When I was growing up, Teriyaki Chicken was a weeknight staple in our household but it was always grilled and always relied on a bottle of store bought teriyaki sauce. And those are great things! But making your own teriyaki sauce makes things feel a little bit more special and really doesn’t take much time at all. Truly, anyone can do it. You can surely use this sauce on grilled chicken too, but here’s an easy method for sticky, sweet, tangy baked teriyaki chicken when the oven feels more convenient.

You don’t really need anything out of the ordinary here. Gather up some soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, mirin, ginger, and garlic and whisk them together with a bit of water and cornstarch. Mirin is a sweet rice wine and if you don’t have it on hand, you can substitute cooking sherry and add another tablespoon of brown sugar. Put that mixture in a saucepan…

… and bring it to a simmer and let it bubble until it’s thickened up, which should only take you about five minutes.

Then, brush that sauce on both sides of some chicken. This baking time is for bone-in thighs, but you can use this sauce on any cut you like, really! If your chicken has skin, you’ll want to peel it off before applying the sauce. It should come off easily, and then you can trim away any fat.

Definitely, definitely use some foil to line your baking dish. This is sticky stuff.

Then just pop that baking dish in the oven and stop by every ten minutes to brush more sauce over the chicken. After twenty-five minutes, turn the chicken over, and repeat the same process.

In the end, you’ll have chicken that’s completely coated in a sauce that’s perfectly sticky, sweet, and tangy and is just begging to be paired with a bed of white rice and a simple cucumber salad. A go-to recipe that’s as easy as it is reliably delicious!