Chicken teriyaki with homemade teriyaki sauce
To truly appreciate teriyaki, use the correct ingredients for the sauce. It's equal amounts of soy sauce, sake and mirin. Americanized versions that have honey or maple syrup will not give the dish the deep nuanced flavor that makes teriyaki truly delectable.
Ingredients
For the teriyaki sauce
- 1 cup soy sauce (use Japanese soy sauce which is less salty than Chinese)
- 1 cup sake
- 1 cup mirin
To cook chicken teriyaki
- 6 to 10 chicken thigh fillets preferably skin on, about 700 grams total weight
- ½ teaspoon cooking oil (only if using skinless chicken fillets)
Instructions
Make the teriyaki sauce
- In a small sauce pan, mix together all the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce. Heat and bring to a gentle boil.
- Boil the mixture over medium-low heat, uncovered, until reduced by half.
Cook the chicken teriyaki
- Wipe the chicken thigh fillets dry with paper towels.
- Heat a heavy thick-bottomed frying pan.
- If your chicken thigh fillets are skinless, spray or brush the bottom of the pan with oil.
- Lay the chicken thigh fillets in a single layer, skin side down (or smooth side down if using skinless) in the pan. Cook over high heat until lightly browned, about three minutes.
- Flip the chicken fillets over to brown the opposite side, about three minutes.
- Lower the heat to medium and pour a quarter cup cup of teriyaki sauce over the chicken.
- Cook for another four to six minutes, flipping the chicken fillets over often, until the sauce has caramelized and coats the chicken fillets evenly.
To serve the chicken teriyaki
- Move the chicken fillets to a chopping board and cut into strips.
- Pile the chicken teriyaki strips over rice in a bowl or serve the rice on the side.