You’ll love this quick and easy honey teriyaki chicken with sweet ginger sauce. Naturally sweetened with fresh orange and honey, made in about 30 minutes, perfect for busy days!
I’m always looking for quick chicken recipes that are packed with flavor, and this honey teriyaki chicken definitely delivers! We’ve already shared our original teriyaki sauce and this sticky teriyaki chicken, so if you liked those recipes, you’re sure to love this spin on ginger, orange, and honey. The sauce does double duty as a quick marinade and requires only 6 simple ingredients.
I like to serve this honey teriyaki chicken over white rice or, my personal favorite, coconut rice. It’s also great paired with vegetables like our sautéed bok choy, refried green beans, or roasted broccoli.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: I love the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in this recipe. They cook quickly and are juicy and tender. Feel free to substitute chicken breasts.
- Honey: I usually use plain sugar for my homemade teriyaki sauce, but in this recipe, I replace the sugar with honey, adding a floral, sweet flavor.
- Soy sauce: Use simple soy sauce or simple tamari. Dark soy sauce or tamari will make the sauce more flavorful.
- Orange: Another change from real teriyaki is using fresh orange juice to add an extra layer of flavor. Freshly squeezed is best as it tends to have a tart flavor profile, while store bought tends to be sweeter.
- Ginger: Honey, orange, and ginger work so well that I add a tablespoon of ground ginger to this recipe. It makes the dish smell and taste incredible.
- Mirin: This sweet Japanese rice wine adds flavor and gives the teriyaki sauce a nice shine. You can usually find it in the international aisle of major grocery stores or Asian markets. If you can’t find it, substitute dry sherry, sweet marsala wine, dry white wine, or rice vinegar. You may need to add a touch more honey to the sauce if you are using an alternative.
- Sesame Oil: I use toasted sesame oil, which adds a nice, sweet flavor to the sauce.
How to Make Honey Teriyaki Chicken
To make our honey teriyaki chicken, you will make the marinade first. This doubles as our sauce at the end as it cooks down, thickens, and sticks to the chicken.
Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl (soy sauce, honey, orange juice, ginger, mirin, and sesame oil). After that, cut the chicken into equal pieces and throw them into the marinade. Let the chicken soak up all that flavor for 10 to 15 minutes, then move to the stove to cook.
Use the included spoon to add the ground chicken to the hot oil in the pan, then cook until browned on all sides. Pour the marinade and let everything simmer until the chicken is cooked and the marinade thickens and sticks to the chicken. Feed your chicken the way you like it. I love it with rice!
Quick Honey Teriyaki Chicken
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PREP
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You’ll love this quick and easy honey teriyaki chicken! The sauce is super easy and comes together in minutes. In addition, since we cut the chicken into pieces, it cooks quickly, so you can eat dinner quickly!
4 Services
You will need it
1/4 cup (60ml) low-fat soy sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) freshly squeezed orange juice, from two to three oranges
3 tablespoons of pure honey
1 tablespoon grated ginger, 1-inch piece of fresh ginger
2 tablespoons mirin, see tips
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 pounds (680g) skinless boneless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon of avocado oil or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons orange zest, optional
Directions
1Combine soy sauce, orange juice, honey, ginger, mirin, and sesame oil in a medium bowl.
2Cut the chicken thighs into 1-inch pieces, and add them to the marinade. Let marinade for 10 to 15 minutes.
3Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok with a lid over medium heat. When the oil is hot, use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the marinade and place it in the pan. Save the marinade for later.
4Cook the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.
5Turn on the medium heat, pour the reserved marinade, and close the pan with a lid. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through, about five minutes longer.
6Serve over rice sprinkled with orange zest.
Tips from Adam and Joanne
- Ginger: To grate the ginger, use a fine microplane. If you don’t have it, grind the ginger very fine.
- Mirin: This sweet Japanese rice wine adds flavor and gives the teriyaki sauce a nice shine. You can usually find it in the international aisle of major grocery stores or Asian markets. If you can’t find it, substitute dry sherry, sweet marsala wine, dry white wine, or rice vinegar. You may need to add a touch more honey to the sauce if you are using an alternative.
- The nutrition facts below are estimates.
Food Per Serving
Serving Size
1/4 of the recipe
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Calories
336
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Perfect Oils
11.7g
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Saturated Fats
2.4g
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Cholesterol
159.8mg
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Sodium
626.6mg
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Carbohydrate
21.1g
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Dietary fiber
0.1g
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Total Sugar
18.8g
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Complete Proteins
34.8g
