Easy to make Chicken Teriyaki Recipe you will love! (2024)

FAQs

How is teriyaki traditionally made? ›

Traditionally, teriyaki sauce is made by mixing and heating three ingredients: sugar, soy sauce, and sake (or mirin). Mirin is a Japanese rice wine, similar to sake, but with more sugar and a lower alcohol content of 14%.

Traditional teriyaki from Japan is grilled meat with a simple glaze made of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar.

The easiest way to make teriyaki sauce thicker is with a cornstarch slurry (which this recipe uses). Whisk together 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water, and add the mixture to your sauce while it simmers.

The main difference is that marinades are used to flavor food before cooking while a sauce is added during the cooking process or after the dish has been cooked. One important thing: don't use premade marinade that's been used to marinate meat, poultry, or fish.

Teriyaki Sauce Ingredients

Authentic Japanese teriyaki sauce combines soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake to create a distinctively sharp taste, with Westernized versions incorporating honey, garlic, and ginger for added edge. Cornstarch is often added to teriyaki sauce as a thickener.

Teriyaki sauce has a complex flavour; a mixture of sweet and savoury, tangy and salty. The sweetness comes from the sweet wine and the caramelisation of the sugar, honey or syrup, which also gives the sauce its shiny glaze.

You can marinate chicken anywhere from 2 hours up to 24 hours, though marinating chicken for even 15 to 30 minutes can impart flavor and moisture into smaller pieces of meat. Generally, bone-in cuts of chicken, such as wings, drumsticks and breasts, will require a longer marinade time than their boneless counterparts.

To make a marinade: Stir soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, and ginger together in a bowl until well combined. To make a sauce: Pour marinade mixture into a small saucepan and warm over medium-high heat.

Sesame oil: A drizzle of sesame oil will add a nutty and aromatic flavor to your teriyaki sauce. It's a great way to enhance the overall taste and aroma of the dish. Honey or brown sugar: Adding a little honey or brown sugar will give the sauce a touch of sweetness that will balance out the saltiness.

To Make the Teriyaki Sauce:

When the mixture reaches a simmer, bring the heat down to low and allow to reduce for 10 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl; the mixture will thicken as it cools. Note: If you want super thick teriyaki sauce, you can use a bit of cornstarch to help.

Can I use white sugar instead of brown sugar in teriyaki sauce? ›

Sugar — Regular granulated sugar is all you need to make teriyaki sauce. It balances the salt from the soy sauce and helps to make the sauce sweet and glossy. Other forms of sugar work, too. Brown sugar, coconut sugar, and even honey will work.

Teriyaki Marinade Recipes

It's also often used as a dipping sauce or condiment for pork tenderloin, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, flank steak, or, of course, your meat substitutes of choice.

If you're looking for a substitute with a bit more depth and complexity, try combining Worcestershire sauce and honey. Worcestershire sauce adds a tangy, umami flavor, while the honey provides sweetness. Mix equal parts of Worcestershire sauce and honey to create a flavorful alternative to teriyaki sauce.

It's particularly popular as a marinade during the barbecue season but is also ideal for enhancing stir-fries or as a dip. We use Kikkoman Soy Sauce as the base, which gives the marinade its unmistakably full-bodied flavour.

Ultimately, while teriyaki is of Japanese descent and a traditional method of preparing and cooking meats, the origins of the classic teriyaki dish that we know and consume today is Japanese-American. It is the by-product of American colonization, immigration patterns, and cultural collaboration.

In short, teriyaki (teri: the shine on the food; and yaki: grilling) goes back a few hundred years in Japan, and was associated with a style of grilling fish with a sauce primarily made from soy sauce, sweet rice wine, and sake.

Thanks to worldwide influences that make up Asian-fusion style food, teriyaki being used as a sauce has become a delicious sauce to cook with. The possibilities are truly endless. It has not only gained in popularity in the U.S., but also in Japan.

Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauces have a small amount of alcohol since they are all made with traditionally brewed Kikkoman Soy Sauce. Our Soy Sauce is a fermented product like beer and is made from wheat, soybeans, salt and water.