Best Ever Teriyaki Chicken

This teriyaki chicken will be the best that you ever make! The tender, juicy chicken is coated with the most amazingly flavored sauce. Once you eat this, it will become your new favorite!

This teriyaki chicken makes the best entree for any meal! Serve this up with some easy fried rice, some delicious vegetable lo mein, and these amazing egg rolls!

A pan of teriyaki chicken being stirred with a wooden spoon.

Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Trust me when I tell you that this teriyaki chicken recipe is the best. Seriously, I love Asian food so much and have tried countless different recipes. This one takes the cake. Plus, it’s simple. Recipes don’t need to be complicated to be delicious! This teriyaki chicken is smothered with the best teriyaki sauce out there, and the chicken soaks it up, making it really flavorful.

I love chicken teriyaki cooked and eaten with rice and broccoli, but the beauty of this chicken is that you can serve it up with a ton of different sides and it will taste good every time. The flavor combination in the sauce is made with ginger, soy sauce, and garlic, and the aroma in the kitchen makes me so hungry every time. This recipe is simple and easy and tastes like it came straight from a restaurant.

Ingredients to Make Teriyaki Chicken at Home

This recipe is simple and easy to make from the comfort of your own home. No more need to dine out to get chicken this good. Now you can make it for yourself whenever you want! See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.

Chicken: You can use chicken thighs or breasts for this recipe. Whichever type you prefer will work great.
Salt and Pepper: Use these to your liking to season the chicken.
Olive Oil: You will use the olive oil to cook the chicken in before adding the sauce,
Soy Sauce: I like to use low sodium soy sauce to make this a little bit healthier.
Brown Sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar.
Apple Cider Vinegar: You can use rice vinegar in a pinch!
Garlic Clove: If you don’t have a fresh clove of garlic on hand then you can use minced garlic instead. ½ teaspoon equals about 1 clove of garlic.
Sesame Oil: This is essential to usingin a teriyaki sauce! My favorite one to use is this sesame oil.
Freshly Grated Ginger: Whenever you use fresh ingredients, the flavor is more potent.
Water and Cornstarch: This will be used to thicken up the sauce.
Sesame Seeds and Green Onions: These will be used to garnish the top of your chicken!

How to Make Chicken Teriyaki

This recipe is quick and easy! You can whip it up in no time and have a delicious meal on the table that your entire family will go crazy for! It’s going to fly off of your table fast. If I were you, I would double the recipe.

Cook Chicken: Cut the chicken into one inch pieces and salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken. Cook until no longer pink and remove and set aside on a plate.
Whisk: In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, and ginger. Then, in a separate small bowl whisk the water and cornstarch to make a slurry. Add the cornstarch to the sauce mixture and whisk.
Thicken Sauce: Add the sauce to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and then whisk until it starts to thicken.
Toss Chicken with Sauce: Add the chicken back to the skillet and toss until coated and heated through. Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over rice if desired.

4 pictures showing how to whisk the sauce, add it to the chicken and cook it together in a pan.

Is Teriyaki Chicken Healthy?

Teriyaki chicken is an excellent form of protein but can also be high in sodium. To help counter that, I like to use low sodium soy sauce in this recipe to lower the sodium intake! It’s an easy thing to do and it doesn’t affect the taste at all. Teriyaki chicken is definitely a healthier choice than some of the fried foods that are on the menus at Asian restaurants.

A bowl of rice topped with broccoli and teriyaki chicken.

Helpful Suggestions

There are a few things that you can do to this teriyaki chicken recipe to make it perfect for you and your family! Here are some tips to help you out.

How to cut your chicken: To make sure that all of your chicken cooks at the same time, it’s importatnt to make sure that you cut all of the pieces to be similar in size. Then they will cook evenly throughout.
Taste: If you like a saltier taste then add a bit more soy sauce. If you want less of a salt taste then you can replace some of the soy sauce with water.
Serve it with Rice: If you are looking to serve this teriyaki chicken over some rice then I suggest serving it with white rice or brown rice. But if you want to make this meal even healthier then you can serve it with Cauliflower Fried Rice and it tastes so delicious!

A close up of a teriyaki chicken bowl with a fork in a piece of chicken.

How to Store Leftovers

This chicken teriyaki makes fantastic leftovers. The sauce really soaks into the chicken making it even more flavorful the next day!

Store in the Fridge: Once your chicken has cooled then you can place it in an airtight container and store it in your fridge. It will last about 3 days.
To Reheat: When you are ready to reheat your chicken then you can cook it on your stover on medium heat until it is warmed through. If you need to, you can make more teriyaki sauce and add it on top!