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Because we all still need to eat real meals leading up to Christmas and not everyone can survive on Christmas cookies; so this! Teriyaki chicken is a quick and easy dinner and tastes better than takeout. It’s hard to stop eating that honey orange glaze. Not too sweet and not too salty, but just right.
The chicken thighs are tender and delicious. If you’re like me and love super clean meat, chicken thighs can be a little annoying to trim but it’s so worth it. You can’t beat the juiciness and flavor of thigh meat.
I learned how to make this simple and delicious teriyaki chicken from Juliana on Instagram! Her delicious photo of glazed teriyaki chicken over white rice came up in my feed and I was like “gimme ‘dat chicken ?!” I love getting dinner-time inspiration on Instagram!
The ingredient list is so simple, but it works! We’ve made it 3 times in the past week and a half and even when I burned the sauce , my hubby and son still enjoyed it. Leave it to me to burn the sauce.
Watch how to make Chicken Teriyaki!
Ingredients for Chicken Teriyaki Recipe:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 1/2 medium or 1 large oranges)
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs (about 6-7 medium) boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
1 Tbsp oil (I use light olive oil)
1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Green onion and sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Cooks Tip: How to Peel and Grate fresh ginger:
1. Peel with a spoon. It’s the easiest way to get the skin off. Grate peeled ginger with a fine grater or zester.
How to Make Teriyaki Chicken:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup orange juice, 3 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp sesame oil.
2. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces and place into marinade. Stir and cover with plastic wrap and marinate on the counter 20 min.
3. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon, reserving marinade in the bowl. Add chicken to the hot pan and sauté, stirring occasionally until golden and cooked through (5 min).
4. Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to a bowl. (Don’t leave the empty pan over the heat or you may scorch the bottom of the pan and ruin the sauce – been there, done that and if it happens to you, continue making the sauce using a clean pan).
5. Pour reserved marinade into the pan, add 1 1/2 Tbsp butter (it’s in bold for my own sake because I’ve forgotten it before and it just wasn’t the same) and place back over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly until slightly thickened (1 min) then remove from heat. Add chicken back to the pan and stir to combine.
Serve over hot buttery white rice garnished with fresh green onion and a sprinkle of sesame seeds for pizzazle. I served it with steamed broccoli to appease my conscience and make it a meal.
Easy Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, from 1 1/2 medium or 1 large oranges
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 1/2 to 2 lbs about 6-7 medium boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
- 1 Tbsp oil, I use light olive oil
- 1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- Green onion and sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup orange juice, 3 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp sesame oil.
- Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces and place into marinade. Stir and cover with plastic wrap and marinate on the counter 20 min.
- Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon, reserving marinade in the bowl. Add chicken to the hot pan and sauté, stirring occasionally until golden and cooked through (5 min).
- Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to a bowl.
- Pour reserved marinade into the pan, add 1 1/2 Tbsp butter and place back over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly until slightly thickened (1 min) then remove from heat. Add chicken back to the pan and stir to combine. Serve over hot buttery white rice garnished with fresh green onion and a sprinkle of sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Now that’s what I call teriyaki chicken! I love that it glows – do you see it too?
I want to make this recipe but am unsure whether to use light soy sauce or dark, which would be best?
Hi Rachel, do you mean low sodium vs regular soy sauce? If you are on a low sodium diet, I would recommend the low sodium (less salt version), but I used regular Kikkoman brand soy sauce (as photographed).
Yes, that’s perfect, thank you!
Made this today – really tasty and easy to prepare. Will definitely be making it again.
Awesome! I love hearing reviews like this!
Hi Natasha
Light and dark soy sauces have different purposes and their differences go beyond the amount of sodium. In fact dark soy sauce has less sodium. By default soy sauce refers to… light soy sauce. In other words recipes calling for dark will explicitly lists Dark.
On a side note, if you are seeking to reduce sodium, it’s recommended to water down down regular soy sauce or add some lemon to it instead of getting low sodium soy sauce. That’s because low sodium is made differently.
I am ethnically Chinese who loves Japanese cuisine but the info above is based on Chinese soy sauces. The Japanese category of soy sauces is slightly different from the Chinese, which I purposely left out to not confuse further. If you can only have one type of soy sauce in your kitchen, get chinese/Japanese light soy sauce. The bottle will simply say “soy sauce”.
Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us, Edward! I’m sure our readers will find this helpful!
I love the recipe it’s super easy but why haven’t you used Mirin for the sauce?
I’ve never used that ingredient in this recipe. Have you tried it in this recipe? If you test it out, let me know how you like it!
Easy and delicious and my kids actually liked it! Thanks!
I am so glad the kids enjoyed it too!!
Can I marinate the chicken in the fridge for over 20 minutes? I have a cooking class that’s only 45 minutes and that would take to long to prep so I was gonna leave it in there the class before
Hi Rakia, that would work fine to marinate 45 minutes but I would refrigerate it since you don’t want to leave raw chicken out too long.
Cooked this last night and my husband couldn’t get enough of it! I enjoyed every bit of it from preparation to eating it!! Be blessed!
Thank you very much Julie! I am so glad you both loved it!
do i have to use sesame seed oil or can i use something else?
Brenda, sesame oil gives the recipe more authentic flavor but it would still taste great without it.
tried it last night… awesome!! any suggestions on how to make it a little spicier?
I haven’t experimented with making this spicier but maybe try adding your favorite hot sauce.
I haven’t experimented with making this spicier but maybe try adding your favorite hot sauce.
How much chicken is best? I saw the sauce ingredients, but not the amount of chicken thighs. I made this once and it was delicious but I don’t remember how much chicken I used.
Hi Julie, I have the amounts of chicken listed at the top of the recipe as well as in the print-friendly at the bottom: “1 1/2 to 2 lbs (about 6-7 medium) boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat” 🙂
I dknt have fresh ginger. Do you think i could use ground ginger. If so how much? Thanks!
Hi Joyce, I think it could work well with 1/4 tsp of ground ginger. 🙂
Love this recipe! It is easy and delicious 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Do you happened to know the nutrition value….how may calories?
This recipe is delicious!!!
Hi Jan, I don’t typically include calorie counts because of the time constraint that I have. I really need to hire some help to do that for me! When I need a quick answer though; I have used Caloriecount.com (their recipe analyzer is free).
i really liked it! Sorry… What I meant to say was I LOVE IT!
Thank you for such a nice review, I’m all smiles 😁.
This is amazing. It is so tasty and easy to make. Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing you awesome review! 🙂
Wonderful recipe, my grandchildren want it again next time they are over. My husband and I are having it today. Recipe is easy to make also.
Thank you for Dena for such a nice review, I’m so happy to hear that 😄.
Gotta try this recipe soon. Can I swap the honey for agave?
I really like the flavor of honey but I think that might work. Add it to taste.
This recipe has become my family’s favorite. Thanks to you and your lovely family. Also appreciate any Ukranian recipes you have – my mom was Ukranian and these dishes bring back happy memories.
That is awesome! I’m so happy it has become a favorite in your home 🙂
Natasha, thank you!! I made this recipe tonight, my husband and I simply loved it! Easy and delicious! Huge kiss from Brazil!
I’m so happy you loved it, thank you for sharing your wonderful review 😀.
This recipe is fabulous! The night before last I cooked pre made store teriyaki chicken and we had a family rice paper roll session with cut salad veggies and glass noodles and a lovely home made peanut dipping sauce. There were loads of veg/noodles/dipping sauce left so I decided to do it again as the kids had a lot of fun making their own rolls, but I didn’t love the taste of the store bought chicken, too sweet, and found your recipe on line. Well you should have seen the wide eyes on first taste, wow! Didn’t make the extra sauce as it would have made the rolls too soggy but it’s waiting in the freezer. Can’t wait to make it again and try it with rice but this will be fab again in the rolls or sushi! Thank you!!
You are very welcome, thank you for sharing that with us 😀
I made it for my kids who love to go to local ” I love teriyaki ” restaurant. they ate it for lunch and when I got home later the leftovers were gone 🙂 so this recipe is defiantly a keeper. I really like easy recipe like this one that turns out as good as restaurant ones. thank you Natasha. I was not into cooking before, but now when I make something from your website, and my kids eat it and ask to make again, makes me want to cook more ))) and I enjoy cooking now more and more ))
That is the best when kids love what we Mom’s make. That’s so great!
I made this for my brothers and dad, all I can say is it’s so good like this is amazing!!!! Best recipe ever!! Everyone needs to try this 😍😍😍
Kristina, thank you for such a great review on the recipe, looks like you found a new favorite chicken recipe 😀.