Teriyaki Chicken

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Tender, juicy chicken thighs are basted with the best homemade teriyaki sauce and baked to perfection in this Teriyaki Chicken recipe!

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: baked Teriyaki Chicken, Teriyaki Chicken

Servings: servings

Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray.
Place chicken pieces in the baking dish. Season with a bit of salt and pepper on both sides, to taste.
In a small saucepan, whisk together the water with the cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved, to create a slurry. Whisk in all the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth and incorporated. Bring to a simmer, stirring it frequently to prevent overflow and scorching. Right when it boils, reduce heat to a low bubble for 3-4 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove the sauce from the heat.
Baste chicken thighs with the sauce. Turn thighs over, bone side up, and brush again.
Transfer to the oven and cook for 25 minutes, uncovered, basting with the sauce every 8-10 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over, and bake an additional 25 minutes, uncovered, basting every 8-10 minutes. (Or until no longer pink, juices run clear, and an internal temperature of 165℉ is reached.)
Thighs should have a gorgeous, glossy, sticky amber-brown coating.
Sprinkle with diced scallions and serve with some of the pan sauce.

Mirin is a sweet Japanese rice wine, which is similar to sake, but with less alcohol and more sugar. It's available at all Asian markets and most common grocery stores. If you can't find it, a good substitute would be dry sherry mixed with a bit of granulated sugar. (Avoid rice wine vinegar, which would give the sauce an acidic taste.)
Chicken thighs can vary in size. Smaller thighs will finish before larger ones. Check them with a meat thermometer a few minutes early if your pieces are very different in size.
Boneless thighs cook faster. Start checking them around 30 to 35 minutes instead of waiting for the full 50 minutes.
This recipe is high in sodium. Each serving contains about 879mg even with low-sodium soy sauce, because the sauce reduces and becomes more concentrated as it cooks. If you're watching your sodium intake, reduce the soy sauce slightly and add a little extra water to the sauce.
A thinner teriyaki sauce works best. Store-bought teriyaki sauce can be used in a pinch, but avoid very thick, syrupy sauces. A thinner sauce spreads more easily and builds a better glaze as the chicken bakes.
Don't use the basting sauce as a finished table sauce. It's safe to keep brushing it over the chicken while it cooks, since it goes back into the hot oven each time. If you want to serve extra sauce with the chicken, reserve it before it touches the raw chicken.