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Teriyaki Chicken thighs made in the oven with an easy and delicious marinade is one of the best tasting chicken recipes that your entire family will love!
You will love this homemade sticky, sweet and salty sauce that coats the tender pieces of chicken! Plus, this dinner cooks up quickly, making it perfect for a busy weeknight dinner.
If you love tender chicken thighs in a sweet and sticky sauce, you’ll also want to try my apricot chicken and my shoyu chicken recipes.
So many times I’ll go grocery shopping and have no idea what I’ll be making for dinner that week. More times than not I grab a pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs not knowing what I will make with them.
Then, because this recipe is so easy, the entire family loves it, and we almost always have all the ingredients on hand, we end up making teriyaki chicken for dinner!
If you’ve only ever made your teriyaki chicken recipe using bottled sauce, this recipe will have you never buying bottle sauce again. Why? Because this teriyaki chicken marinade is super easy to make with very simple ingredients and you can modify the quantities to make it exactly how you want!
Sauce ingredients:
My brown sugar soy sauce chicken marinade is absolutely delicious. In fact, this marinade works for a wide variety of meats and I also use it to make my teriyaki meatballs.
The ingredients you’ll need to make this sauce are:
- Soy sauce for the salt and flavor we all love
- Golden brown sugar for the sticky and sweet factor
- Lemon juice to add some acid to cut the sweet and salt
- Garlic and ginger for that flavor punch
- Toasted sesame oil for that perfect teriyaki flavor
- Corn starch and water to thicken it
How to make this recipe:
This recipe seriously couldn’t be easier. Once you make it, I promise it will make an appearance on your weekly dinner menu.
- First step is to preheat your oven. I love to use parchment paper to line the pan for easy clean up.
- While the oven is cleaning, make your teriyaki sauce. All you need to do is whisk all of the ingredients together and then mix in a corn starch slurry. This will help thicken it later on.
- Bring your teriyaki marinade to a boil on the stove and then reduce the heat so that it maintains a nice simmer. After only a couple minutes it will start to thicken at which point you’ll remove it from the heat.
- Pour almost all the sauce all over the chicken in your prepared pan and cook it for 10-15 minutes. You’ll brush the top of the chicken with the remaining sauce and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.
Cooking tips:
This is a relatively simple recipe, but these tips will make it even better:
- Since chicken thighs vary in thickness, use a meat tenderizer to pound the thick parts so that all of your chicken is even thickness. This will ensure that it all cooks at the same rate.
- Don’t over crowd your chicken. Be sure to have it all in a single layer with no overlapping.
- I always try to allow my meat to come to room temperature before I cook it. Taking the chill out from the refrigerator allows it to cook more evenly.
Our family loves this chicken when served with a scoop of hot steamed rice and some Spicy Peanut Asian Slaw.
Other great Asian inspired recipes:
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Ingredients
chicken:
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
glaze:
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 T lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
garnish:
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can coat with non-stick spray. Arrange the chicken thighs in the pan so that they are close but not touching, skin side down.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Slowly whisk in cornstarch slurry into the mixture.
- Heat teriyaki sauce over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat until it can maintain a gentle boil and allow to cook about 2 minutes until the mixture just starts to thicken. Remove from heat.
- Remove about 3 tablespoons of the sauce and reserve for later. Pour remaining sauce over the chicken. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, bake times may vary by thickness and initial temperature of the chicken.
- Brush the top of the chicken with the reserved sauce. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds. Serve with rice or noodles and a steamed vegetable.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this for my husband last night with the Asian salad and he was blown away. He Love every bite!
As always, thank you!
Cheryl
I love a good chicken teriyaki and this one does not fail to impress! I have never tried baking in the oven before, but it worked a lot better than I expected, and a lot easier than having to babysit the grill which is my normal go-to method. Definitely a good option for during the week
Oh wow this teriyaki chicken looks so delicious and appetizing! Perfect for a comforting dinner!
Love the flavor and the glaze. Awesome presentation too.
Teriyaki-glazed chicken is one of my favourite dishes! This oven-baked recipe is so much easier than many others which require cooking over the stove-top.
This chicken looks so yum and I love how simple it is. It’s going to happen this week at my house. Thanks for sharing!