Easy Teriyaki Chicken In Your Home Kitchen
There’s some dishes that we never imagined we would be able to successfully recreate at home. The juicy, flavorful chicken teriyaki we love ordering out is surprisingly simple and quick to make. The homemade teriyaki sauce is made with a handful of ingredients, and the chicken does not require a marinade to get that restaurant-quality flavor. It’s a quick weeknight dinner that’s as good (we think better!!) as ordering take out. For a riff on the classic, check out our Teriyaki Meatballs, or our Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps, too. or for even more takeout-inspired goodness, try our easy, delicious Orange Chicken.
Teriyaki Sauce Ingredients
This recipe requires a few key ingredient. Gather the following for the most delicious sauce chicken has ever met.
Cornstarch
Brown sugar
Low sodium soy sauce or tamari (Or, if you’re GF, it’s fine to use gluten-free tamari)
Honey
Ground ginger
Garlic powder
How To Make Teriyaki Chicken
Heat some oil in a pan until it is glistening, then add the chicken (you can use chicken thighs or breasts–whichever you prefer!) and cook 3-4 minutes per side. Pro tip: do not move the chicken while it cooks (it’s tempting, but just let it get nice and brown!)
While the chicken is cooking, you can quickly prepare the teriyaki sauce in a small bowl. Stir the cornstarch and cold water together until the cornstarch dissolves. Then whisk in the brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, ginger, and garlic powder.
Once the chicken is done, add the sauce to the pan and bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat. You’ll reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes.
To serve, divide the rice between bowls and top with the chicken and pour the sauce from the pan over everything.
Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions, if using, before serving. Some folks like to serve broccoli with this, and we recommend checking out our article about How To Steam Broccoli if you take that route.
Tips For Making Homemade Teriyaki Chicken
Since this recipe has so few ingredients (yes!), we want to make sure that everything is cooked perfectly. This includes letting the chicken cook! Sounds funny, but it’s true. Our inclination is always to fuss with this chicken while it cooks. And the secret to getting a golden brown crust on the chicken is to let it be. Watch the heat when you cook the teriyaki sauce. Our sauce includes brown sugar and honey, so you don’t want the heat to be too high because you’ll end up burning the sugars. It happens to the best of us, and we want to save you the struggle. And we could say a million things about cooking rice. And we have! Check out our tips for preparing the perfect rice, either Brown Rice or White Rice recipes will taste great with this easy chicken teriyaki recipe.
Teriyaki Everything, Please
- If you just like to have a bottle of teriyaki sauce on hand, we recommend making it from scratch using our zesty Teriyaki Sauce recipe.
- You can also make this Chicken Teriyaki Sushi Bowl or Freezer Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs with Broccoli.
- For more recipes that are all about the umami flavor of soy sauce, we love Broccoli Beef Soba Bowl and Gingery Ground Beef (Soboro Donburi).
- We think it would be great as a glaze for our Baked Salmon or you can use it as a dipping sauce for our Chicken Tenders!
Make Your Favorite Takeout At Home!
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