This teriyaki chicken recipe is authentic Japanese style teriyaki with a simple 4 ingredient sauce. With this recipe you can easily make pan fried or grilled teriyaki chicken that is full of flavor!
In Hawaii, teriyaki is everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to find that was the case here in Washington too. Unfortunately it’s not quite the same. In Hawaii it’s just a typical part of the local restaurants, here there are specific teriyaki joints, but they’re often so goopy and sweet and covered in way too much sauce.
I never really made teriyaki for myself in Hawaii because it was everywhere and cheap. It was at every party or potluck, friends would make huge batches and drop some by, I probably had it at least once a week. But the past two years I’ve only had it maybe five times and was disappointed each time.
I’ve made it with friends in Hawaii before, so had a basic idea of how to make it. I was also excited to use up the chicken thighs in my fridge because teriyaki chicken is a great recipe for thighs.
The chicken came out perfect and I really loved it. The funny thing was, after Eric finished it, he said it was okay but he’s never really liked teriyaki. But then he took the two servings of leftovers to work the next day for lunch, and ate them all!
He came home singing the praises of my teriyaki and saying it was so much better the next day. Since he finished it, I didn’t get to try it to see if it was actually different the second day, guess I’ll have to make it again!
I served it with some sticky rice and romaine lettuce topped with chopped carrots, tomatoes, and the soy/mayo teriyaki salad dressing they serve in the restaurants here.
If you love teriyaki, make sure to check out our Grilled Teriyaki Salmon Skewers too!
Teriyaki Chicken
Flavorful Teriyaki Chicken is so easy with this 4 ingredient teriyaki sauce. Allow for at least 15 minutes of marinating time, but hands on time is 20 minutes or less. With pan frying or grilling your teriyaki chicken.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup aloha shoyu (or other soy sauce/tamari)
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil (to pan fry)
Instructions
- If frozen, defrost your chicken thighs in the fridge overnight.
- Mix shoyu, mirin, sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.
- Place chicken in a bowl, dish, or resealable plastic bag and add the teriyaki sauce. Make sure chicken is well covered in sauce and marinate the thighs for at least 15 minutes.
For pan fried teriyaki chicken:
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium high.
- Brown both sides of the chicken thighs, about 5 minutes each side.
- Pour the teriyaki sauce that was used to marinate the chicken into the pan and continue to cook until the chicken is glazed (another few minutes).
- Check with a meat thermometer that the internal temperature of the teriyaki chicken is at least 165 degrees F.
- Remove from heat and serve chicken over rice, drizzling with leftover sauce from the pan.
For grilled teriyaki chicken:
- Preheat gas grill or coals. You want your grill medium hot (around 400-450 degrees F)
- Remove chicken from the marinade and place on preheated grill.
- Grill for 6-8 minutes on each side, basting with marinade a few times on each side.
- Make sure to stop basting halfway through cooking the second side, since your marinade had raw chicken in it. You want to be sure any possible salmonella is killed off by cooking. (you can boil down the marinade if desired to thicken and drizzle on cooked chicken).
- Check that the temperature in the thickest part of the meat is at least 165 degrees F before removing from grill.
Notes
If you want the teriyaki restaurant style meal for dinner, serve with steamed rice and a basic salad drizzled with our teriyaki salad dressing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 275Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 137mgSodium: 199mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 0gSugar: 13gProtein: 27g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
