Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce

November 01, 2020

Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce

This chicken with teriyaki sauce is easy to make with boneless chicken thighs and a sauce so authentic you’ll swear off the bottled stuff forever.

Adapted from Rika Yukimasa | Rika’s Modern Japanese Home Cooking | Rizzoli, 2020

When I was growing up, my mother often put this delicious teriyaki chicken dish in the bento boxes my sister and I brought to school. I love teriyaki sauce so much that I used to sidle up to my mother and whisper, “Put more sauce in my bento.” [Editor’s Note: This teriyaki sauce is thinner than the sort you may be accustomed to from a bottle. Just so you know what to expect. And the flavor? FAR surpasses anything you’ve experienced. From a bottle or otherwise.]

There are two ways to apply teriyaki sauce. The first is the method described in this recipe, which is to sauté the meat until tender, then add the sauce and reduce it together with the protein. The second is to reduce the sauce on its own, marinate the meat in the reduced sauce, then barbecue or broil the meat.–Rika Yukimasa

*What is sansho pepper?

Sansho pepper is the Japanese version of Szechuan pepper. It’s commonly used for yakitori and is particularly delicious here.

Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce

Quick Glance
Quick Glance
20 M
40 M
Serves 2

Print Recipe

Want it? Click it.

Ingredients

Email Grocery List

12 ounces boneless chicken thighs (about 2), preferably skin-on
3 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably low-sodium
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons sake
3 tablespoons mirin (or substitute equal parts sake and granulated sugar)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Freshly ground sansho* (see note above) or black pepper to taste

Directions

Pat the chicken thighs dry. Remove any visible fat from the chicken thighs and prick both sides evenly with a fork. Score the underside of the thighs so that they flatten to a uniform thickness.

In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin.

Add enough oil to a skillet to slick the surface. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin-side down, and place over medium heat. Cover and cook for 4 minutes.

Carefully turn the thighs over. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 3 minutes.

Uncover the skillet and pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce reduces by about three-quarters and glazes the chicken, 7 to 15 minutes.

Cut the chicken into slices. Sprinkle with sansho and serve immediately.

Print Recipe

Want it? Click it.

Variations

This teriyaki sauce can also be used on beef, lamb, pork, duck, and meatballs. Teriyaki sauce for meat and poultry is a simple mix of mirin, sake, soy sauce, and sugar, always in equal amounts. Teriyaki sauce for fish contains a little less sugar.