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This easy Teriyaki Chicken recipe makes delicious, juicy chicken that is perfect for rice bowls, stir-fries, and salads. The teriyaki sauce doubles as both a marinade and a serving sauce and can be used with other meats and veggies as well.
Teriyaki Chicken is a great meal idea for your dinner rotation: the sauce comes together fast and with mostly pantry staples and it elevates chicken breast beyond its usual status. The chicken is best if you have time to marinade it, but you can skip that step and still have a delicious meal.
Once the chicken is done cooking, my favorite thing to do is use the leftover teriyaki sauce in the skillet to sauté veggies. Add a whole assortment of colorful, quick-cooking, stir-fry friendly vegetables. I do at least one cup per person, but they will cook down a lot and they taste so good in the sauce, so you might want to do even more. Serve the teriyaki chicken and veggies over cooked white rice, cooked brown rice, cauliflower rice, or cooked quinoa and pass the remaining teriyaki sauce at the table.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is widely available at grocery stores, Target, and Walmart. If you can’t find it, substitute 2 tbsp dry white wine OR rice vinegar AND 1 tsp brown sugar for the 2 tablespoons mirin in this recipe.
- Ginger: Store the whole root in the freezer, as-is and grate it when you need it. Some grocery stores also sell tubes of grated ginger in the produce area and it works perfectly here (I usually pick up a tube of the garlic paste, too, if I’m going to make teriyaki sauce). Substitute a teaspoon ground ginger for the fresh.
- Red pepper flakes: Maybe omit these if you’re feeding children (I always do) or add more if you love heat.
- Chicken: For more surface area, butterfly chicken breasts before adding to the bag with the marinade (or buy chicken breast filets or tenders). Chicken thighs are also delicious and even more juicy than boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Step-by-step instructions
To make the teriyaki sauce:
- In a small saucepan on the stovetop, pour in soy sauce, sugar, water, mirin, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes, if using. Bring the sauce mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer.
- To make the cornstarch slurry, remove 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce to a small bowl and whisk in cornstarch. Return to the saucepan and continue simmering until the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes (you should have 1 cup sauce).
- Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Reserve ¼ cup marinade for the chicken and refrigerate the remainder until serving time.
To make the chicken:
- In a plastic zipper-top bag or glass dish, add chicken and ¼ cup reserved, cooled teriyaki sauce. Marinade at least 30 minutes at room temperature or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken in a single layer and cook until browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken.
- Reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on an internal thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a cutting board and let chicken rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- Serve with the remaining teriyaki sauce and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds if desired.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 servings, 6 ounces of chicken and 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) teriyaki sauce per serving.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: The teriyaki sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. The chicken can be marinated up to 4 hours in advance in the refrigerator.
- Freezer: Build individual bowls of rice, chicken, and veggies and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave.
- Teriyaki vegetables: My favorite thing to do is use the leftover teriyaki sauce in the skillet to sauté veggies while the chicken is resting. To the empty skillet with teriyaki drippings, add ¼ cup water and turn the heat to medium. Add about 4 cups (or more) assorted fresh stir-fry veggies such as broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, and sliced celery to the skillet. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3 to 5 minutes longer. Canned water chestnuts and bamboo shoots are awesome too!
- Toppings: Garnish your teriyaki chicken with toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onions. Sliced, toasted almonds or a few drops of sesame oil would also be delicious. For heat, add your favorite hot sauce (like sriracha) or more red chili flakes.
- Lower sodium: Low-sodium soy sauce is an easy swap that I always use in my own kitchen. There’s plenty of salt in everything, so I cut it out whenever I can.
- Hibachi Steak: Plain old meat and potatoes get a major flavor overhaul with this Hibachi Steak Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe. Juicy flank steak served with grilled wasabi potatoes and a delicious teriyaki sauce make this homemade version better than anything from the restaurant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Teriyaki sauce is made from a combination of soy sauce, sugar, mirin, ginger, and garlic. Some recipes add red chili flakes for spice, cornstarch for thickness, or honey as a finishing sweetener.
Choose a gluten free soy sauce such as tamari (always check your labels).
This homemade teriyaki sauce recipe uses cornstarch as a thickener. You could also use flour or arrowroot powder.
Unlike westernized versions that are sweetened with honey and flavored with garlic and ginger, traditional Japanese teriyaki sauce is made with sake (Japanese rice wine), soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.
“Teri” in teriyaki means luster or shine and “yaki” means grilled or broiled.
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Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
For the teriyaki sauce:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons mirin (see note 1)
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger (from one piece, see note 2)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional (see note 3)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the chicken:
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 2 large, see note 5)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- thinly sliced scallions for garnish, optional
- sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Instructions
To make the teriyaki sauce:
- In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, sugar, water, mirin, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes, if using. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer.
- To make the cornstarch slurry, remove 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce to a small bowl and whisk in cornstarch. Return to the saucepan and continue simmering until the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes (you should have 1 cup sauce).
- Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Reserve ¼ cup marinade for the chicken and refrigerate the remainder until serving time.
To make the chicken:
- In a plastic zipper-top bag or glass dish, add chicken and ¼ cup reserved, cooled teriyaki sauce. Marinade at least 30 minutes at room temperature or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken in a single layer and cook until browned on one side, about 5 minutes.
- Flip chicken, reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on an internal thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a cutting board and let chicken rest 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining teriyaki sauce and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
- Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is widely available at grocery stores, Target, and Walmart. If you can’t find it, substitute 2 tablespoons dry white wine OR rice vinegar AND 1 teaspoon sugar for the 2 tablespoons mirin in this recipe.
- Ginger: Store the whole root in the freezer, as-is and grate it when you need it. Some grocery stores also sell tubes of grated ginger in the produce area and it works perfectly here (I usually pick up a tube of the garlic paste, too, if I’m going to make teriyaki sauce).
- Red pepper flakes: Maybe omit these if you’re feeding children (I always do) or add more if you love heat.
- Chicken: For more surface area, butterfly chicken breasts before adding to the bag with the marinade (or buy chicken breast filets or tenders).
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 servings, 6 ounces of chicken and 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) teriyaki sauce per serving.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I almost feel silly for asking but when using frozen veggies that haven’t been precooked, does one need to worry about them getting fully cooked? Most bags of frozen veggies say they need to be cooked for at least 5 minutes to be fully cooked and kill anything that may have contaminated them during packaging process. If they get microwaved for five minutes when mixed in with the chicken and rice, do you think they’ll still cook all the way through?
Finally, a to-go lunch that won’t bore me to death! Cannot wait to try this out!
Thanks for this one kid. What amuses and amazes me is that a lot of people think that prepackaged stuff in the big box stores is good food. Sometimes it is. But……. Take it back. There’s nothing like homemade.
They obviously have not yet happened by this site. Keep up the awesome work! *****
There are so many cool things to say about this recipe, Meggan – I really wouldn’t know where to begin!
The best thing is though of course the whole pulling it out of the freezer when you want it thing. We do this all the time – mostly with spaghetti bolognese, but it would be nice to have something a bit more exciting to pull out. This is perfect! 😉
Thank you, Helen! Italian food is my favorite for freezing and leftovers in general. Sometimes I swear the leftovers taste best than the real thing (I’m such a weirdo). Thank you so much! xoxo