If you’ve been following this blog for long, you probably remember that I’ve posted about chicken teriyaki before. It was a grilled preparation that involved brining, grilling and basting the chicken, and while delicious, it’s a fair amount of work.
While teriyaki may have originally been a grilled dish, these days in Japan, the chicken is pan-fried more often than not due to busy schedules and a lack of charcoal grills. It doesn’t have the smoky flavor that grilled chicken teriyaki has, but pan frying produces chicken that’s more moist and tender. The best part is that the chicken and teriyaki sauce can be made in the same pan, which not only makes it fast and easy, it means there’s one less pot to wash.
Since discovering this method for easy chicken teriyaki, I’ve honestly been using it more than the grilled method because it produces great results with much less effort, and so I wanted to share it with all of you.
In case you’re wondering why there’s no cornstarch in the sauce, it’s because the soy sauce and sugar caramelize during cooking, naturally thickening the sauce. If you add cornstarch it not only clouds the sauce, your teriyaki sauce will taste flat in comparison because it hasn’t had a chance to caramelize.
This can be made with any cut of chicken, but in Japan the thigh meat is preferred because it has more flavor. In Japan, “chicken thighs” include both the meat from the drumstick and thigh, so one “thigh” ends up making for a large steak-sized fillet of chicken. In the US, you can either buy whole legs and fillet them yourself, or you can just use more of the smaller chicken thighs. Either way, make sure the fillet is as even in thickness as possible otherwise you’ll end up with parts that are undercooked and other parts that are overcooked.
Units
Ingredients
- 340 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger (grated)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
Instructions
- Rub the ginger and and salt into the chicken and let this sit for at least 30 minutes. After it's marinated, use paper towels to dry the chicken as best you can, removing any excess ginger pulp.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium heat. You don't want to start the chicken off over too high a heat otherwise it will not cook through before burning. Place the chicken skin-side down in the pan and fry until golden brown on one side.
- Flip the chicken, then add 1 tablespoon of sake and quickly cover the pan with a lid. Steam the chicken until it is just cooked through (about 5 minutes).
- Prepare the teriyaki sauce by mixing 1 tablespoon each of: honey, mirin, sake, and soy sauce. Stir to combine.
- Remove the lid, and drain any remaining liquid and oil. Use a paper towel to sop up any excess oil.
- Turn up the heat to high, then add the teriyaki sauce. Let this mixture boil, while flipping the chicken repeatedly to coat evenly.
- The chicken teriyaki is done when most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce forms a thick glaze around the chicken. Slice and pour the remaining teriyaki sauce over the chicken.
Giftz says
wow, all Japanese reciPies contain either pork or alcohol. Not fair!!!!!!! Replacement for sake. Can’t use it for religious reasons but mirin is okay.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Giftz, pork isn’t all that common and can be substituted for other meats, but sake is admittedly is many things. Mirin is also a rice wine, so if you can’t eat food with sake in it you also shouldn’t eat food with Mirin. Actually if you are really being strict you should not eat bread or soy sauce or pretty much anything that has been fermented either because they contain trace amounts of alcohol. That being said, in this particular recipe most if not all of the alcohol should be evaporated since the sauce it reduced down (alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, so it boils off first).
DJ says
Trace amounts of alcohol in the atmosphere, too, such as ethanol. I’d recommend no breathing just to be super safe. Oh, and wear a mask, too….forever.
mal says
Funny and true
Setsunna says
I made a slightly modified version of this assuming I had the bulk of the ingredients. Experimentally used Barefoot Moscoto in place of mirin and a teeny bit of sugar. Then did the rest the same as this recipe calls for. When it was done I added a splash of “bottled teriyaki” marinade ….and oh em gee this was amazingly good. Chicken thighs were tender and had a nice succulent glaze that went straight to the bone. Definitely making this again!!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Setsunna, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this!
Debbie Cummings says
I have made a variety of Chicken Teriyaki recipes. They are all great. But this one is the greatest.
Marc Matsumoto says
Wow Debbie, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! Thanks for stopping by to let me know!
lucy says
is there a substitute for salt or just less salt ?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lucy, the chicken won’t get seasoned to the center, but the teriyaki sauce has plenty of flavor so you can skip the salt if you like.
Ramona says
My daughter uses an air fryer I have never done that . I wonder if this could be used here. Anyone have a good orange chicken recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Ramona, I wouldn’t recommend it. An air “fryer” cooks by convection (i.e. it circulated hot air around the food). For things that you want crispy (like battered or breaded meat) this works well enough, but with uncoated meat like this you’ll end up making the meat tough and chewy. You’ll get better results in a regular frying pan, and your chicken will probably be lower in fat as you’re going to be able to render out more fat from the skin than you would in an air fryer because it’s in direct contact with the metal pan. As for orange chicken, here’s my version: https://norecipes.com/orange-chicken-recipe/
cylis lamb says
why does the recipe say there are two tablespoons of sake
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Cylis, one tablespoon is for steaming the chicken (step 3) the second tablespoon is for the sauce (step 4).