This is a quick master class on how to make Teriyaki Chicken. Teriyaki Chicken is a Japanese dish in which chicken is cooked on high heat and coated in umami-rich, slightly sweet, sticky teriyaki sauce right before serving, creating a beautiful and delicious glaze. Our simple teriyaki chicken recipe is the best that you can make outside of a restaurant and enjoy in the comfort of your home with hardly any effort. This Teriyaki Chicken recipe is quick too – ready from start to finish in less than 30 minutes.
I love food from all over the world and am always trying out different cuisines in the Yummefy kitchen. Our homemade teriyaki chicken recipe was arrived at after much trial and error and is a great example of how minimal but good quality ingredients can help create a truly unique and flavour-packed dish.
To make the traditional Japanese Teriyaki sauce, you will require - soy sauce (preferably Kikkoman or other dark soy sauce), sugar, mirin - traditional Japanese rice wine with a low alcohol content, and sake - another variety of Japanese rice wine. I have also used crushed ginger which is not traditional but imparts its aroma and mild heat to the final Teriyaki Chicken recipe. We often get asked ‘what is the difference between sake and mirin?’ Both sake and mirin are rice wines, but sake has a slightly higher alcohol content and lower sugar content while mirin has a lower alcohol content and slightly higher sugar content. You can usually tell the difference by looking at the colour – mirin is yellowish while sake is typically (though not always) a clear colourless liquid.
Additionally, to make the homemade teriyaki chicken, you will need boneless chicken thighs with skin as well as a smidgen of oil. We prefer cooking the chicken thighs with skin though it is just as delicious if you use boneless chicken thighs without the skin.
You will be able to find most of these Japanese ingredients listed above in a Japanese or Korean grocery store or other good grocery store carrying imported items. You can also order them from online stores. And if you’re really lazy and don’t want to make the 5 minute effort of making the sauce, you can also buy ready-made teriyaki sauce (though we do not advise that as making it fresh is so easy).
The word teriyaki comes from "teri", referring to shine or gloss in the sauce that coats the ‘yaki’ food. While ‘yaki’ refers to the cooking method i.e. broiling or grilling.
A question we are regularly asked is ‘what does teriyaki taste like?’ Teriyaki is the perfect mix of sticky, sweet, and umami-savoury flavours, with ginger lending a hint of spice. The soy-mirin-sake combo gives a distinct umami taste to this teriyaki chicken recipe which is ambrosial. One may also wonder ‘what is the difference between soy sauce and teriyaki sauce?’ Soy sauce made from fermented soy beans is just one of the components of teriyaki sauce while teriyaki sauce is composed of a number of elements listed above including soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar.
Fish such as mackerel, trout, salmon, yellowtail etc are commonly used in teriyaki style cooking in Japan. The Japanese also sometimes cook hamburger steak, squid, and chicken in teriyaki style. Lamb, beef, and pork are more commonly used for such cooking in the western countries. In American cooking, 'teriyaki' style of cooking refers to meat or shellfish which is either grilled or pan-broiled post marinating in teriyaki sauce.
The recipe for teriyaki sauce will yield more than is needed for this Japanese chicken teriyaki recipe. It will make 1⅓ cups while only ½ cup sauce is required for this recipe. The remaining teriyaki sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for later use. It stays well almost indefinitely. So, if you enjoy Asian flavours, you will probably want to double or even triple your batch of teriyaki sauce for convenience and have it on hand at short notice.
Serve teriyaki chicken hot after slicing the chicken thighs crosswise in ½-inch strips. Fill two small serving bowls with rice till half full and place the chicken strips in a fan shape on the rice in each bowl. You can sprinkle it with shichimi or togarashi (Japanese seasoning), or even sansho pepper before serving but this step is completely optional. If you want to make your teriyaki chicken look even more visually appealing you can add a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds or spring onions, or a combination of both.
Fun Fact: If you serve the chicken teriyaki atop a rice bowl it is called chicken teriyaki donburi.
For a variation on this Teriyaki Chicken recipe, you can use salmon or other hearty fish or even lamb. And if you prefer vegetarian, then you can try the same sauce and method to cook a mix of vegetables such as pok choy, carrots, mushrooms, and broccoli. Go ahead and experiment with other vegetables too – it will turn out delicious.
Make Japanese restaurant style Teriyaki Chicken at home with this easy recipe. See step by step pictures and video for the best Teriyaki Chicken recipe including all ingredients and cooking method from Yummefy here.
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