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This sweet and sour lemon honey teriyaki chicken thighs recipe is an oil-free delicious and healthy twist on the classic teriyaki chicken dish.

The combination of sour lemon🍋 and sweet honey 🍯 creates a perfectly balanced and refreshing taste. The absence of oil in the recipe means that you can enjoy this flavorful meal guilt-free. And the cornstarch and sake tenderize and add depth to the chicken thighs.

Whether served hot or cold, these lemon honey chicken thighs are delicious and make a great option for a quick weeknight dinner or a packed workday lunch bento.

INGREDIENTS for making teriyaki chicken thighs

– 4 chicken thighs (for 2 servings)

Make sure you use boneless chicken thighs with skin on.

Firstly, when you make teriyaki chicken with boneless chicken, you can lay a chicken thigh flat in a single layer. It allows the marinate and the sauce to fully penetrate the meat and gives you a more flavorful and juicy final product.

Secondly, leaving the skin on the chicken helps to keep the meat moist and flavorful during the cooking process. And it prevents the chicken from drying out.

Most importantly, you don’t even need to add any extra oil when pan fry the chicken thighs with skin on. This is because the skin itself releases sufficient oil to cook the chicken, resulting in a crispy and caramelized texture that enhances the dish’s overall taste and texture.

If boneless chicken thighs are not available at your local grocery store, you can debone chicken thighs by using the instructions outlined in this post.

– ½ tsp salt & ½ tsp pepper

Allowing the chicken thighs to marinate with salt and pepper for at least 15 minutes before cooking provides a foundation of flavor for the dish.

While some recipes may suggest marinating the chicken thighs in teriyaki or soy sauce, it is not recommended, as the sauce may burn easily during pan frying. Instead, it is best to add the teriyaki sauce to the chicken thighs once they have been pan fried to a golden brown color.

– 1 lemon

Lemon juice is acidic in nature, and its acidic properties can break down proteins in meat, making the final dish juicy and tender. Therefore, as we marinate the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, I’d always give the meat side of the chicken thighs a 15-minute lemon mask to marinate and tenderize the meat.

What’s more, adding lemon juice to the classic teriyaki sauce can add a refreshing and bright taste to the dish and stimulate the appetite. The acidity from the lemon juice can help to balance out the sweetness of the sauce, creating a more well-rounded flavor profile.

– 2 tsp cornstarch

After marinating, we will apply ½ teaspoon of cornstarch to the meat side of each chicken thigh. It’s important to avoid coating the chicken skin with cornstarch, as this allows the skin to come into direct contact with the hot frying pan and release its natural oils. By doing so, we don’t need to add additional oil when pan frying the chicken thighs.

Patting chicken thighs with cornstarch can help to create a crisp and golden brown crust on the meat side of chicken thighs by absorbing any excess moisture. This can also help to prevent the chicken meat from sticking to the pan.

Additionally, cornstarch can help to break down some of the proteins in the meat by creating a velvety texture. This can result in meat that is more tender and juicy.

If cornstarch is not available, you can use the same amount of all purpose flour instead. But it’s important to note that flour may not provide the same level of crispiness as cornstarch, and it may also take longer to cook.

– Honey Lemon Teriyaki Sauce:

2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ginger (grated)
3 tbsp sake (can use 3 tbsps of mirin instead)
3 tbsp soy sauce (light or regular soy sauce)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (can use 1 tbsp of regular soy sauce instead)
1 tbsp oyster sauce (can use 1 tbsp of regular soy sauce instead)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp water

– Garnishment (optional)

¼ tsp roasted sesame seeds
1 tsp chopped green onions

EQUIPMENT You will need:

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs Cooking INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Take 4 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs and put them in a shallow container. Evenly sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken thighs. Allow the chicken thighs to marinate for around 15 minutes. Optionally, you can put the meat side up and place two thin slices of lemon on each chicken thigh.

2. In a small cup/bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients to make the lemon honey teriyaki sauce.

3. Remove the lemon slices from the chicken thighs. Add ½ teaspoon of cornstarch to each chicken thigh only on the meat side. Evenly spread the cornstarch by patting it with your hands. Make sure you don’t spread the cornstarch to the skin side of the chicken thighs.

4. Heat up a nonstick frying pan over medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken thighs in the pan, skin-side down. Do not add any oil to the pan.

5. Cook the chicken thighs over medium high heat for about 8 minutes, or until the skin is golden brown and crispy.

6. Flip the chicken thighs over and continue to cook them for about 5 minutes, or until the meat side is golden brown.

7. Pour the teriyaki sauce to the pan, continue cooking over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until the sauce sauce thickens. While the sauce is thickening, keep the chicken thighs with the meat side facing down and use a spoon to pour the sauce over the skin side.

8. When the sauce has thickened to a texture similar to honey, remove the pan from the heat. To serve, slice each chicken thigh into 5 strips, arrange them over a bowl of rice and vegetables, pour the sauce over the chicken, and optionally garnish with roasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

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