This 3-Ingredient Teriyaki Chicken Is Perfect For Busy Weeknight Meals

In the middle of a busy work week, it often feels like a Sisyphean struggle to get dinner on the table every single night. Sure, you could order out, but with the price of restaurant meals rising even faster than the cost of groceries, that will cost you a pretty penny. The answer — for one night of the week, at least — can be found in this simple, three-ingredient chicken teriyaki. It is delicious, kid-friendly, and you can get it from the fridge to the plate in less than half an hour. Pair it with some rice and steamed broccoli, and you have a healthy, inexpensive meal for the whole family.

All you need for this dinner is a couple pounds of chicken breast or boneless, skinless chicken thighs, a bit of brown sugar, and soy sauce. As far as cooking goes, you just cube up the chicken and brown it in a skillet with a bit of oil. Once the chicken is looking nice and golden brown, mix in about a cup of soy sauce, half of and the brown sugar and allow it to reduce into a sticky sauce that coats every morsel. The chicken will be cooked through and wonderfully juicy, with a sweet and savory sauce that never disappoints. Who knew dinner could be so easy?

But that three-ingredient combo is just a jumping-off point for this recipe. Once you have a handle on the basics, you can start tweaking the recipe with a few personalized additions to turn it into your signature Tuesday teriyaki.

The simplest place to start adding your own touches to this three-ingredient teriyaki chicken is the sauce. There are many easy teriyaki chicken recipes out there, and you can peruse them for inspiration, but we suggest starting with a few additions that you might already have on hand. Two pantry staples that can add a lot of depth to the dish are garlic and ginger. You can mince up a bit of each and add them to the sauce, or make it even simpler and just add a little bit of garlic powder and ground ginger to achieve a similar effect. A touch of toasted sesame oil is another great way to give your teriyaki chicken a flavor boost, adding a delicious toasty, nutty flavor.

Adding a few vegetables to the pan can also take things to the next level. While it is slightly more work to have to dice up onion and red bell pepper, it's still a very quick dinner, and a little extra veg in a meal is never a bad thing. Or take inspiration from our pineapple chicken teriyaki recipe, and include not just the red bell pepper, but also some nice chunks of fresh pineapple. Canned pineapple will work too, just be sure the pineapple is packed in juice, and drain it before using. A little bit of pineapple juice in the sauce can be nice, but too much, and you run the risk of it turning watery. And that's all there is to it: It's a quick, simple, satisfying meal that you can customize as much or as little as you want.