the thighs until well coated. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the pan. Slice and drizzle with the sauce.
Chicken Teriyaki Cooking Tips
- Score and flatten the thighs for an even thickness. Cut slits across the meat every ½ inch (1.3 cm) without slicing all the way through. Make deeper slits on the chicken‘s thick parts and skip scoring the thin parts. After each cut, press open and flatten the meat with your fingers. Scoring and flattening the meat will help distribute the heat evenly and prevent overcooking for dramatically juicier chicken! It is an extra step, but it ultimately makes a difference.
- Pan-fry and sear the chicken (5 minutes): You only need a reliable frying pan or large skillet to pan-fry the chicken. The pan and oil must be hot before adding the chicken so it gets a nice brown sear quickly. When you cook the chicken, remember to place the smoother side (or the skin side) down first. Press the chicken down with a spatula and let it sear undisturbed until the skin crisps up and browned.
- Steam the chicken (3 minutes): Flip and cook covered on low heat once the chicken is browned. Steaming helps cook thoroughly until no longer pink inside. It’s best not to overcook the chicken as it will continue to cook with the sauce.
- Patiently spoon over the teriyaki sauce: Once the teriyaki sauce is poured over the chicken, tilt the frying pan to pour the sauce over the chicken. Repeat this process until the chicken absorbs the delicious glaze and starts to shine. Remove the chicken and reduce the sauce in the pan if the sauce is too thin.
What to Serve With Chicken Teriyaki
Simple and bursting with sweet yet savory flavor, I believe anyone can cook this classic Japanese dish at home. Serve the Chicken Teriyaki with rice with a salad or steamed vegetables like broccoli. Here are some side dish ideas that pair well with chicken teriyaki:
- Quick Blanched Broccoli with Sesame Oil
- Green Bean with Sesame Dressing
- Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Japanese Kani Salad
- Wafu Salad
- Vegetable Miso Soup
Other Teriyaki Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Love teriyaki dishes? Find salmon, tofu, chicken meatballs, and beef in 17 Best Authentic Teriyaki Recipes to Make At Home!
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Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- ¾–1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I highly recommend using skin-on, boneless chicken thighs if you can find them)
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil (for cooking the chicken)
Instructions
- In Japan, we use boneless, skin-on chicken thighs for this dish because the flavorful skin provides a protective layer, keeps the meat juicy, and helps the delicious glaze adhere to the chicken. Thighs are more forgiving to cook than chicken breasts, too. Read more about it in the blog post above.For this recipe, I focus on skinless and boneless thighs since that‘s how they‘re commonly sold in the US. However, if you have the chance, I encourage you to try my skin-on recipe at the end of the instructions below.
- Now, gather all the ingredients.
To Mix the Teriyaki Sauce
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the sauce ingredients: 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp mirin, 2 Tbsp sake, and 1 Tbsp sugar.
- Microwave the sauce until hot. Mix well to dissolve the sugar and set aside.
To Prepare the Chicken
- Place ¾–1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs smooth side down on a cutting board. Now, use the scoring method to create an even thickness so the thighs cook evenly. First, cut slits across the meat every ½ inch (1.3 cm) without slicing all the way through. Note: Do not use a meat mallet/tenderizer for this important step, as you may damage the thighs.
- Make deeper slits on the chicken‘s thick parts and skip scoring the thin parts. After each cut, press open and flatten the meat with your fingers. In the below images, you can see how I scored (left) and flattened (right) one piece. Once you finish scoring, check again to make sure the thigh has an even thickness. Repeat with the rest of the thighs.
- Lightly season the chicken pieces with ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper.
To Sear the Chicken
- Heat a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 Tbsp neutral oil. When the oil is hot, place the chicken smooth side down in the pan. This side will be the presentation side.
- Immediately, press down hard on the chicken with a spatula for 5–10 seconds to give the presentation side a nice sear. Then, continue to cook for 5 minutes (set a timer). The right image below shows what the chicken looks like after 5 minutes of cooking; please adjust the time based on your stove and cookware.
- Flip over the chicken. Immediately press it down again with the spatula for 5–10 seconds.
- Switch to low heat, then cover with a lid and steam the chicken for 3 minutes.
- Open the lid. Use a paper towel to wipe the excess grease and protein from the pan. This helps create a more transparent sauce.
To Add the Teriyaki Sauce
- Now, increase the stove‘s heat to medium and add the teriyaki sauce to the pan. Tilt the pan and frequently spoon the sauce over the chicken.
- When the chicken is well coated with the sauce and cooked through, transfer it to a cutting board.
- When the sauce is thick enough, transfer it to a bowl. Remember to stop cooking while the sauce is slightly thin because the residual heat will continue to thicken the sauce. If you‘d like it thicker, reduce the sauce for 2–3 more minutes.
- Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Transfer them to a ceramic plate. Sear with a kitchen butane torch to enhance the flavor. You can also use a broiler in the oven.
To Serve
- Serve on a plate with the sauce drizzled on top. You can also serve it over steamed rice with the sauce drizzled on top, as I did here. I also served green salad and tomato wedges on the side.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
To Cook Skin-on Chicken Thighs
- If your ¾–1 lb skin-on chicken thighs are bone-in, ask your butcher to remove the bone or you can debone them yourself. Place the thigh meat skin side down on a cutting board. To even the thickness, make slits on the meat every ½ inch (1.3 cm) without cutting all the way through. Cut deeper slits on the thick parts and skip scoring the thin parts. As you score, press open the meat to flatten it. Once you finish scoring, check again to make sure the meat has an even thickness. Repeat with the rest of the thighs.
- Place the thighs skin side down in a hot frying pan and cook using the same method as the recipe above.
- Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Transfer them to a ceramic plate. Sear with a kitchen butane torch to enhance the flavor. You can also use a broiler in the oven. Serve on a plate and drizzle the sauce on top.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Mar 22, 2012. The new images and video are added and the content is updated in September 2017.
Hi, Nami,
Today I tried teriyaki chicken and apple salad, it work. My family all liked it. Thanks again. I will try the other fish recipe.
Hi Lf! Thank you for trying the teriyaki chicken recipe. I’m so happy to hear you liked it! 😀 Hope you like the fish recipe too. Thank you for your feedback!
Hi Nami,
This is the first time I visit your blog, thanks for your Japanese food recipe and full detail preparation procedure. I loved Japanese food very much, and now I can try myself. Can we use the teriyaki sauce again to cook the chicken? Thanks.
Hi Lf! Welcome to my blog! I’m happy to hear you like Japanese food, and hope my recipes are useful. 🙂 About re-using the sauce, I don’t recommend re-using the marinade/sauce from cooking the meat. Plus, most of the liquid/marinade should be evaporated while cooking. Hope that helps. 🙂
If Sake it not available in my region , by which ingredient I may replace it? Thanks
Hi Marie! You can omit sake if you cannot find it. We only need small portion, and it is not worth buying a new bottle if you only make this dish. 🙂 You can use dry shelly as a substitute. If you plan to cook other Japanese food, sake is in many of recipes so you might want to get one. You can find it in Japanese or Asian grocery stores. Hope this helps. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/sake/
Made your chicken teriyaki recipe tonight. I normally broil my chicken in the oven and tried your method of using the fry pan and must say that it was very good. It was my first time that I grated onion and it brought a different flavor to the dish. Grating the onion was a bit of a challenge since it is quite slippery(not like daikon). Any feedback to make the grating process easier?
Thank you.
Hi Mae! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I hope you enjoyed it. Adding grated onion gives nice texture to the sauce and when it’s cooked it gives sweet flavor.
Agree, it’s a bit challenging to grate onion. Some brand of grater works better than others, as well. I have one grater that has a handle for vegetable so I can grate without worrying about my finger. To avoid onion getting separated, you can also keep the core (don’t chop off) when you grate, so it won’t be separated… I hope you understand what I mean… 🙂
Hope this helps!
this looks a-mazing!!!! about to head to the asian store to get me some sake and mirin. my mom would be so ashamed to know i don’t have soy in the house… anyway, got rice cooking away. gonna serve with a side of bok choy. can’t wait to try this!!!! thank you so much for your blog ;o) happy holidays!!!
I’m happy you decided to try this recipe, and thank you so much for stopping by to leave your feedback. I hope your Chicken Teriyaki turned out well. 🙂
Well, when I think of Japanese food, the 1st things that come to mind are chicken teriyaki (hehe), Japanese style creeps, and okonamiyaki.
I can’t wait to make this tonight! I am making real teriyaki for the 1st time and not using the mixture that I’d use with the store bought stuff. I’m so excited! I hope there’s leftovers so I can put it in tomorrow’s bento!
Well, time to put on some Nico-nico and cook! (^ω^)
Hi Alexa! I hope your Chicken Teriyaki turned out well. 🙂
In case you don’t know, I have the crepe and okonomiyaki recipes on my blog:
Crepe:https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/simple-crepes/
Okonomiyaki: https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/okonomiyaki/
Hope you enjoy them!
I was wondering if I could substitue Chicken Wings for chicken thighs for this recipe
Yes you can, however, wings take a longer time to cook over pan fried (and need to cover and cook for a longer time) so I would probably bake the wings instead of cook in the fry pan. I would marinate for a longer time. While baking the wings, I may reduce the marinade in a frying pan till the sauce gets thicker and then brush it on the wings when they are being baked. I hope this helps. 🙂
Hi,
I would like to make your chicken teriyaki. I am just wondering when you use the sake for steaming? Because I already read through the instruction and I can not find the steaming step. Thanks a lot
Hi Tania! It’s step #5. You add sake and close the lid. I hope you enjoy this dish! 🙂
Hi Nami
I have tried this recipe once already and my husband love.
If i have double the qty of meat, does that mean that I increase the seasoning by 2 times?
Thanks and best Regards
Esther
Hi Esther! If you double the amount of meat, you can get by by the same amount of seasoning, however, it doesn’t hurt to double or maybe just add 1/2 of seasonings for extra sauce, especially if you need to pan fry twice. Hope this helps. I’m happy to hear your husband likes it! 🙂
Hi Nami, you’re recipes are fabulous! I just want to ask what’s the difference of this recipe to a previous teriyaki chicken you posted almost a year ago? Is this one the perfected one?
Thank you
Hi Rhea! Thank you for writing and I’m happy to hear you enjoy my blog! We call the dish “Teriyaki Chicken” so my original post was how we say in Japanese. However, I noticed that people in the world search “Chicken Teriyaki” so I created another recipe. Taste wise, it’s pretty similar. The first one has butter in it so it’s more mild (love the combination of soy sauce and butter!). To be honest with you, I like them both. I made the second one with skin on, so the purpose was to make it nice and crispy. In Japan, each family makes the seasonings slightly different and I also change the seasonings every time for fun. So you can play around and find your favorite sauce. As I mentioned in the post, “teriyaki” is the cooking technique and not the sauce name. I hope you try both and adjust to your liking!
hey Nami thanks so much for the recipe!
I just cooked this tonight and my 2 year old loved it!
Hi Barenziah! Yay! I’m so happy your 2 year old enjoyed this dish! Thank you so much for letting me know! 🙂
Made your Chicken Teriyaki with skin. Awesome! As soon as I read chicken thigh with skin, I just had to make it. My daughter said she was in Heaven when she tasted it. The skin was crispy and the chicken meat was so juice and tender. The Teriyaki sauce was fantastic. I did add 2 cloves of garlic, grated. This will be my go to Teriyaki sauce.
Thanks,
Fung
Hi Fung! Yay! I’m so glad you and your daughter loved this recipe. It’s my go-to Teriyaki recipe too. I also like to play with the recipe sometimes, adding more ginger, or garlic like you did. No matter how I change, it still tastes really delicious. 🙂 Thank you so much for your feedback Fung!
Love your blog! Could you tell me please what you put on top of the rice as shown in the picture? Thanks so much.
Thank you Alyson! It’s called Furikake – bonito flakes, nori, and other seasonings. You can buy all kinds of (MSG-free) Furikake in Asian/Japanese stores. 🙂
This is how I remember my mother (who is Japanese) making her teriyaki chicken and it’s the way she passed it on to me. The dish is definitely a process and not just about the sauce. I’ve never used jarred teriyaki sauce only because it never tasted right to me. Going through the steps you’ve outlined guarantees great color, great taste and great aroma in your kitchen!
I forgot to mention that cooking chicken teriyaki this way is oishii!!
Arigato! ^_^
Hi Tina! Thank you for your comment. 🙂 It’s different from a jarred sauce and I’m glad you have been making your own chicken teriyaki. Thanks for your compliment.
Nami, I love all the recipes here. I never though Japanese cooking can be so easy. One thing I learnt, there are 4 essential ingredients that can do up many beautiful and easy Jap dishes. Soya, Dashi, Mirin and Sake. Once I equip myself with these 4, I can whip up anything I want.
I got a question in mind. I don’t like to pan fry chicken as the oil splatters everywhere. Can I just dump this marinated teriyaki chicken into the oven to grill it?
Hi junelb! Thank you for following my blog. 🙂 You will be using those 4 items a lot, so don’t worry about wasting them – it won’t happen. 😉
As for the oven bake, sure you can use the oven, but I am not sure if you can create the same luster as you make in a frying pan. In Japan, most of the dishes are made in a frying pan instead of oven, so I have never used oven to make chicken teriyaki before.
The chicken may not be as shiny and glaze may not appear when you use oven. Maybe you can try and let me know. When you use pan fry, you reduce the sauce so the sauce becomes more syrupy, but with oven, I assume it’s very hard to do it. If you don’t care about details, I think it’s okay.
Another option is to bake the chicken only, and reduce the sauce in a saucepan to make it syrupy and pour over the grilled chicken. What do you think?
Please do not shorten Japanese the way you did – it is demeaning, even if you did not intend it to be so – thanks.