This Easy Teriyaki Chicken Recipe was made for those busy weeknights when you want something packed with flavor, and nutrients, but don’t feel like making a whole big thing. Tender, juicy chicken breasts are doused in a sweet yet savory glaze and seared to perfection.
Serve this over a big bed of rice, as well as your favorite veggies and enjoy a delicious meal that only took you 30 minutes to make!
Reasons You’ll Love This
Homemade Takeout – Skip the delivery fees, or waiting an hour to get your takeout. Make your favorite takeout teriyaki chicken from the comfort of your own home!
Teriyaki Sauce – Teriyaki sauce is so darn good. Now imagine how good it’s going to taste when you make it from scratch!
More Rice Please! – The greatest part about this recipe is that the white rice soaks up all of that delicious teriyaki sauce so not an ounce of it goes to waste!
Easy to Make – In the time it would take you to drive to your local takeout joint AND drive home, this Chicken Teriyaki recipe would already be ready to eat!
If you’ve always wanted to learn how to make teriyaki chicken, but ended up falling back on takeout or the frozen stuff, then you’re in the right place! With easy ingredients, minimal cleanup, and a plate ready in 30 minutes, this easy recipe is absolutely a must try.
Ingredients
Let’s discuss how to make teriyaki chicken, as well as the ingredients that are needed. Please take note that below you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about this recipe to help you recreate it in your kitchen. If you *just* want the recipe itself, scroll down. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page.
- Chicken – This recipe calls for chicken breasts, but you can use chicken thighs instead. You’ll want to dice them up into about 1 inch cubes.
- Steamed Broccoli – Teriyaki chicken and broccoli is the classic pairing, but you can use a different green veggie like broccolini, bok choy, asparagus, brussel sprouts, green beans or zucchini!
- Soy Sauce – Soy sauce will be used for the base of the teriyaki sauce. You can use a low sodium soy sauce and it will taste just as good.
- Sesame Oil – This will give the teriyaki sauce a lovely, nutty flavor!
- Honey – Honey helps thicken up the sauce, while also giving a different sweet flavor profile.
- Brown Sugar – Brown sugar is the best for Teriyaki sauce because it has molasses in it, which is used in a lot of Asian cooking. White sugar will work fine as well.
- Cornstarch – This will help thicken up the sauce, and make that sticky glaze you know and love. You can also use tapioca starch if you have it.
- Rice – White rice is the easiest to make, and comes out soft and fluffy. I highly recommend jasmine rice for this recipe. You can also use brown rice instead.
- Edamame – You’ll find that the unshelled, frozen edamame is best for this recipe. Follow the instructions on the bag to defrost, and cook.
- Garlic and Ginger – Freshly minced garlic and ginger is ideal for this recipe, but you can use garlic and ginger paste from a bottle instead.
- Rice Wine Vinegar – This adds a little tang to the teriyaki sauce. If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, you can use white distilled vinegar instead.
Step By Step Instructions
- Start by cooking your white rice according to package instructions. Let that cook while you begin on the chicken. Dice the chicken into 1 inch pieces, and pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Set that aside while you start on the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and honey. Whisk the sauce until everything is evenly combined. Set that aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil. Let that get hot then add your pieces of chicken. Do your best not to crowd the pan, allow some space between the pieces and let them sear just long enough to get a little brown color on both sides, approximately 1-2 minutes on each side.
- While that browns, check on your rice to make sure it’s nice and fluffy. Remove the rice from heat.
- If there is extra liquid in the skillet, remove it before making the sauce. Grab the teriyaki sauce that you set aside and add the cornstarch to it. Whisk that up until combined, then pour it over the chicken in the pan. Stir the chicken around so it’s evenly coated in the sauce. You’ll know it’s ready once the sauce thickens up and is bubbling. Take the teriyaki chicken off the heat and serve it over a bed of rice and some steamed broccoli and edamame. Garnish with toppings like green onions, sesame seeds and enjoy!
Tips And Advice
Gimme Space – When cooking the chicken, allow some space between the pieces.
Thin Sauce? – If the sauce is still too thin and not like a glaze after 2-3 minutes, then sprinkle in another teaspoon of cornstarch and stir together. This will thicken it up right away.
Storage – Store the leftover teriyaki chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. You can reheat it in 30 second intervals in the microwave, and serve over rice, with veggies again.
Cooking rice 101
If you’re cooking white rice in a pan, add 1 cup of rice and 1 and 1/2 cups of cold water over a medium heat. Let that come to a boil then decrease the heat to very low. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the rice to simmer for about 15 minutes. Don’t take the lid off in these 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Fluff the rice, then serve!
If you’re making rice in a rice cooker, follow the instructions on the box of the rice cooker, or click this link!
Equipment
For this Chicken Teriyaki recipe, you’ll need a few or all of these items!
FAQs
Absolutely! Pick up a jar or Teriyaki Chicken marinade from the grocery store and use that instead of the homemade recipe. Depending on the sauce you chose you may still need to add cornstarch to thicken it up.
This teriyaki sauce should be thick enough so it’s not runny, but not too thick to where it doesn’t pour like a glaze would.
Serves Well With
If you don’t want to serve this Teriyaki Chicken with rice and broccoli, you can try serving it with a few of these other delightful sides and recipes!
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Easy Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast roughly two large chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar measured packed
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons pressed ginger root or minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoons oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoons sesame seeds optional garnish
- 1/4 cup green onion diced – optional garnish
Instructions
- Prep the chicken by patting it dry with a paper towel. Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch pieces, making them as even as possible. Set aside.
- In a bowl, pour in the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and honey. Whisk the mixture until everything is combined.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat and drizzle in the olive oil. Evenly spread out the chicken in the skillet and brown each side for 1-2 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low. Take the cornstarch and whisk it into the sauce mixture and pour over the chicken in the skillet. Coat the chicken evenly in the sauce and allow to begin to simmer. The sauce should thicken* up by this point and will look glossy. Remove from heat and serve over rice. Spoon on extra sauce right over the chicken. Top with the green onion and sesame seeds. Serve with a side of steamed broccoli and edamame.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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