This recipe makes the BEST Ever Baked Teriyaki Chicken! Juicy and tender chicken breasts cooked in the most incredible, super easy homemade teriyaki sauce with simple ingredients. The only baked teriyaki chicken recipe you’ll ever need!
More recipes on my weeknight meal planning include Sheet Pan Chicken Potatoes and Green Beans, Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa, and Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots.
This is seriously the BEST baked teriyaki chicken ever! The chicken is tender, juicy, and full of flavor because it is baked in a thick teriyaki sauce to lock in moisture so the chicken doesn’t dry out. The teriyaki sauce is so easy to make and has the most amazing flavor – perfectly sweet, savory, and just a tiny bit spicy. I could eat this sauce every single day, it’s so much better than any store-bought sauce teriyaki sauce!
You are going to love this family favorite easy Japanese teriyaki chicken recipe. It’s so simple, and so tasty you’ll put it on your regular menu rotation for sure!
Teriyaki Chicken Ingredients
The great news is that homemade teriyaki chicken is so incredibly easy to make with simple pantry ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious recipe:
- Chicken breasts
- Soy sauce – I prefer low sodium
- Rice vinegar
- Water
- Sugar
- Ground ginger – or finely grated fresh ginger
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Garlic – minced
- Corn starch – to thicken the sauce
- Sesame seeds – optional, but recommended!
Here’s How You Make it
Let me walk you how to make the best chicken teriyaki EVER.
- Combine the sauce ingredients over medium high heat,
- Bring to a boil.
- Add a corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce, and remove from heat.
- Place chicken in a large baking dish or rimmed baking pan. Pour half of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
- Drain the pan of excess liquid, then pour remaining teriyaki sauce over the chicken and serve.
Serving Suggestions
Wondering what might go well with this baked teriyaki chicken recipe? I’ve got you covered!
Homemade teriyaki chicken goes great with steamed white rice, or chicken fried rice. The rice soaks up some of the extra teriyaki sauce and makes a perfect companion to the chicken. More side dishes for teriyaki chicken include roasted Asian vegetables, lettuce wraps, hot and sour soup, or cream cheese wontons.
Yes!! You absolutely can. Simply arrange chicken breasts or chicken thighs in a single layer in the bottom of a lightly greased baking dish or rimmed baking pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour half of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken, use a fork or tongs to turn the chicken over a couple of times to coat in the sauce, and cover the pan with foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Drain the pan of excess liquid, then pour remaining teriyaki sauce over the chicken and serve.
To make super simple, and totally delicious teriyaki sauce, follow these steps:
Combine soy sauce, water, garlic, ground ginger, rice vinegar, and crushed red pepper flakes in a sauce pan.
Bring mixture to a boil.
Add a corn starch slurry (corn starch dissolved into water or soy sauce) to thicken the sauce.
Stir for just 1-2 minutes until thickened, then remove from heat and stir in sesame seeds.
That’s it! Perfect teriyaki sauce you can use immediately, or store in a jar in the fridge for up to 3-4 weeks. You can also use this sauce as a marinade for teriyaki chicken, shrimp, steak, or veggies.
Most Popular Asian-inspired Dishes
- Teriyaki Steak and Pineapple Kabobs
- Crispy Coconut Chicken Tenders
- Chicken Chow Mein
- Instant Pot Honey Teriyaki Chicken
- Best Teriyaki Sauce
- Best Baked Chicken Breasts
If you like this recipe, you’re going to love my go-to Best Baked Chicken Thighs recipe!
Did you try this Baked Teriyaki Chicken recipe? EXCELLENT – please rate the recipe below!
Best Ever Baked Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - pounded to even thickness less than 1 inch
- 1 ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce - divided
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
- chopped green onions and steamed rice, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a large baking dish or rimmed baking sheet. Arrange chicken in a single layer in the baking dish.
- In a medium sauce pan over high heat combine 1 cup soy sauce, water, rice vinegar, ginger, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic and stir to combine. Bring to a boil.
- Once sauce is boiling, whisk together remaining 1/3 cup soy sauce and corn starch until dissolved and stir mixture into boiling sauce. Stir 1-2 minutes until sauce is thickened.
- Remove from heat, stir in sesame seeds, and pour half of the sauce over the chicken in the baking dish. Reserve the remaining sauce for later. Use a fork or tongs to turn chicken over a couple of times to coat in the sauce.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for about 20-25 minutes until chicken is completely cooked through. Drain excess liquid from the baking dish and pour remaining sauce over chicken. Garnish with chopped green onions and additional sesame seeds and serve over rice as desired.
Awesome recipe !! Delicious
The corn starch didn’t dissolve. What did I do wrong
Did you try to dissolve it in cold water?
Left in fridge for 4 weeks and a few days, went slimey and had a concerning smell. Don’t recommend storing in glass jar, as you can see it going moldy🤢. Also gave me some morning runs, wish i had a hand to hold, other then that it was lovely, tasted rich with my reddy🤪, hubby thought i nailed it. Thanks Tiffy, doing well 😊🍷
This recipe was delicous and the sauce was perfect. I added sautéed broccoli and jasmine rice.
I made this recipe with a couple of changes after reading previous comments. I used one cup of low sodium soy sauce and then made the slurry with regular soy sauce – perfect amount of salt for my family’s taste. I used 1/3 cup of splenda brown sugar and 1/4 cup of splenda blend for baking in place of the sugar. I used chicken tenderloins instead of breasts – they don’t require pounding and stay very tender. I cooked it covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 10 minutes. My family said they would definitely eat it again. I used the leftover sauce with pulled pork with Hawaiian soft street taco tortillas! Delicious!
Hello, one cup of sugar for this teriyaki chicken seems like a lot, is the amount correct? Thanks, looking to make this for my family tonight…looks delicious! Have you ever served this dish with pak choi? Thanks very much!
Yes, it is correct but you can add less sugar if you’d like to. I have not made this with pak choi before but I think that would be good!