Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes claiming to be “authentic” chicken teriyaki yet many of them seem to miss the whole point of the dish. So here it is, the definitive chicken teriyaki recipe written by a Japanese guy.
This may sound like an obvious question, but to understand what Teriyaki chicken (照り焼きチキン) is about, it helps to know what the name means. Teri (照り) is Japanese for shiny or lustrous while yaki means grilled or griddled (I’ll explain more about this later). Translated literally, the name means “shiny grilled chicken”, and it refers to the clear lacquer-like glaze that’s created when the sugars in the teriyaki sauce caramelize.
Although the name “Teriyaki” is relatively recent nomenclature, the practice of cooking meat and fish in a mixture of soy sauce and sugar has a long history going back hundreds of years. Historical names for teriyaki include: Amakarayaki (甘辛焼き, sweet and salty grilled) Kannroni (甘露煮, literally simmered in sweet nectar), and Yamatoni (大和煮, simmered Yamato-style).
Ingredients for Teriyaki Chicken
Authentic Teriyaki Sauce
Like most Japanese sauces, teriyaki sauce is a simple concoction and includes just three ingredients. That’s why I’m always a little baffled when people pay a premium to buy teriyaki sauce when it’s so easy to make at home. So here it is, the only teriyaki recipe you’ll ever need, that includes equal parts of the following three ingredients:
- Soy Sauce – This is the most obvious ingredient and is what gives teriyaki sauce its coffee black color and savory taste. There’s no need to get fancy here, but just be sure you’re using Japanese soy sauce. I have a whole collection of wonderful soy sauces from other countries, but they all have a different taste and salinity and are not suitable for making Teriyaki.
- Sugar – The sugar is what balances out the saltiness of soy sauce, giving teriyaki sauce its divine balance of sweet and savory. As the liquid reduces, the sugar caramelizes, imbuing the sauce with its trademark flavor while also thickening it. This allows the sauce to glaze whatever food you put it on in a shiny shellac of flavor.I like using evaporated cane juice (a.k.a. raw sugar) because it contributes a bit more flavor to the sauce, but plain old white sugar will work too. If you want to get an even shinier teriyaki chicken, try replacing some of the sugar with rice maltose. It’s a type of liquid sugar that’s made by saccharifying the starches in rice. It’s extremely viscous (like cold honey) and shines like an amorphous crystal ball. For this recipe I’ve left it out to keep it simple, but if you can get your hands on it, it’s definitely worth using.
- Sake – Sake, is an alcoholic beverage made from rice by first saccharifying the starches in rice using koji, a type of filamentous fungus. The sugars are then fermented into alcohol by yeast. The reason for adding the sake isn’t for the alcohol, but for the amino acids produced during fermentation. These amino acids stimulate the umami taste receptors in your mouth giving the teriyaki sauce its lip-smacking savory taste (without adding any MSG).When choosing sake, you don’t need to use anything expensive, but please don’t use “cooking sake”. Although it may sound counterintuitive, cooking wines (yes this applies to grape based wines too) are made with very low-quality alcohol and are loaded with salt, flavorings, and other additives that will throw off the recipe. It’s also worth noting that the alcohol in the sake (as well as the soy sauce… yes soy sauce naturally contains some alcohol) will burn off as you reduce the sauce, so it’s safe for kids to eat. If you have other reasons for not wanting to use sake, you can substitute water. It obviously won’t taste the same, but there are no good non-alcoholic alternatives (no, rice wine vinegar is not a good alternative… see my explanation below).
I know there are probably a few of you asking “What about mirin?”. Mirin is a sweet alcoholic beverage made in a similar fashion to sake and then aged. It’s traditionally added to teriyaki sauce to boost the umami and shine in the sauce. The problem is that real mirin is hard to find, even in Japan. Most “mirin” is just grain alcohol with corn syrup, colorings, and flavorings. That’s why I prefer making the sauce with real brewed sake and sugar.
Don’t use these in Teriyaki Sauce
Most teriyaki sauce recipes include a lot more than 3 ingredients. Here are a few examples and why I don’t recommend using them.
- Garlic, Ginger, Scallions – All of these things add particulate matter to your sauce. If you must embellish your teriyaki sauce with an aromatic, you can grate and strain these ingredients through a sieve to extract their juice. This will allow you to add the flavor without blunting the sheen of the sauce. Another idea is to simply garnish your finished chicken teriyaki with grated ginger or chopped scallions.
- Sesame seeds or oil – You’re welcome to garnish your teriyaki with toasted sesame seeds at the end, but adding sesame oil to teriyaki sauce makes it a different dish.
- Vinegar – recently I’ve seen some recipes suggesting you can replace the sake in teriyaki sauce with vinegar. While rice vinegar can be made from sake (just as red wine vinegar can be made from wine), it undergoes chemical changes in the fermentation process, and the two taste nothing alike. If you really want to add rice vinegar to your sauce, there’s a delicious Filipino dish called Chicken Adobo.
- Starch – Teriyaki sauce gets its thickness from the sugars in the sauce being reduced and caramelized. If you’re getting the proper level of caramelization in your sauce, there’s no need to add a thickener.
- Juices – I occasionally see a teriyaki recipe that includes pineapple or apple juice. I’m not sure if this is due to some misguided notion that fruit juice is healthier than sugar or if the creator enjoys the taste of the fruit in the sauce, but teriyaki sauce does not traditionally include juice. That being said, as long as the juice is filtered and doesn’t include any pulp, you can still get a good teri from your sauce by adding juice. Another idea is that you can also just cut up some fresh fruit and toss it in at the end as you caramelize the sauce.
Bottled Teriyaki Sauce
I usually mix the ingredients for the sauce straight into the pan, but if you want to save even more time, you can premix a large quantity of soy sauce, sugar, and sake in equal parts and stir it until the sugar is dissolved (heat it if need be). Then you can put your homemade teriyaki sauce in a glass bottle and store it in the fridge where it will keep for months.
Cut of Chicken for Teriyaki
The traditional cut of chicken for teriyaki is boneless skin-on chicken legs (both the thigh and the drumstick). If you can’t find whole legs where you are, skin-on chicken thighs will work just fine.
When made properly, the fat renders out and the skin crisps, while keeping the meat tender and moist. If you really hate having skin on your chicken, you can remove it after you’ve browned the chicken, but before you add the sauce.
As for chicken breasts, it’s worth mentioning that teriyaki chicken is not traditionally made with white meat. That being said, if you prefer it, then there’s nothing wrong with using it. Just be aware that breast meat is much leaner than thigh meat, which makes it susceptible to drying out. My recommendation would be to pan-fry it until it’s just barely cooked through and then transfer it to a plate while you caramelize the sauce. Once the sauce is nice and thick, you can add the breast back in to glaze it.
How to Make Chicken Teriyaki
Salt the Chicken
To get the most flavor into your teriyaki chicken, it’s important to get it nice and brown on the outside. In order to do this, you have to get rid of the moisture on the surface of the chicken before it will brown. Normally this would involve frying the chicken until the surface moisture has evaporated, but doing this will render the meat overcooked and dry. To get around this, I like to lightly salt the chicken, before pan-frying it. This coaxes out any excess moisture from the surface, and then you can use paper towels to remove the liquid, along with the salt before frying it.
Grilled vs Pan-Fried Teriyaki
Yaki is usually translated as “grilled”, but it can also mean pan-fried (like on a griddle). I prefer making teriyaki in a pan as it gives more consistent results and is less work than grilling. The method is simple; once the chicken is salted and patted dry, it’s placed skin-side down into a cold non-stick pan. There’s no need to add any oil since the skin will render out plenty of fat. The chicken is cooked slowly over medium heat until the skin side is crisp and browned. Then it’s flipped over to cook the meat through. Once the meat is cooked, you just need to drain off the fat and wipe out the pan before adding the ingredients for the sauce. Then the chicken is flipped over repeatedly to build up a nice shiny glaze. By the time it’s done, most of the sauce should be on the chicken, and anything remaining in the pan should be about the thickness of honey.
If you do decide to grill your teriyaki chicken, here are a few tips. Combine the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce in a small pan and boil until thick and bubbly. For the chicken, follow the salting step and pat the chicken dry. Brush some neutral oil onto the chicken; this will help prevent the chicken from sticking to the grill. Grill the chicken until it’s almost completely cooked through and then brush the reduced teriyaki glaze on the chicken. You can flip the chicken over and reglaze a few times to get a beautiful glossy finish.
Beef, Pork, Salmon and Tofu Teriyaki
As you may have guessed, you can use this teriyaki sauce recipe and method to make anything from beef teriyaki to salmon teriyaki. You’ll need to adjust cooking times depending on the type and thickness of the protein you choose. Just cook it until it’s a little shy of your desired doneness. Then you just add the ingredients for the sauce and caramelize them around the food, flipping it until it’s glazed in a shiny layer of sauce.
Teriyaki Recipes
Units
Ingredients
- 600 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs (4-6 large chicken thighs)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons evaporated cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons sake
Instructions
- Sprinkle both sides of the chicken evenly with the salt and set aside until the salt draws out some moisture from the chicken. Use paper towels to pat the chicken dry.
- Place the chicken skin-side down in a cold non-stick frying pan and turn the heat on to medium. If you are using skinless chicken, you will need to add a bit of oil to the pan.
- Fry the chicken on one side until the skin is crisp and browned. Flip the chicken over and continue frying until the chicken is almost cooked through.
- Drain off any excess oil and then use paper towels to wipe up any remaining oil.
- Add the soy sauce, sugar and sake and turn the heat up to high. Use tongs to continuously flip the chicken to keep basting it with the teriyaki sauce.
- The chicken teriyaki is done when there is almost no liquid remaining in the pan, and the chicken is coated in a thick, shiny glaze.
Nutrition
Iren Feher says
This recipe is amazing! I tried other Americanized chicken teriyaki recipes and those came out so salty. But this one is so good! Just like the chicken teriyaki from the sushi restaurants
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Iren, I think a lot of recipes either marinade the chicken, or they add thickeners to the sauce, which is totally unnecessary. I’m glad you enjoyed my recipe and thanks for stopping by to let me know!
Giulia says
Hi Marc, first of all we (my hubby and I) love your wonderful website especially for Japanese cuisine. We referenced your site in our cuisine blog which we are putting up during the lockdown. Now the question: how long do you leave the salt on the chicken thies for the teriyaki recipe (Btw we tested it and it was great but just not sure about this point)? Thank you and all the best – Giulia and Jean-Claude
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Giulia, thank you! For the teriyaki, there isn’t really a set time to salt it (it depends on the chicken). After you salt it, you’ll start seeing the surface get shiny with moisture. That’s when you want to pat it dry. It should’t take more than 10-15 minutes. The salt draws out the moisture in the surface of the chicken which makes it brown easier.
Yoshiko Herrera says
Wow this is a great recipe!! I grew up eating teriyaki chicken and this is just perfect! I always thought it was grilled; i didn’t realize you could get the blackened slightly crispy skin in a pan. Also I have tried many recipes for the sauce, but this simple one is the best! thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Yoshiko, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! It can be grilled too, but for most setups, it’s better to do it in a frying pan😉
Anna says
Made this for lunch. Success!! I didn’t know chicken teriyaki is that simple to make. Thank you, Marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Anna, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! Sometimes simple is best 😉
Coco says
Matsumoto-san, what would be your recommendation for making the teriyaki spicy? Thank you.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Coco, it’s not traditional to make teriyaki spicy, but that being said, you could add any kind of chili that doesn’t cloud the sauce. That’s why I would recommend using either whole or crushed dried chilis rather than a paste or sauce if you still want to be able to call it teriyaki. If you use a paste or sauce, you’ll lose the glossy sheen on the sauce (which is the defining characteristic of teriyaki), but I think it would be good with gochujang.
Jayvee says
Hi marc i need ur help im from philippines im not quite sure what kind of sake do we have here do u have any suggestion for the sake that i can use? Or any substitute? Does rice wine vinegar would be fine? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jayvee, it sounds like you’ve found sake, bit I just want to address your question about rice wine vinegar. I know there are a lot of sites suggesting the use of rice wine vinegar as an alternative, but it is not a good substitute. Sake is a brewed beverage made from rice that’s been saccharified with Koji and fermented with yeast. The process produced alcohol, but it also produced tons of aromatic compounds as well as amino acids. For cooking what we want are the amino acids. These are compounds like glutamate that produce the taste of umami and it’s what gives the sauce depth. Rice wine vinegar is produced by oxidizing rice wine, which turns the alcohol into acetic acid. The process also destroys most of the amino acids in the sake. The result is a sour vinegar that tastes nothing like sake and doesn’t have the amino acids (which was the whole reason to add sake in the first place).
Jayvee says
Hi marc found a shop of wine here dunno if hakushika sake would be fine? Please. Let me know
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jayvee, that should work great!
Mabaya says
Thank you for the recipe. I’m from the Philippines and I can’t see any of the sake brands that you’re suggesting 🙁 They only sell Japan Cooking Sake that’s Hinode/MCFS. I really want to cook authentic chicken teriyaki though. I don’t want to ruin its flavor by using ingredients that I shouldn’t. Please help. And can I use this recipe for chicken wings? Thank you. I’ll be waiting for your reply. Have a nice day! ^^
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mabaya, if you aren’t already try checking the liquor section of the store, or a larger liquor shop. The best kind of sake to cook with is sake that is intended for drinking so it’s usually not sold in the same area as ingredients for cooking.
Mabaya says
Thank you! One more thing, can I use this recipe for chicken wings? 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mabaya, you wouldn’t be able to use the exact same recipe and process, but you could increase the amount of sake and simmer the wings for about 30 minutes in the sauce. Or you could do something like thishttps://norecipes.com/tebasaki-japanese-chicken-recipe/
Mabaya says
Alrightyy~ Thank you so much ^^
Chris Heins says
I did find some real mirin at amazon. The brand is Eden. It contains water, organic rice, sea salt, and Koji aspergillus oryzae. It’s made in Japan. If I chose to use Mirin, how much would I use and how much sugar needs to be removed?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Chris to keep things simple. You could use a 1:1:1:1 ratio. It will be a little sweeter though so you could cut back on the sugar slightly if you want to it to be less sweet (by about 1/3).
Ralf says
My kids love chicken teriyaki but only from a specific restaurant. They are very picky. These instructions changed all that. Use thighs, start with a cold pan, teriyaki sauce is three ingredients, all so important. The first time I made it my son walked by to critique my effort and he said, “um, that actually looks pretty good”. After I served it to him he said, “wait, have you tried this?”. He decided we don’t need to go to that restaurant anymore. I’ve been. Making this a few times a week. Thank you for the detailed and specific instructions.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Ralf, thanks for taking the time to stop by and share. Im glad to hear your family is enjoying this. The same method works for most proteins, so I hope you get a lot of use out of the sauce!
C ma says
Thank you so much!!! I hate the usual teriyaki chicken from a lot of sushi places. Only some do the original recipe. I have spent t the last few months trying to find the right recipe amd here it is!!
As advised in another comment, I used merin and halved the sugar.
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this! Having worked at several sushi restaurants outside of Japan, I can say that many places don’t make any of their own sauces (they use bottles ones, that are loaded with corn syrup, MSG, and various gums to thicken them).
Lucy says
This is by far the easiest and best recipe for teriyaki chicken. I used a basic sake, not cooking sake but not expensive either, that I found at the grocery store. I made extra sauce because the recipe calls for equal parts sake, sugar, and soy sauce so I just doubled it. Following the recipe, you won’t have extra sauce.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lucy, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! Pro tip: you can premix equal parts sake, soy sauce, sugar in a squeeze bottle and store it in the fridge. It will last for months (provided you don’t use it all before then) and it makes it even easier prepare.
Jennifer Spencer says
This recipe looks great and I want to cook it. But when you say “equal parts” of sake, soy and sugar, do you mean equal by weight or by volume? Thank you.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jennifer, it’s equal parts in volume, please check the recipe card for specific measurements.
Jennifer Spencer says
Ah – of course. Thank you!
Stuart says
Would be a better recipe without the adverts spoilt it as a learning experience .
And printing off 27 pages?? And the pages I printed, the photographs were just fuzzy blobs.
The recipe may be authentic but the experience wasn’t.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Stuart, I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the site. Did you use the “Print” button on the recipe card? This creates a print-ready version of the recipe that should fit on 1 page, and you can choose whether you want to include photos or not (including photos will make it take more than 1 page, but it still shouldn’t be anywhere near 27 pages). As for the ads, provide recipes on this website for free, but each recipe can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to test, shoot and produce a video for. Without the ads, I would not be able to afford to do this.
Nancy Quarry says
I would like to try this recipe. It looks very good. Could you please advise what kind of sake to purchase and where? I would like to order on-line if possible. Thank you very much.
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks Nancy I give an explanation of sake along with what to look for in the headnotes above. If you want a more detailed explanation I have a series of videos about why sake is used in food here: https://youtu.be/C2p6MN4EVeA As for where to purchase, it depends on where you live, but if you’re in the US you can check out https://tippsysake.com