Are you looking for a recipe to make Sarku Japan’s Chicken Teriyaki at home? Have you ever been to a mall and loved the delicious Mall Teriyaki Chicken?
Don’t worry, it’s not difficult to make this dish. By getting the right ingredients and using the proper cooking methods, you can easily create a restaurant-style meal that’s just as good as what you find at a mall. It will make both you and your family happy.

The Secrets To Sarku Japan Chicken Teriyaki Recipe Success
Boneless Chicken Thigh
The main ingredient for the dish must be the thigh meat. If you think you can have breast meat as an alternative, think again.
The breast meat does not offer the same texture and the moisture content necessary for the recipe. The recipe may vary, but it’s always thigh meat that you need.
If this is the first time you make it, don’t worry, just see the video below for more easy work:
Massage The Chicken
Massaging the chicken meat every 2–3 hours and letting it marinate in the fridge overnight will give you the mall-quality tenderness.
The path to making a good teriyaki is not complicated, but it’s long and tedious. You probably require a day to contemplate the chemistry of the sauce.
Brown Sugar For Sweetening
Many people think the sweetness of the sauce is from honey. In fact, the sweetening effect comes from brown sugar.
When warming the sauce, slowly add brown sugar to ensure the level of sweetness is exactly up to your expectation. For a detailed Sarku Japan Chicken Teriyaki recipe, consult the one below.
Sarku Japan Chicken Teriyaki Recipe
Ingredients:
- Boneless chicken thigh: 3lbs
- Marinade:
- Water: 1 cup
- Shaoxing wine: 1/8 cup
- Soy sauce: 1/2 cup
- Canola oil: 1/4 cup
- Baking soda: 1 tsp
- White pepper: 1 ¼ tsp
- Brown sauce:
- Unsalted chicken stock: 2 ½ cup
- Soy sauce: 1/4 cup
- Teriyaki sauce: 1 cup
- Cold water: 2 ½ tbs
- Brown sugar: 1 cup
- Corns starch: 2 ½ tbs
- Garlic: 2 cloves
- Ginger: 1 piece
Note: This recipe for serving 4–6 people
Step-by-Step Guides:
Step 1: Prepare The Marinade
Slice the boneless chicken thigh into small pieces. Smaller pieces will reduce the cooking time and remain the tenderness of the meat.
However, you don’t want them to be too fragmented. Thus, the 1-inch by 1-inch size should be appropriate.
To start the marinade, add water, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, Canola oil, white pepper, and baking soda according to the amount specified above.
Don’t skip the baking soda if you want to tenderize the chicken. It’s fair to say that this ingredient determines the mall-quality texture of the dish. And don’t be worry about the baking soda’s taste, you won’t recognize it.
After adding the ingredients, mix them up finely for about 5 minutes. Wrap the containing bowl and let the marinade rest in the fridge for about 8 hours, preferably overnight. This resting is to help the marinade taste better.
Step 2: Mix The Brown Sauce
To start, take the broth and put it on medium heat until simmering. The brown sauce is a combination of ground garlic, sliced ginger, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar.
Let the ginger and garlic simmer in the broth for about 5 minutes before adding more ingredients for better flavor.
Also, remember that you should add brown sugar last. Otherwise, it may burn and become bitter during long heating.
When the brown sugar has dissolved into the broth, let the mixture simmer for about 3 minutes and remove the garlic and ginger pieces.
Now, as the sauce cooks down, mix cornstarch with cold water and remove all the lumps. Then, pour it into the broth slowly while whisking the mixture evenly for another 1 minute.
The sauce should be thick as it leaves a glaze on the spoon.
Step 3: Stir Fry The Chicken
Before actually cooking the marinade, take it out of the fridge and whirl it again in a mixer for about 5 minutes. Then bring the pan to smoking hot and add in about two tablespoons of oil.
Spread the oil nicely on the pan and add in the chicken. There is, in fact, no need for regular stirring, but make sure you do it evenly 3-4 times before the chicken turns brown.
For the veggies, you can be free to stir-fry them such as broccoli, carrot, and cabbage. You can either put the veggies into the pan and mix with chicken for the last minute, or simply just put them right on the plate to serve with chicken.
When plating them up, you can pour some brown sauce for a stronger flavor. We all ask for more sauce sometimes when eating the dish in the mall. And by self-recreating it, you can add in as much as you want.

Tips For Perfect Mall Teriyaki Chicken
- Put the chicken in the freezer for about 20 minutes until it’s partially frozen, it then will be easier to cut
- Cooking sherry can be a suitable alternative for Shaoxing wine
- Stir-frying the marinade on the griddle will give even better flavor and texture
- For rice cooking, consult the best Japanese rice cookers.
- If you are using cauliflower for the veggies, it’s essential to know how to judge its appearance.
- Quality copper cookware will also help to make your dish more restaurant-like.