Teriyaki Chicken on a Stick is an easy and delicious appetizer perfect for Super Bowl, dinner parties, or just a regular family meal. The sauce is flavorful enough that the dish can be made on the spot (no need to marinade the chicken beforehand.)
Jump to:
⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Easy but tasty: Simple enough to be made perfectly the first time, and I've never met anyone who doesn't like teriyaki! Teriyaki Chicken Sticks are a great Asian party appetizer, or side dish for a sushi party.
- Simple ingredients: you can get them at your regular supermarket or online i.e. no need to trek to the Asian Supermarket and no garlic powder necessary.
- Versatile: Homemade teriyaki sauce is a great recipe (I show you how to make it below or click here for alternatives to teriyaki sauce.) Once you know how to make it, you can make teriyaki noodles, teriyaki chicken, teriyaki tofu, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki mushrooms, teriyaki noodles and more! And, for a complete meal, here are the best side dishes for teriyaki chicken.
Since you're here, I assume you already know what Teriyaki is! If you don't scroll down to the FAQ please!
🥘 Ingredients
To make 15 chicken skewers, you will need:
- skinless, boneless chicken thigh: cut these into 1 inch cubes. (The size of the chicken pieces will impact the cooking time so if you make them too big/ small, they may be undercooked or overcooked.) I STRONGLY recommend using dark meat, not white meat/ boneless chicken breast, as there is more flexibility with the cooking time, and the meat is less likely to dry out.
- sake: This is a Japanese cooking wine.
- mirin: Another Japanese cooking wine, which is sweeter and more syrupy. To learn more about mirin, click here.
- light soy sauce: Light soy sauce is not the same as dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce so don't substitute.
- brown sugar: You need this to create the characteristic teriyaki glaze and sweet flavoe.
- honey: I added ½ tablespoon to the boiled marinade and used thge baste the skewers, to help them turn a nice charred color. (However, if you're using canned pineapples, this may make the chicken sticks a bit sweet. I also add 2 Tablespoons of pineapple brine to the chicken marinade.)
- fresh ginger, grated: we will use both the juice and the grated ginger flesh in the marinade
- sesame oil
- cubed pineapples: You can use fresh or canned- the canned would make the chicken skewer sweeter. Use 2 to 3 pieces per teriyaki chicken satay, which amounted to 0.7lb for me (just about 1 can of pineapple cubes, minus 2-3 pieces that I snacked on.) I added 2 Tablespoons of the canned pineapple brine to the marinade. (Omit or substitute with a smaller amount of rice vinegar if using fresh pineapple.) If you don't have any on hand, just omit it or substitute with cut bell peppers.
- sesame seeds and sliced green onions: for garnish. Omit if you don't have them, but they do add a nice burst of freshness.
You will also need bamboo skewers/ satay sticks. To be on the safe side (and prevent the wooden skewers from catching fire in the oven), soak them in cold water for 30 minutes before baking the meat.
However, I'll confess to usually just wetting, skewering, and baking immediately!
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 400F/ 200C
1a. Mix the sauce ingredients- mirin, sake, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and grated ginger- till the brown sugar has dissolved.
1b. Add the teriyaki marinade sauce ingredients to a Ziplock Bag large enough to hold the chicken.
Note: if you don't have Ziplock, put the sauce and chicken in a large bowl, mix, then cover with plastic wrap.
2. Add the 1 inch boneless skinless chicken thighs cubes to the sauce. Remove the air from the bag, seal, and flip a few times so that the chicken is all covered with the sauce.
Note: The chicken needs about 15-20 minutes to reach room temperature, and we'll let the meat marinade in the sauce for that time. (Don't cook cold chicken straight out of the fridge or it'll be tough.)
3a. Whilst the chicken is marinating, soak or wet the skewers and prepare the cubed pineapples. (If using canned pineapple, you don't want them larger than the chicken pieces.)
3b. After 15 minutes, start skewering the chicken and pineapple. Use about 2-3 pineapples per skewer. (There should be the same amoutn or more chicken than pineapple on each stick)
3c. Place chicken sticks on the prepared baking sheet, ensuring there's a gap in between each. (We don't want them to steam!) Bake for 20-25 minutes, till the internal temperature at the thickest part of the meat is 165ºF (75ºC).
4a. Whilst the chicken is cooking, transfer the marinade to a small pot or sauce pan and boil till reduced to about half over medium heat. (As the raw chicken was in it, it's crucial that you boil it long enough to kill all the germs.)
4b. After reducing, stir in ½ Tablespoon of honey.
5a. To give the chicken a nice char, take it out of the oven 1-2 minutes early (i.e. after 18 minutes or so), lightly glaze and return to the oven for 1- 2 minutes.
5b. This also gives the chicken extra flavor since we're not marinating overnight. If you can baste twice, so much the better! If so, remove the chicken 3-4 minutes early, baste, return to oven, remove again 2 minutes later, baste, and then return to oven to cook through.)
Note: Keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't burn and don't use too much sweetener or it'll be too cloying.)
6. Once cooked through, remove and enjoy! Garnish with sliced green onion and lightly toasted sesame seed then serve with rice and some veggies.
Note: In the above photo, the sticks on the top were basted, whilst the ones at the bottom were not. You can see that the basted sticks look much more appetizing.
🥡 How to Store
Store extras in the fridge in an airtight container for 1-2 days. Reheat till piping hot.
Technically, you can skewer the raw meat and freeze for future use, but I don't like to do so, as if you're not quick in skewering, the meat would be at room temperature for a long time.
If you want to meal prep, I suggest freezing the marinated chicken in the Ziplock bag instead.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: During the summer, you can also grill these chicken teriyaki skewers during a BBQ. If doing so, you MUST soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes to prevent them from catching fire. Another easy grilling recipe for summer is this slightly spicy Chinese Chicken on a Stick.
Tip #2: To be more sustainable, you can also use metal skewers but they will be VERY hot when removing from the oven.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Teriyaki チキン照り焼き is a type of Japanese cooking dating back to the 1600s (and not actually a sauce.) It involves broiling or grilling foods in a soy, mirin and sugar glaze, creating a thick sweet and savory sauce. Teri (照り) refers to the gloss from the sugar in the sauce and yaki (焼き) refers to grilling or broiling.
🥗 Suggesteed Accompanying Recipes
Enjoyed this easy teriyaki chicken on a stick recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this Asian chicken appetizer, please consider supporting it by buying me a bottle of soy sauce! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Teriyaki Chicken on a Stick
Equipment
- 2 baking tray
- 2 parchment paper
Ingredients
- 0.8 lb chicken thigh 360g skinless, boneless cut into 1 inch cubes. (The size of the chicken pieces will impact the cooking time so if you make them too big/ small, they may be undercooked or overcooked.)
- 0.7 lb pineapple Cubed. (About 317g) You can use fresh or canned- the canned would make the chicken skewer sweeter. Use 2 to 3 pieces per teriyaki chicken satay, which amounted to 0.7lb for me (just about 1 can of pineapple cubes, minus 2-3 pieces that I snacked on.) If you don't have any on hand, just omit it or substitute with cut bell peppers.
Sauce Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons sake
- 3 Tablespoons mirin Do not omit. This is crucial to give the characteristic teriyaki glaze and flavor.
- 3 Tablespoons light soy sauce
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar Can substitute with white sugar
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and grated: we will use both the juice and the grated ginger flesh in the marinade. The easiest way to peel ginger is to use the back of a spoon
- 3 Tablespoons sesame oil Omit if you don't have it.
- ½ Tablespoon honey To add to the boiled marinade and use to baste the skewers, to give them a nice char. See recipe post (Step by Step Instructions) for the difference in color between basted and unbasted chicken sticks.
- 2 Tablespoons pineapple brine If using canned pineapple. If not, omit or substitute with a tiny amount of rice vinegar.
Garnish
- ½ Tablespoon sesame seeds Lightly toasted. Omit if you don't have them, but they do add a nice burst of freshness.
- 1 sprig green onions sliced. Also known as spring onions and scallions- click here for green onion substitutes.
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F/ 200C
- Add the sauce ingredients to a Ziplock Bag large enough to hold the chicken. Add the 1 inch chicken cubes to the sauce. Remove the air from the bag, seal tightly, and flip a few times so that the chicken is all covered with the sauce.
- The chicken needs about 15-20 minutes to reach room temperature, and we'll let the meat marinade in the sauce for that time. (Don't cook cold chicken straight out of the fridge or it'll be tough.) Ideally, turn the bag every 5 minutes.
- Whilst the chicken is marinating, soak or wet the skewers and prepare the cubed pineapples. (If using canned pineapple, you don't want them larger than the chicken pieces.)
- After 15 minutes, start skewering the chicken and pineapple. Use about 2-3 pineapples per skewer. (There should be the same amoutn or more chicken than pineapple on each stick)
- Place the sticks on the prepared baking sheet, ensuring there's a gap in between each. (We don't want them to steam!) Bake for 20-25 minutes, till the internal temperature at the thickest part of the meat is 165ºF (75ºC).
- Whilst the chicken is cooking, transfer the marinade to a pot and boil till reduced to about half. (As the raw chicken was in it, it's crucial that you boil it well to kill all the germs.) After reducing, stir in ½ Tablespoon of honey.
- To give the chicken a nice char, take it out of the oven 1-2 minutes early (i.e. after 18 minutes or so), lightly glaze with the thickened sauce then return to the oven for 1- 2 minutes. (Keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't burn.)
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
If this easy recipe was helpful, maybe you'd like to sign up for my newsletter in which I send you more tips and tricks to make authentic Asian food?
Dorene chew says
Thank you again for your recipes. As I can’t cook, I need your recipes for my helper - asked her to do
do this dish once in a fornight