TERIYAKI CHICKEN easy 20-minute chicken recipe

Teriyaki chicken is a quick and easy recipe that wins every time. It's a Japanese restaurant favorite, and I mean, who doesn't love that irresistibly sticky sweet chicken along with a spoonful of rice? So today I'll show you how to make teriyaki chicken at home by quickly pan frying some chicken along with a homemade gluten-free teriyaki sauce. Now, because of current world events, I'll also share several variations of this recipe so that even if you don't have these exact ingredients on hand, you can modify it with what you do have on hand and still create a flavorful, delicious meal. All right, let's get started. I typically prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for teriyaki chicken as they're tender, flavorful, and juicy but you can certainly use chicken breasts as well. And since that's what I currently have on hand, that's what I'm using today. You'll need a pound and a half of chicken, and then I just cut it into one inch or so sized pieces. They don't have to be perfect, and remember that they will shrink a bit in the pan when they cook, so don't cut them up too small. When it comes to teriyaki sauce, there are a few ways you can make it, and many Americanized versions use soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and then cornstarch to thicken it. Authentic Japanese versions, on the other hand, contain just four ingredients, and that's soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. I'm personally a fan of the authentic Japanese version which just has more depth of flavor. So I'm keeping pretty close to that today, except I'm swapping honey for the sugar. Sake is a Japanese alcohol made from fermented rice, and it can be enjoyed as a drink and used in cooking, just how we often use red and white wine in cooking. Mirin is a sweet sake that's used just in cooking. It has a lower alcohol content and more sugar, and gives our sauce that lovely glaze. Now, while I do think it's worth grabbing both sake and mirin for this recipe, if you don't have them, here's a couple of substitutions you can make. If you don't have sake, you could use more mirin and reduce the honey in the recipe. You could also substitute dry sherry or white wine. If you don't have mirin, you could use more sake and add more honey. You could also substitute a three-to-one ratio of water to honey. And I've got a few more tips on the recipe blog post. To make the teriyaki sauce, you'll need a quarter cup of soy sauce, and I'm using gluten-free tamari soy sauce, though you could use coconut aminos as well. You'll also need a quarter cup of sake, a quarter cup of mirin, and two tablespoons of honey. Then give that a stir and set it to the side for now. Next, you'll need ginger and garlic, and I'm using fresh, but you could always use pre-minced ginger and garlic as well. I always have these jars in my fridge as backup just in case I can't make it to the store. So peel a small piece of ginger and then finely chop it. I always have a tendency to chop too much, but no worries, as I'll just toss any extra into a smoothie tomorrow morning. Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add some avocado oil or other high-heat oil, then add your chicken. You want the pan hot because you wanna sear the chicken on one side for about a minute. And if you let it sear undisturbed, you should have no problems with it sticking. Season it with salt and pepper, then flip it over and sear the other side for another minute. You don't wanna cook it through at this stage because it will continue cooking when we add the teriyaki sauce. So pour in the sauce, add the finely diced ginger and two cloves of minced garlic, then give it a stir. The sauce should be bubbling hot, and because the pan is so hot, the alcohol will burn off after about five minutes, and the sauce will reduce and thicken up to this beautiful glaze. You can serve teriyaki chicken with so many different things, from white rice as I'm doing today to brown rice or even cauliflower rice. And for a veggie, I just steamed some broccoli, but green beans or baby bok choy are delicious as well. So I'll add a few spoonfuls of rice to a bowl, then top that with my steamed broccoli and add a good amount of my teriyaki chicken. If you've got leftover sauce, definitely make sure to drizzle that on top as well. Then I'll sprinkle some sesame seeds and garnish with sliced green onions for the most delicious and flavorful 20-minute chicken teriyaki recipe. I hope you guys loved today's video, and if you did, give it a thumbs up and don't forget to share it with your family and friends, and I will see you again in the next video.