Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Chicken Teriyaki Wings

"Teriyaki" literally means glossy grilled in Japanese, and although boneless chicken teriyaki can be made in a frying pan, the method doesn't work great for wings. That's why I've developed this easy two-step method that will get you tender flavorful wings, glazed in a gloriously glossy homemade teriyaki sauce. They don't require much work, and most of it can be done in advance making them an easy appetizer, so I hope you give these a shot!

Why My Recipe Works

• Braising the wings on the stove in teriyaki sauce avoids the need to marinate them first. 
• Braising also tenderizes the chicken while rendering out most of the fat from the skin. This makes it easy to brown the skin in the oven while ensuring the inside is tender and flavorful. 
• Blasting the chicken wings in a hot oven turns the skin a beautiful shade of mahogany. It also lets you prep the chicken up to this point in advance so you can reheat and brown them in the oven when you want to serve them. 
• The braising liquid has absorbed the chicken's flavor and extracted gelatin from the skin, which makes it thick and glossy when reduced. 

Ingredients

• Chicken Wings - I used a mixture of wingettes and drumettes for this, but if your wings still have the tips attached, you can cut them off at the joint or use them whole. 
• Soy sauce - Teriyaki sauce has 3 main components, and the soy sauce brings salt and umami. 
• Sugar - Sugar balances the salt of the soy sauce in teriyaki sauce. 
• Sake - Sake is a beverage brewed from rice, and it is added to teriyaki sauce for flavor and umami. During the fermentation process, the protein in rice breaks down into its constituent amino acids, and many of these produce the taste of umami. The alcohol boils off during cooking, so the resulting sauce will not be alcoholic. You can learn more about what sake is and why it's used for cooking in this video.  
• Aromatics - I like to add aromatics such as fresh ginger and garlic to give the chicken a bit more flavor. It's best to add aromatics in whole so their flavor can be extracted during braising, but you don't end up with particles muddling the sauce. 
• Garnish - For ingredients like sesame seeds and scallions, it's best to save them to garnish the chicken at the end. By sprinkling them on after the teriyaki wings are done, you can add a nice texture and flavor without clouding the sauce. 

How to Make Teriyaki Chicken Wings

To braise the chicken wings, you want to add the ginger and garlic into a saucepan and then place the wings in it, minimizing the amount of space between the pieces of chicken. This ensures that the liquids cover most of the wings when we add them in. 

Pour the sugar, soy sauce, and sake onto the chicken, and then put the pan over high heat to bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and turn down the heat to maintain a steady simmer. You want to let this braise for 15 minutes for the sauce to soak into the chicken and for the fat in the chicken to render out. 

While the chicken is braising, preheat the oven to 430 degrees F (220 C) and prepare a baking sheet by placing a metal cooling rack on top. 

When the timer is up, transfer the wings to the rack and let the surface of the chicken dry out for a few minutes. 

When there's no longer liquid on the surface of the chicken, put the baking sheet in the oven and bake them until the skin is a rich brown color. This took about 10 minutes in my oven, but it may take a little less or a little more time, so keep a close eye on your teriyaki wings to ensure they don't burn. 

To finish the teriyaki glaze, strain the braising liquid into another saucepan and skim off the excess fat using a spoon. Boil the braising liquid to reduce it until the bubbles are big and shiny and it's relatively thick. The gelatin from the chicken will cause the sauce to get thicker as it cools, eliminating the need for thickeners like cornstarch. It doesn't need to be super thick at this point. 

Once your chicken teriyaki wings are done browning, remove them from the oven and brush or spoon on the reduced teriyaki sauce. Serve these as an appetizer or finger food for game nights and potlucks. Serve these as an appetizer or finger food for game nights and potlucks. For kids, try making my teriyaki meatballs.

Other Chicken Wings Recipes

• Tebasaki (Crispy Fried Wings)
• Umeboshi Chicken Wings
• Korean Fried Chicken

📖 Recipe

Chicken Teriyaki Wings

By: Marc Matsumoto

4.70 from 10 votes

Print Pin

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Yield 4 servings

Equipment

1 small non-stick saucepan

1 Baking Sheet - Quarter

1 small stainless saucepan

1 cooling rack

1 Cooking Chopsticks

Units

Grams + US CupsUS Standard

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• 15 grams ginger (sliced)
• 10 grams garlic (smashed)
• 1 kilogram chicken wings
• ⅓ cup evaporated cane sugar
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• ⅓ cup sake
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Step PhotosNo Photos

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• Add the 15 grams ginger and 10 grams garlic to a pot and arrange the 1 kilogram chicken wings on top, leaving as little space between the wings as possible.
  
• Add the ⅓ cup evaporated cane sugar, ⅓ cup soy sauce, and ⅓ cup sake on top of the chicken, and then bring this to a boil over high heat.
  
• Cover the pot with a lid, turn down the heat to maintain a full simmer, and cook the wings for 15 minutes.
  
• Preheat the oven to 430 degrees F (220 C).
• When the chicken is done, transfer the teriyaki wings to a metal rack set on top of a sheet pan.
  
• Let the teriyaki chicken wings sit for a few minutes to let the residual heat evaporate any liquid on the surface of the chicken.
• Bake the wings until the skin is a deep mahogany brown (about 10-12 minutes).
• While the wings bake, strain the braising liquid and skim off any excess fat. Boil the sauce over high heat until the mixture is as thick as maple syrup.
  
• When the teriyaki wings are done, remove them from the oven and use a pastry brush or spoon to glaze them with the reduced sauce. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds.
  

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Nutrition Facts

Calories • 402kcalCarbohydrates • 20gProtein • 27gFat • 22gSaturated Fat • 6gPolyunsaturated Fat • 5gMonounsaturated Fat • 9gTrans Fat • 0.3gCholesterol • 104mgSodium • 1180mgPotassium • 289mgFiber • 0.3gSugar • 17gVitamin A • 199IUVitamin C • 2mgCalcium • 29mgIron • 2mg

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