A homemade teriyaki sauce and simple baking method creates incredibly moist and tender Baked Chicken Teriyaki. Serve with rice and veggies for a wholesome and complete meal.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions for myself that involve food or nutrition.
What we consume ebbs and flows like the tide, but in November and December, it was more like a tidal wave around here. It started with Thanksgiving, built up some steam at Christmas, and just rolled all the way through New Years Eve. It’s a natural thing to make a correction in January. I don’t think of it as a resolution because those never hold. It’s just a matter of getting back on course.
My plan for January is to back off the baked goods – whoa Nellie did we have some baked goods! – and include lots of chicken, fish, and veggies in my menu planning. I’ll be sharing it all with you as I go and I’m starting it off with this Baked Chicken Teriyaki.
Skinless chicken pieces of your choice are baked with a scrumptious homemade sauce. The method is simple but the result is fork tender and SO good. In addition to being incredibly tasty, it’s such a pretty dish.
Here is how it’s done.
Line a 13″ x 9″ baking dish with foil and spray it with a little non-stick cooking spray. You can use any variety of chicken pieces you’d like. I went with bone-in thighs and boneless breasts that I cut in half. Just be sure to pull off and discard the skin.
The teriyaki sauce is super simple and only takes minutes to prepare. See the printable recipe below for instructions. Spoon about 1/3 of the sauce over the chicken, reserving the rest for later. Cover the dish with foil and pop it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes remove the dish from the oven, remove the foil, and spoon the remaining sauce over the chicken. Return the dish to the oven for an additional 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Sprinkle the chicken with sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onion and you are ready to serve.
I highly recommend cooking up some white or brown rice and a simple veggie like broccoli or carrots to go along with the chicken for a vibrant, delicious meal the entire family will love.
P.S. – If you’re a fan of teriyaki, be sure to check out my Grilled Steak Teriyaki. Same sauce, different meat, different method, equally delicious!
Baked Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
- 9 skinless chicken pieces I used bone-in thighs and boneless breasts
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Teriyaki Sauce:
- 2/3 cup lite soy sauce
- 2/3 cup mirin sweet rice wine
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon finely grated or minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
For Garnish:
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 3 or 4 green onions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line a 13" x 9" baking dish with aluminum foil and coat the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- Whisk together all of the Teriyaki Sauce ingredients, through garlic, in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk the cornstarch and water until dissolved and then add the mixture to the pan. Bring just to the boiling point then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for several minutes, stirring, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
- Place chicken pieces in the prepared dish and season to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper. Spoon about 1/3 of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken, being sure to coat each piece. Reserve remaining sauce. Cover dish with foil and cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and drizzle remaining sauce over the chicken. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.
- Serve with rice and vegetables of your choice.
Meagan says
This was absolutely delicious! My kids loved that chicken teriyaki could be homemade and was actually better than out. My question though is this: before going into the oven, my sauce was the thickness I expected, but when everything was done it was very thin and watery. Still tasty but not thick like teriyaki sauce usually is. Did I do something wrong, you think?
Valerie says
Yay, so glad to hear that everyone loved it! Yes, the sauce does thin out a little which is why I reserve some to add later in the cooking process. I think it sets up a bit if you let the chicken sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. If you’d prefer a thicker sauce, you could hold off on adding the remaining sauce until about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Hope this helps!
kazy says
This turned out really really good. I was skeptical about the Teriyaki sauce as there were so many ingredients involved whereas the videos I’ve seen from Japanese cooks consists of soy, saki and mirin and that’s it. Maybe a little sugar. But then I read up on less-traditional Teriyaki sauce and it was pretty much the same as this recipe minus sesame oil. So I reduced the 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to 1 teaspoon. Gotta watch the calories especially with all that mirin in the recipe. I also crushed the garlic and used more than 1 teaspoon and I also used ginger paste so that the sauce has a more pureed consistency. I got me 8 big fat boneless, skinless chicken thighs and with only 2 adults in the family, it lasted it us 4 evening meals. I cooked 2 thighs each night fresh rather than doing it all at once and warming it up each night as leftovers since that dries the chicken out. Served it over white steamed rice with a salad. Great week-end into the regular work week dinner. Thanks Valerie for the inspiration. This will be a keeper.
Valerie says
You gave me a chuckle, this morning, Kazy. 🙂 I always have one or two in my house that will eat more than one piece of chicken so I don’t worry too much about dividing my servings evenly.
kazy says
Hi Valerie. I was wondering how you would divide 9 thighs evenly between 4 to 6 people?
Jenny says
Hey. Thank you for this delicious recipe! I added extra ginger because I love be it! I love that your recipe called for fresh ginger btw and the cooking heat/time combo was awesome perfect! Thank you!!
Linda says
I was wondering if it would still taste good if you made it without the sugar.
Valerie says
Teriyaki sauce is intended to be a sweet sauce and I don’t think the flavor balance would be correct if you didn’t add some sort of sweetener. If you’re watching your sugar, you can definitely use your favorite sugar substitute.
Patty says
Valerie, made this dish today with rice & broccoli! My husband really liked it, went for seconds.
Was delicious, thanks for sharing!
Valerie says
I’m so glad to hear this, Patty. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Jenna says
I just made this for dinner! One teenage daughter and 2 teen boys (1 is picky) and they loved it! 🙂 Yay!!!!!
Valerie says
It’s a huge victory when you please those picky kids, isn’t it? Thank you so much for coming back to let me know, Jenna. I’m so pleased it worked out for you 🙂
Valerie says
Thank you so much, Kate! By the way, I have a huge girl/blog crush on you. I’ve admired your work for years and I’m pretty tickled to see you here 🙂 I agree completely on making sauces at home. Store bought teriyaki sauce is far too sweet for my taste. I love to control the sweetness and saltiness by making it myself.
Kate @ Framed Cooks says
This looks so good and so easy – my perfect combo in any recipe! We love chicken teriyaki, and it’s great to be able to make it at home – the secret ingredients in the take-out stuff always make m a little nervous….
Suzanne Smith says
Dear Valerie, this is an outstanding recipe! My 13 year old daughter said she would like to learn to prepare “real” meals that were healthy, not very difficult, and worth the effort. So this is the recipe we chose. I just hung around to assist if needed, and was so happy to see her just follow your recipe step by step without frustration. The meal looked exactly like your picture, with steamed broccoli and white rice. The family was amazed at the tenderness of the chicken and the wonderful sauce. The sauce was more than ample for the rice and vegetables so next time we will add 3-4 more boneless/skinless thighs (a total of 12-14). Its so much fun to discover easy,special recipes that the whole family says “Please make this again!”
Valerie says
Hi Suzanne! Your comment nearly brought me to tears 🙂 Helping young people get excited about cooking and trying new things in the kitchen is precisely the reason why I started this blog. I’m so happy your daughter had success with this recipe and please tell her to keep it up! I hope this is just the beginning of her adventures in the kitchen.
Amy @ The Blond Cook says
Valerie, this chicken looks delicious! A perfect dinner!
Valerie says
Thank you, Amy!