You will love this quick and easy honey teriyaki chicken with a sweet ginger sauce. Naturally sweetened with fresh orange and honey, it’s made in about 30 minutes, perfect for busy days!
I’m always looking for quick chicken recipes bursting with flavor, and this honey teriyaki chicken truly delivers! We’ve already shared our authentic teriyaki sauce and this sticky teriyaki chicken, so if you liked those recipes, you are sure to love this spin with ginger, orange, and honey. The sauce does double duty as a quick marinade and requires only 6 simple ingredients.
I love serving this honey teriyaki chicken over plain white rice or, my personal favorite, coconut rice. It’s also fantastic paired with veggies like our sautéed bok choy, roasted green beans, or roasted broccoli.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: I love boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. They cook quickly and turn out so 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 swap the sugar for honey, adding a floral, sweet flavor.
- Soy Sauce: Use light soy sauce or light tamari. Dark soy sauce or tamari will make the sauce taste too rich.
- Orange: Another change from authentic teriyaki is using fresh orange juice to add an extra layer of flavor. Fresh squeeze is best as it usually has more of a tart flavor profile, while store-bought is typically a bit more sweet.
- Ginger: Honey, orange, and ginger work so well that I add a tablespoon of finely grated 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 beautiful luster. You can usually find it in the international aisle of larger grocery stores or Asian markets. If you can’t find it, substitutes include dry sherry, sweet marsala wine, dry white wine, or rice vinegar. You may need to add a touch more honey to the sauce when using a substitute.
- Sesame Oil: I use toasted sesame oil, which adds a lovely, nutty aroma to the sauce.
How to Make Honey Teriyaki Chicken
To make our honey teriyaki chicken, you’ll make the marinade first. This also doubles as our sauce in the end as it cooks down, thickens, and sticks to the chicken.
Whisk the marinade ingredients in a bowl (soy sauce, honey, orange juice, ginger, mirin, and sesame oil). Then, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and toss them into the marinade. Let the chicken soak up all that flavor for 10 to 15 minutes, then move to the stove to cook it.
Use a slotted spoon to add the marinated chicken to hot oil in a pan, then cook until browned on all sides. Pour in the marinade and let everything simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the marinade thickens and clings to the chicken. Serve your chicken however you like. I especially love it over rice!
Quick Honey Teriyaki Chicken
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
You will love this quick and easy honey teriyaki chicken! The sauce is so simple and comes together in minutes. Plus, since we cut the chicken into pieces, it cooks quickly, so you can have dinner ready in no time!
You Will Need
1/4 cup (60ml) low-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) fresh squeezed orange juice, from 2 to 3 oranges
3 tablespoons pure honey
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger, 1-inch piece fresh ginger
2 tablespoons mirin, see tips
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 pounds (680g) boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon avocado oil or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons orange zest, optional
Directions
1Combine the soy sauce, orange juice, honey, ginger, mirin, and sesame oil in a medium bowl.
2Cut the chicken thighs into 1-inch pieces, then 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-high heat. When the oil is hot, use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the marinade and place it into the pan. Save the marinade for later.
4Cook the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until lightly browned.
5Turn the heat to medium-low, pour in the reserved marinade, and cover 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 though, about 5 minutes more.
6Serve over rice sprinkled with orange zest.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Ginger: To grate ginger, use a fine microplane. If you don’t have one, mince the ginger very finely.
- Mirin: This sweet Japanese rice wine adds flavor and gives the teriyaki sauce a beautiful luster. You can usually find it in the international aisle of larger grocery stores or Asian markets. If you can’t find it, substitutes include dry sherry, sweet marsala wine, dry white wine, or rice vinegar. You may need to add a touch more honey to the sauce when using a substitute.
- The nutrition facts below are estimates.
You May Also Like...
I tried this recipe today . Very easy to make and tasted AMAZING! Thank you
Question…Can I make this with boneless chicken breasts instead of thighs? Anything Id need to alter if so? Thanks!
Yes, boneless chicken breasts will work in this recipe. You do not need to alter anything.
Totally loved it. Especially my extremely picky boyfriend.
I made your bluberry muffins, I just changed the vanilla for lemon and added lemon zest, they were absolutly perfect! Thanks!
Easy and amazing! I cooked, cleaned up, and ate in 45 min. 😀
Thank you so much for this excellent recipe! It was so simple, very easy to make and delicious. I made this along with brown rice and broccoli with sauteed garlic. My family enjoyed it very much. I will definitely add this to my list of favorites!
Thanks for this receipe it was really yummy and full of flavour!
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Hello!
Question – Is there a substitute for mirin?
To replace Mirin, you are looking for a combination of sweet and acid. Here are 3 common substitutes: Use dry sherry or sweet marsala wine in place of the Mirin. Or dissolve a small amount of sugar (a 1/8 teaspoon or so) in a 2 tablespoons of white wine or sherry. Hope that helps.
I making this today and luckily I had cooking masala wine in the house! Thanks for the substitution tip!
Thank you for the recipe! Chicken was delicious. My kids are extremely picky but loved your recipe. I used 3 tbs of honey instead of 2. After sauteing the sauce I strained it. To thicken the sauce I added a couple of tsp of cornstarch and stirred constantly. My kids now want this every night, thank goodness its easy!
Wonderful — so glad everyone enjoyed it.
Made this tonight and my family, including slightly picky 3 year old daughter, gobbled it up and asked for seconds. I added shallot, finely sliced carrot and steamed edamame. It was easy, yummy and will be added to our growing list of trusted staple recipes! Thanks for sharing.
Looks great, I will try it, Do you also have Hunain chicken recipe.
Pretty tasty and easy! Mine wasn’t as pretty as the picture, and took awhile for the sauce to reduce, but it tasted great! Quick question: do you add 1 t. of sesame oil in the marinade AND in the pan with the chicken? Thanks!
Mmm! My family would love this!