If you love Japanese cuisine, having a teriyaki chicken recipe is a must. This traditional grilled chicken is glossy, juicy, super aromatic, and goes really well with rice.

What Is Teriyaki?

Teriyaki (照り焼き) is literally “glossy grilling”, translated word-by-word. It’s one of the many famous Japanese delicacies.

The meat is marinated and grilled with a sweetened soy-sauce-based marinade. As you reduce the sauce, it becomes shiny and smooth.

Despite the name, teriyaki chicken recipes sometimes involve no grilling. Chicken is marinated, then slowly roasted in an oven until the skin becomes golden and the meat is cooked.

If you do have a BBQ set-up and the occasion presents itself, grill your chicken on that. Nothing beats the charred marks of the grilling flame.

If you do it right, the teriyaki chicken should come out with somewhat crisp skin and moist meat. When you take a bite, its fragrance will come rushing in, as the umami sauce coats your palate.

Check out this similar chicken recipe that’s also super fragrant and umami: sesame chicken recipe.

Is Teriyaki Chicken Healthy?

Yes, it is. Teriyaki chicken has a lot of healthy ingredients.

First off, ginger. This health-promoting root has medicinal properties, including being anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and a reliever of certain ailments.

In addition to ginger, our teriyaki chicken recipe also uses sesame oil and seeds. They are rich in good fats that cut cholesterol, and low in saturated fats (the kind that’s bad for you).

We also used honey and reduced-sodium soy sauce. Honey contains trace amounts of minerals and is a better choice of sweetener than granulated sugar, while using less-sodium soy sauce helps reduce the risks of high blood pressure (and more).

Calories in Teriyaki Chicken

Each serving of our recipe provides around 495 calories, more than 40% of which come from healthy fats and protein.

The amount of saturated fat per serving is less than 5 grams, which mainly comes from the chicken fat. You can use leaner parts of the chicken for a lower-fat meal.

Types of Chicken Meat

Chicken has two types of meat: dark and white.

Dark meat has a darker hue than white meat due to difference in muscle structure. It is found in the thighs and legs, and is preferable because it’s juicier.

White meat, on the other hand, is lighter in tone. It’s in the animal’s breast and wings, and despite not being as juicy, it’s still beloved for many reasons.

1. Breast

Chicken breast is the leanest part, for it is often around 21% protein. You can get boneless, skinless chicken breast or simply trim the skin off using a knife, and it’d be only 3% fat.

We often use this part of the chicken (minus the skin) as the main source of protein for salads.

2. Wings

Chicken wings are often divided into three smaller components: drumette, wingette, and wingtip, all of which are white meat. It’s 17.5% protein, with 3% more fat than the chicken breast, and it’s often prepared skin-on.

Besides the to-die-for hot wings, there are a lot of ways to cook chicken wings. We find that this cut is best stir-fried or grilled, then reduced in some kind of savory sauce.

3. Thighs

We’re using thighs in our teriyaki chicken recipe, because they’re the most flavorful cut when compared to the other ones. It’s 16% protein, and up to 17% fat, but hey, we’ve got the healthy part covered for you.

To avoid having to deal with bones, you can remove them before baking the chicken, or simply look for boneless thighs.

4. Legs

At around 16% protein and 16% fat, chicken leg is not popular for being lean, but for being tasty and juicy. By removing the skin and trimming visible excess fat, you’d cut off up to 12% unhealthy fat from your meal.

Chicken legs can be used in many ways. However, they’re often seen deep-fried.

Sauce for Teriyaki Chicken

Since bottled sauce often contains preservatives, excess sodium and other additives, we want to make as many things from scratch as possible. The sauce in this teriyaki chicken recipe is no exception.

The first ingredient you’ll need is mirin. Mirin is a kind of sweet rice wine (14% alcohol), super aromatic and is often used in Japanese cuisine.

If you prefer your teriyaki chicken less sweet and a bit more fragrant, substitute mirin with cooking sake. Cooking sake is sake, but with a little bit of salt, to prevent kids from buying it as a beverage.

Next up, we have dashi (出汁). To make dashi, you’ll need to cook katsuobushi (鰹節) with water until the flavors come out.

Katsuobushi is dried, fermented, and smoked tuna shaved into “flakes”. It can be used to make dashi or crushed and sprinkled onto some dishes to add a bit of umami.

You can find katsuobushi in most Japanese or Asian grocery stores. In case you can’t, use chicken broth instead, like our recipe does.

The rest of the ingredients are soy sauce, honey, ginger, sesame oil, and rice vinegar for a little tanginess. Thanks to honey, your sauce will become glossy, shiny, and coat your chicken nicely as it reduces.

How to Make Teriyaki Chicken

Our easy, quick-to-make teriyaki chicken recipe only needs you to do the following:

Marinade the chicken
Make the sauce
Sear the chicken
Cook the onions
Cook chicken with sauce
Add onions and turn off the heat
Finishing
Serve the chicken with cooked rice

Tips for This Easy Teriyaki Chicken

As the chicken cooks, moisture will definitely come out, and you want to collect this juice to make your sauce flavorful. You can place the chicken in a baking dish, or on a piece of foil with the sides folding up.

If you use chicken legs instead of thighs, be sure to rotate them halfway through. It helps to render out all of the fat and get each side golden.

Since we’re reducing the sauce, the amount of sauce is also “reduced”. If you prefer your teriyaki chicken to have more sauce, add more water, along with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

The cornstarch will act as a thickening agent, leaving you with glossy, flavorful pieces of chicken.

What Goes with Teriyaki Chicken?

1. Rice

Traditionally, teriyaki chicken is served along with rice. It’s the main source of carbohydrates in Asian cuisine, and it has a neutral flavor that’s so versatile.

You can use white rice, like we do, or brown rice for a more sophisticated nutritional profile.

2. Broccoli

Steamed broccoli is one of the healthiest additions to any main dish. In this teriyaki chicken recipe, its tender texture and savory flavor makes it the perfect accompaniment.

3. Sandwich

Besides rice, this glossy dish also goes well with bread. You can arrange the chicken, sauce and veg between two slices of white bread, burger buns, or even hotdog sandwiches, or you can use wholewheat or multigrain bread for a healthier option.

4. Noodles

Rice may be an all-time favourite addition to teriyaki chicken, but how about stir-fried noodles with veg in teriyaki sauce. Yummy!

We like our noodles with bell pepper, carrots, and cabbage, cut into slices and cooked quick so it’s still crunchy. How about you?

What to Serve with Teriyaki Chicken

A typical Japanese meal, like many other Asian meals, includes several side dishes surrounding the main dish. They complement each other and create a variety of flavor and texture, and an overall wholesome feeling to the meal.

As for this teriyaki chicken, it can be served with miso (味噌) soup, simple yet sophisticated. This is a popular side that you can find at almost any Japanese restaurant or convenience store.

To refresh your palate, a cool, tangy green grape juice is what we recommend. It only requires a juicing machine, and 5 minutes of your time.