Lately I have been obsessed with making Asian recipes in my sous vide. This week, I am trying my hand at Sous Vide Teriyaki Chicken. One pitfall of sous vide is that you cannot get crispy skin because of the low temperature so I am broiling the chicken in the last step. Overall, the recipe takes about two hours, but most of it is hands-off.

Can't get enough of sous vide recipes? Try my Sous Vide Char Siu and Sesame Chicken next!

🍗 About This Recipe

After making sous vide sesame chicken, I wanted to try making sous vide teriyaki chicken. For this recipe, I am using whole chicken quarters, but you can use thighs or drumsticks as well. The important thing is to use skin-on meat as we want to broil the skin in the last step to make it crispy.

The chicken will need to be marinated for at least 40 minutes. If I have time, I will go up to 4 hours but not more than that otherwise the meat will get too salty. Initially, I put everything in a vacuum-sealable bag, but I actually regret doing that because the vacuum sealer sucked out a lot of the marinade and made a mess. For the next time, I will use a Ziplock bag.

🧂 Ingredients

Chicken: Any skin-on chicken meat is good for this. I am using chicken legs, but feel free to use drumsticks or thighs. Even breasts will work but you need to be more careful about overcooking in the broiling step.
Marinade: Soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and miso. I love adding a little bit of miso but it is totally optional. You will want to push the miso through a sieve so that it dissolves easier.
Cornstarch: We need just a little bit to thicken the sauce. We want the teriyaki sauce to have a glaze-like consistency, so it clings to the chicken with every bite.

🔪 Instructions

STEP 1: Combine the soy sauce, sugar, and mirin in a saucepan over medium-high heat. If you are using miso, use the back of a spoon to push it through a fine sieve into the other ingredients. Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves then set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

STEP 2: Place the chicken legs in a zipper-lock bag and add the cooled teriyaki sauce. Close the bag and refrigerate the bagged chicken for at least 40 minutes and up to 4 hours.

STEP 3: After the chicken is done marinating, preheat a water bath to 150℉. Cook the chicken in the water bath for 1-4 hours. I generally go for longer as more of the fat will be rendered out.

STEP 4: When the chicken is cooked, preheat your broiler to 500℉. Cut a small hole into the corner of the bag and pour the cooking liquid into a small saucepan. Open the rest of the bag and remove the chicken to a plate. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.

STEP 5: Place the saucepan on the stovetop and cook it over medium-high heat until it boils. Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of water. Stir it into the sauce until it thickens. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If it gets too thick, add a little bit of water to thin it out.

STEP 6: Place the chicken legs, skin-side up, on a roasting rack and brush on a thin layer of oil. Broil for 2-3 minutes until skin is brown and crispy. Serve with rice and lemon wedges, and drizzle the sauce on top.

📋 Recipe