Chicken Teriyaki is a beloved Japanese dish, and it has grown in popularity beyond Japan, especially in the U.S. Sweet and savory teriyaki flavor is appealing to many Americans, and it is a staple dish at Japanese restaurants in any town now. Chicken Teriyaki is easy to make at home with simple ingredients.
What is Teriyaki?
Teriyaki literally means “grilled with shine” in Japanese, and it is an essential cooking technique in Japanese cuisine. Meat or seafood is grilled, broiled, or braised with a soy-sauce based sweet and savory sauce.
Traditional teriyaki sauce consists of soy sauce, sake, and sugar (or mirin). The sauce can be used for marinating the meat/fish, or it is glazed or simply added to the pan toward the end of cooking to give a shine and flavor. It is so easy to make teriyaki sauce that you don’t have to buy bottled sauce.
Our teriyaki recipe is an authentic and traditional one served at Japanese homes. The sauce is not as thick and sweet as the Japanese American version found at restaurants in the U.S.
Tips for making Chicken Teriyaki
- In this recipe, we use sugar for sweetness, but you can also add mirin in addition to sugar if you like sweeter sauce. If you don’t like using sugar in cooking, you can replace sugar with mirin as well.
- The amount of seasoning is adjustable. You can add more soy sauce if you like saltier and more savory sauce, or add more sugar or mirin if you like it sweeter.
- Boneless and skinless chicken thighs are used in this recipe, but you can also use chicken tenders or breast with or without skins.
What to serve with Chicken Teriyaki
Chicken Teriyaki is a popular home cooked dish that is served for lunch or dinner with a variety of side dishes. It can also be packed in a bento box for lunch (see our Teriyaki Chicken Bento recipe).
Here is a sample dinner menu to serve with Chicken Teriyaki.
- Steamed Rice
- Everyday Miso Soup
- Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
Short Video
A full recipe video is also available in the recipe box below and on our YouTube channel.
More Teriyaki Recipes
- Teriyaki Salmon Recipe
- Teriyaki Turkey Meatball Recipe
- Buri Teriyaki Recipe (Yellowtail Teriyaki)
- Teriyaki Tofu Bowl
Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
Instructions
- Trim fat from chicken thighs and cut into bite size pieces.
- Heat vegetable oil hot in a skillet (or frying pan), add chicken and pan fry at medium high heat until browned outside and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add sugar, soy sauce, and sake to chicken and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add green onions.
Video
This recipe was originally published in February 2012. The post was updated on February 9, 2025 with more useful content and new photos.
21 Comments
Hi,
Just wondering, is there anything I can use as a substitute for sake that is non-alcoholic? Thank you in advance.
Nevermind, I just watched your video. Thank you for the great recipe!
Hello Noriko and Yuka,
First of all, I love your website! I was able to cook some very delicious dishes with you recipes.
Now I’ve got questions about teriyaki sauce: I learned to make the sauce with mirin instead of sake and wanted to know if this is also a common way of making it in japan.
At the moment I am using a 2:1 ratio for soy sauce and mirin. I only use very small amounts of sugar, because mirin is already very sweet.
Did you ever cook teriyaki with mirin? If so, what did you think about it? How did you balance the ingredients?
Greetings from Germany
Marc
Marc,
Mirin is also good to use for Teriyaki Sauce. Depending on your liking, you can adjust the sweetness. So what you’re doing is exactly right! I would put a little more sugar or Mirin for my Teriyaki because I like it a bit sweeter.
Hello Noriko and Yuka,
I just tried this recipe. I am new to the kitchen, and this recipe was easy to follow. I used cooking white wine instead of sake since I heard it could be used as a substitute. It turned out great! I plan on cooking more items from your website. Thank you.
Ryan,
glad you liked the recipe!
Hi Noriko & Yuka,
!!! Great Work !!!
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Its easy and everyone of my family liked it very much.
Well, I personally like Japanese food very much. I cook few Japanese food myself. I will appreciate if you can provide me with the proportion and procedure of preparing Tempura Batter along with the dipping sauce. Further request you to kindly mail me with the recipe of a complete Tempura Set.
May god bless you both.
Regards,
Sanjib Ganguly
Sanjib,
we have menu series so you can see a sample combination of dishes for a meal. It’s under Menu. We may make Tempura Dinner Menu in the future!
Thank you so much. This recipe is easy and delicious. It is now a regular staple in my house! Greatly appreciate it!
Michelle,
thanks! Come back for other recipes too!
Can I use Mirin instead of Sake? I found Mirin and thought I could use that, since it is sweetened sake.
Woops, sorry I just read the previous comment. Thank you for the recipe though!
Just made the chicken teriyaki. Goodness it was great. I really like the recipe. I also tried to make sticky rice but I don’t think they sell Calrose rice at regular grocery stores in my area so I tried Jasmine…definitely not the same. Love your stuff, I’ll be trying more things as well 🙂
Tia,
you may be able to buy short grain rice online. Glad you liked our Chicken Teriyaki recipe!
I used your teriyaki sauce recipe to make pork teriyaki to go in my bento for tomorrow! This sauce is way more delicious than any restaurant I’ve had it in, and to think, its three ingredients! This is amazing. Thank you so much! I’m also adding your tamagoyaki to my bento. I can’t even remember how many of your dishes I have made already. They’ve all been absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much and please never stop making videos!
I wish you both all the health and happiness.
With much love,
Bree.
Briana,
glad you find our recipes helpful. Your Bento sounds super yummy!
Hi,
Great recipe!! I just have a quick question, is it fine if i mix the condiments together before hand in one container instead of putting them in separately? Thank you very much!
v/r,
Daniel
Sure! Whichever way easier for you.
Love love this recipe. It’s so easy and quick tastes so delicious. Way better than any bottle sauce. I made this for company and they loved it too! I gave them this link so they could make it! Thank You!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It’s so delicious and my family love it!