This Teriyaki Chicken has tender bites of chicken coated in a sweet and savory homemade teriyaki sauce. It’s incredibly easy to make and ready in 30 minutes.
If you like this recipe, you might also enjoy my Teriyaki Salmon and Sesame Chicken.
Why You’ll Love this Teriyaki Chicken
I can always count on this easy teriyaki chicken to be a hit with my family! It’s ready in 30 minutes, picky eater-approved and much cheaper than takeout. In this recipe, bite-size pieces of chicken are browned in a skillet and then tossed with my easy homemade Teriyaki Sauce. The sauce thickens up beautifully in the pan, coating every bite of chicken. It’s sweet and tangy with a punch of flavor thanks to fresh ginger and garlic.
I like to serve this teriyaki chicken with rice and broccoli for a complete meal. It’s also great served with a side of Fried Rice.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Soy Sauce: Use a low sodium soy sauce so that the dish doesn’t turn out too salty.
- Water: To thin out the sauce.
- Brown Sugar and Honey: For sweetness.
- Rice Vinegar: Brings sour flavor to balance out the sweetness.
- Sesame Oil: Adds a touch of sesame flavor.
- Fresh Ginger and Garlic: Using fresh ginger and fresh garlic will give you the most flavorful sauce.
- Cornstarch: Thickens the teriyaki sauce when it hits the hot pan.
- Oil: For browning the chicken.
- Chicken: I’ve made this dish with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and also with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Both work well! Chicken thighs are a bit more flavorful; use whichever you prefer.
- Pepper: To season the chicken.
How to Make Teriyaki Chicken
Here’s an overview of the recipe steps, with helpful tips. Find the full printable recipe with ingredient amounts below.
Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, minced garlic and cornstarch.
Cook the chicken: Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the chicken pieces, season with pepper, and cook until cooked through, flipping the pieces of chicken so that they cook evenly on all sides.
Add sauce and garnish: Pour in the sauce and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Recipe Variations
- Add Veggies: Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a clean plate. Then add your chopped vegetables of choice to the pan. (Try broccoli florets, snow peas, onions, bell peppers or mushrooms.) Stir-fry the veggies until crisp tender, then return the chicken to the pan and add the sauce.
- Add Pineapple: Stir in chopped fresh pineapple or canned pineapple chunks (drain off the juice) after adding the sauce. You can replace the water in this recipe with pineapple juice from the can.
- Ground Ginger: While using fresh ginger will give you the best flavor, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger if you don’t have fresh.
- Add Spice: Add a pinch or two of crushed red pepper flakes to the sauce.
- Gluten-Free: Replace the soy sauce with gluten-free tamari, gluten-free coconut aminos or gluten-free soy sauce.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Try one of these chicken recipes next:
Made this recipe? I’d truly appreciate if you leave a comment and star rating below! Your review will help others who want to try this recipe. Thank you! 💛
Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey, or pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, avocado oil or canola oil
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1-inch bite-sized pieces
- black pepper, to taste
- cooked rice, for serving
- chopped green onions and/or sesame seeds, optional, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and season with pepper. Let the chicken brown on the first side for a few minutes and then flip, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. (This will take about 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken pieces. Thighs take a bit longer to cook through than chicken breasts.) If the pan gets too hot, reduce the heat to medium.
- Whisk the sauce again to make sure everything is well combined and then pour the sauce into the pan with the chicken. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
- Serve chicken and sauce over rice, topped with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
- While using fresh ginger will give you the best flavor, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger if you don’t have fresh available.
- Nutrition information estimate calculated for recipe made with boneless, skinless chicken breast and does not include rice.
Made last night. Doubled the sauce and added veggies. My family loves sauce on their rice and there was plenty of sauce after doubling. Also, used a standard meat market family pack of thighs. Was more than recipe called for but I have teenagers and I know it’s hard to plan how a meal with realistically feed a grown family of 4. My family gave this recipe 10 stars!
Sooo good. And I don’t normally like teriyaki chicken. This was far better than I could have imagined.
Excellent
Thanks a lot my dear friend
For this Theriyaki Chicken
I loved it.
Is it best to marinate the chicken overnight?
You do not need to marinate the chicken for this recipe.
WOW! So easy and delicious! Followed recipe and added extra vegetables, and it turned out perfect. Thank you!
We love this recipe. So easy to make and so delicious. I would not change anything.
Oh my gosh!!! I made double measures with chicken thighs! My family absolutely loved it!!!! I made potsticks as a side, brocolli and steamed rice! YUM! Saving this recipe!!!
Very good recipe, I really enjoyed it Thank you!
I did use half of the sauce to marinate a chicken breast! It was perfect!
Delicious! Easy, quick, and “make this again” requests.
I left my chicken thighs whole vs cubed and cut up afterwards.
Thanks for the share!