Teriyaki chicken and vegetable stir-fry is an easy, one-skillet meal with a slightly sweet, savory, tangy teriyaki sauce your family will love. The classic sauce combined with tender chicken and crisp vegetables makes you the hero at dinnertime, every time.
This simple recipe is perfect for meal prepping, too—and we’ll show you how.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You can create restaurant-quality teriyaki sauce better than takeout with a few essential pantry ingredients that’s simple to customize. Add your favorite vegetables and you’ve got an instant family favorite to add to your “healthy meals” rotation.
Teriyaki chicken and vegetable stir-fry is a staple in our meal prep system because simple, delicious food for busy weeknights is how we roll. We like saving money by not eating out, too!
Why Homemade Teriyaki is Better Than Bottled
The beauty of making any sauce at home is that it can be adjusted to suit your own preferences. We love the flavors of garlic and ginger, so we added more of both. When the anise flavor is just right, we remove it.
Many store-bought sauces use artificial flavors, preservatives, or stabilizers, which can detract from the authentic taste. By making your own teriyaki sauce, you know exactly what goes into it. Fresh ginger, garlic, and natural sweeteners like honey provide a bold, aromatic flavor that bottled sauces can’t replicate.
Making teriyaki sauce at home can be more economical in the long run. With basic pantry staples like soy sauce, honey, and stock, you can create a batch that yields more servings than a typical bottle from the store, saving you money while enjoying better quality.
Why is the color so light compared to bottled sauce?
We use honey in this recipe, which will cause the sauce to be lighter in color. But you can use coconut palm sugar or brown sugar for a more pronounced sweetness and deeper color.
Sometimes, kids can be reluctant to try food that doesn’t look like what they are used to. So, if you need to make it look more like the darker teriyaki sauce you’ve had before, you can do that with darker sugar or by adding a tablespoon of molasses.
Step-by-Step Recipe Guide
- Make the Sauce: In a saucepan, mix the chicken or vegetable stock, soy sauce, mirin, star anise, sesame oil, honey, minced ginger, garlic, quartered onion, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes to meld the flavors. Dissolve the cornstarch in a small amount of water and add it to the sauce. Simmer until the sauce thickens, remove the star anise and onion, and set aside.
- Brown the chicken in a skillet with oil until golden brown on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board, slice each thigh into thirds, and coat with the prepared sauce.
- Stir-fry the vegetables—add the sliced onion, celery, red bell pepper, sugar snap peas, and bok choy (or napa cabbage). Stir-fry until the vegetables are crisp-tender, then season with salt and black pepper to taste. Keep the vegetables warm until serving.
- Serve the chicken and teriyaki sauce over stir-fry vegetables and rice (optional). For an extra touch, sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Recipe TIPS & Variations
- Grill the chicken instead of pan-searing.
- Serve with salmon instead of chicken.
- Substitute frozen mixed vegetables to save a prep step.
- Substitute brown sugar for the honey for a darker-colored sauce.
- Add spice with a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes.
- Gluten-free—substitute tamari for the soy sauce and ensure the stock is gluten-free.
- Make it vegetarian—substitute whole mushrooms for the chicken and use vegetable stock in the sauce.
- Make & Freeze—leave the cornstarch out of the sauce until you reheat it (cornstarch can lose its thickening properties once frozen). Freeze the cooked chicken and sauce together. Defrost, add the cornstarch and reheat in a saucepan until the sauce thickens and the chicken is warmed. Serve it with a quick stir-fry of fresh vegetables, and dinner is on the table in about 20 minutes.
- Can’t find star anise? This star anise substitute list can help in a pinch.
More Asian-American Recipes You’ll Love:
- Orange Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
- Mongolian Beef
- Oven-Baked Kung Pao Chicken Wings
- Asian Sesame Chicken Salad Wrap
- Shrimp Lo Mein
- Korean Barbecued Skirt Steak
Teriyaki Chicken & Stir-Fry Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sweet vinegar or mirin
- 1 piece star anise whole
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/2 small onion , coarsely chopped, but not chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch , dissolved in water
- 6 whole boneless , skinless chicken thighs — excess fat removed
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil or coconut oil
- salt & pepper
For the Vegetables:
- STIR-FRY VEGETABLES: (Optional – as shown in photo)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 cup sliced sweet onion
- 1 cup celery coarsely chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper coarsely chopped
- 1 cup sugar snap peas or snow peas
- 1 cup napa cabbage or bok choy sliced thin
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- salt & pepper
- **Substitute any favorite vegetable in this stir-fry.
Instructions
- In a saucepan mix the stock, soy sauce, mirin, anise, sesame oil, honey, ginger, garlic, onion, and pepper together and bring to a boil. Simmer to meld flavors about 5-10 minutes.
- Taste sauce and adjust ginger, garlic, honey, or soy sauce according to preference (some like a sweeter or saltier sauce).
- Disolve cornstarch in a small amount of water, then add cornstarch mixture to the sauce. Simmer until the consistency is thick. Remove star anise and onion from the sauce, then set aside.
- Salt and pepper the chicken thighs on both sides. In a skillet, add the sesame or coconut oil and cook chicken thighs over medium heat until lightly browned on each side, about 3-4 minutes each side.
- Once cooked, slice each chicken thigh into thirds. Serve chicken over vegetables or rice and pour sauce over the top.
For the Vegetables:
- Heat oil in a large skillet or wok, add ginger and cook until fragrant. Add prepared vegetables, and cook until crisp-tender. Salt and pepper to taste and reserve in warm oven until ready to serve.
Jill says
Great flavor! Thanks for the recipe.
paul says
Great recipe… great flavor, fresh vegetable wonderful teriyaki sauce. Thanks
Judy Purcell says
Thanks Paul, I appreciate the feedback, it helps me refine recipes and make the site better. So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Cathy Hollister says
Yum, Yum Yum! This was so good and so quick. I will be making this sauce for other things as well.
Judy Purcell says
Cathy, thanks so much for the feedback! I am so pleased you liked it. I agree, we think this sauce is good for other applications as well.
Alea Milham says
What a delicious stir-fry! Thanks for sharing this recipe with the hearth and Soul Hop.
Amy (Savory Moments) says
Looks delicious! I love trying to make Chinese take-out food at home. This looks like a winner.
After Taste says
Wow, this dish looks stunning. I just want to reach in and grab. Yum.
Shannon says
This sounds wonderful, I love chicken teriyaki.
Thanks for linking up to Friday Food on Momtrends.com!
Kelly says
Wow this looks so delicious, what a great recipe and your pictures are wonderful! Love your blog, its beautiful! Consider me your newest follower! xoxo
Judy Purcell says
Thanks, Kelly, it was fun to check out your blog too. 🙂 Subscribed and ready to see what you’ll be posting next.
sportsglutton says
I love an additional kick in my foods, so i definitely wouldn’t be doing without the red pepper flakes. 🙂
Christina @ Sweet Pea's Kitchen says
I had no idea about freezing the corn starch…so good to know! This stir-fry looks great, I love chicken teriyaki! 🙂
honeywhatscooking says
this looks incredibly delicious. i love chicken teriyaki.
YUM!
Mary says
This looks glorious. I love chicken teriyaki and your recipe is one of the nicest I’ve come across. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Raymund says
I am flattered 🙂
Anyways to answer your question, I love to make home made mayonnaise as well and I adjusts its flavour by adding garlic to it.
Pati says
This dish is now one of my favorites…especially over a vegetable stir-fry. I added red pepper flakes as suggested…loved it! Another keeper.
Jill@RealFoodForager.com says
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
April @ The 21st Century Housewife says
What wonderful spices you have used in this Chicken Teriyaki! I love that you can make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it too. Your chicken teriyaki with stir fried vegetables looks so delicious in the photograph it’s making my mouth water! Thank you for sharing this delicious post with the Hearth and Soul hop.
Linda says
Perfect timing for me Judy! I was just looking for something different to do with chicken with week for my son! I’m always doing Italian cooking and I know he’d love a change every now and then!! This sounds fabulous, all the ingredients he would love and me too!!
Jane says
Looks really delicious! I have never used star anise … I’ll have to look for some!
Judy Purcell says
Star anise adds a distinct flavor, I hadn’t used it before a couple years ago when my daughter wanted to make chai tea at home. She had spent some time in Nepal and that was part of the recipe they used and she loved the chai there. Now, I’ve used it in chocolate bark, this teriyaki recipe, and the occasional tea. Great spice.
ChgoJohn says
This sounds delicious and your teriyaki recipe is a keeper. Thanks for the tips, too, for I hadn’t heard that cornstarch would be less effective if frozen. Great post!
Judy Purcell says
Thanks, I appreciate that.