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 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.

You can either add a corn starch slurry (equal parts water and corn starch) at the end to thicken it up or just let it reduce. Teriyaki sauce has a good bit of sugar so it will reduce to a nice glaze given enough time.

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.

Either will do, but many if not most names for actual dishes in English tend to have the name of the food first and then the style, as in Beef Wellington, Chicken Kiev, Trout Amandine, Courgettes Provençale, etc. Since “teriyaki” is a style of cooking, that would seem to be a vote for “Chicken Teriyaki”.

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.

Veggies, veggies, veggies! Steamed broccoli, roasted carrots, roasted fennel, grilled zucchini or patty pan. Think light vegetables to go with the saltiness of the teriyaki.

Can I just use teriyaki marinade as sauce? ›

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.

Home cooks should be aware of the two versions of teriyaki sauce when they go shopping. The thinner teriyaki sauce makes for a better a marinade, though in our teriyaki taste test, we determined you're better off making your own teriyaki marinade at home than buying a bottle of the thin stuff.

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.

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.

Rice vinegar is sold near other kinds of vinegar, but if you cannot find it, try cider vinegar or white wine vinegar as a substitute. When tasting the sauce after adding the vinegar, it might taste a little strong.

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.

However, while the name teriyaki traces back to 18th century Japan as a cooking style, what is accepted worldwide as teriyaki sauce originated in Hawaii in the 1960's. Today the common ingredients for teriyaki sauce are: Sake. Ginger.

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.

Teriyaki's story dates back to ancient Japan, where preservation methods were crucial for ensuring food availability during harsh seasons. The word “teriyaki” is a combination of two Japanese terms: “teri” (照り), which means luster or shine, and “yaki” (焼き), meaning grilled or broiled.