Learn how to make Keto Teriyaki Chicken with simple ingredients and a homemade teriyaki sauce. It's the perfect meal to satisfy your take-out cravings and can be served with cauliflower rice or shirataki noodles.
Table of Contents
This keto teriyaki chicken combines succulent chicken drumsticks with a rich, sticky, flavorful marinade made with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. Chicken is a kitchen staple for many, being the ideal base for a variety of dishes. Our teriyaki chicken brings vibrant flavor combinations together, creating a delicious component to go alongside steamed veggies or cauliflower rice.
Why You'll Love It
- Easy to make with 7 key ingredients
- Just 10 minutes of prep
- Perfect when you're craving takeout
- Works well with all cuts of chicken
- Goes great with cauliflower rice, shirataki noodles, or veggies
The bold flavors in this dish transform the chicken into tender, juicy drumsticks coated in a sweet and slightly nutty glaze. Garnishing the drumsticks with finely sliced green onions and sesame seeds echoes the flavors within the recipe, adding even more texture and depth of flavor. Our mouthwatering keto teriyaki chicken recipe takes a mere 10 minutes to prepare and around 40 minutes to cook, so you can have a speedy but delicious dinner on the table in less than an hour.
Enjoying low-carb meals is possible by making clever ingredient choices to keep carbs low and flavors high. Incorporating garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce into the recipe elevates the flavor notes without increasing carbs, so you can savor every single guilt-free bite. Our recipe serves 4, and any leftovers can be placed in a bowl, covered, and kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Ingredients
- Chicken Drumsticks: Chicken drumsticks form the base of our recipe, as they absorb flavors well and create an immersive eating experience the entire family will love. It’s possible to use different cuts of chicken for this recipe if you don’t have drumsticks to hand, but keep an eye on the cooking time, as chicken strips will likely cook far quicker than dense drumsticks.
- Soy Sauce: Soy sauce has an incredibly salty flavor that’s the perfect match for apple cider vinegar, erythritol, garlic, and ginger. Along with helping loosen the texture of the marinade, soy sauce brings a wonderful deep color and rich, salty taste. Coconut aminos are a great replacement if you’re looking for a soy-free option for the chicken.
- Water: A little water has the power to create magic in the kitchen, and in our chicken recipe, water is the key ingredient that helps loosen the marinade so all of the ingredients can coat the chicken well.
- Sesame Oil: The wonderful nuttiness of sesame oil is welcomed in this recipe, as it brings slight warmth and earthiness to combat the fierceness of minced garlic and ginger. Using oil in the marinate also means the chicken will cook well in the oven, with the skin becoming lightly browned and crispy.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: The sharp tanginess of apple cider vinegar makes it the perfect ingredient to combat the overall sweetness of teriyaki chicken. Along with a sour hit, the apple cider vinegar balances the flavors and loosens the marinade too.
- Erythritol: Sweetness is key when creating a teriyaki glaze, and to keep things keto, erythritol is our sweetener of choice. Erythritol doesn’t have an artificial taste, so only its light, subtle sweetness can be noticed in this recipe.
- Garlic: minced garlic has punchy flavors and an inviting smell that transforms the flavorful glaze. Garlic is sweet and bold, especially when used fresh, but incorporated with a range of other ingredients and heated in the oven, it becomes a delicate flavor the glaze would be lost without.
- Ginger: Fiery ginger elevates the sticky teriyaki sauce by adding a hit of intensity and heat. There’s no chili in this recipe, so minced ginger has the role of bringing warmth to the chicken, keeping tastebuds awake and excited for each bite.
- Sesame Seeds (Garnish): Garnishing dishes is a chance to add a final boost of texture and flavor, with sesame seeds being an ideal option. Echoing the nuttiness of sesame oil, sesame seeds provide a slight crunch and an inviting appearance against the sticky teriyaki glaze.
- Green Onions (Garnish): Along with sesame seeds, finely chopping a couple of green onions is another stunning way to garnish the chicken drumsticks. In addition to the contrasting flecks of forest green against the deep brown of the glaze, green onions bring welcomed freshness and crunch.
How To Make Keto Teriyaki Chicken
Several ingredients are needed to make our keto teriyaki chicken, but each is an important component in creating a deliciously sticky glaze and succulent chicken. With a preparation time of 10 minutes and a cooking time of 40 minutes, dinner can be on the table in less than an hour, providing the perfect window to clean up the kitchen and set the table. Our teriyaki chicken is perfect to be served alongside seasonal greens or keto noodles.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and grab a small mixing bowl to make the marinade. Combine soy sauce, water, sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, Erythritol, minced garlic, and minced ginger to create the teriyaki sauce.
- Place the chicken drumsticks in a large zip-lock bag or shallow dish before pouring half of the teriyaki sauce over the chicken. Make sure each drumstick is well-coated, and move the bag or dish into the refrigerator so the chicken can marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place a wire rack on top. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and arrange the marinated drumsticks on the wire rack, leaving a little space between each one.
- Bake the drumsticks in the preheated oven for around 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) and the skin becomes slightly brown and crispy.
- While the chicken is baking, pour the remaining teriyaki sauce into a small saucepan, simmering it on low heat until it thickens to a glaze consistency.
- Once the chicken is cooked, brush each drumstick with the thickened teriyaki sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and finely chopped green onions.
- Serve the keto teriyaki chicken drumsticks hot, garnished, and alongside a green salad or keto-friendly noodles.
Recipe Variations
Keto Teriyaki Chicken With Chilli: Adding a sprinkling of dried chili flakes to the teriyaki marinade intensifies the heat of the chicken for those who love a kick of spice. Garnish with thinly sliced fresh red chili for a gorgeous pop of scarlet color and a final layer of punchy heat.
Keto Teriyaki Tofu: Making this recipe suitable for vegetarians can easily be done by substituting the chicken for firm tofu. When using tofu, the entire recipe can be completed on the stovetop in a large saucepan, taking a fraction of the time. Once you’ve pressed a block of firm tofu, grate it to create shredded tofu that will absorb the flavors like a sponge!
Keto Teriyaki Shredded Chicken: Leftovers are a favorite in our household, and they make my time in the kitchen far easier, too. If you have a couple of drumsticks left over from dinner, try shredding the chicken off the bone and using the meat in another recipe, such as a stir fry or cold salad alongside leafy greens and keto croutons.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Carbs Are In Keto Teriyaki Chicken?
Our keto teriyaki chicken recipe contains 3.1g of net carbs per serving, making it a low-carb, keto-friendly option. Using erythritol to sweeten the sauce and avoiding including sugar in the recipe helps keep carbs to a minimum.
Is Teriyaki Sauce High In Carbs?
Traditional teriyaki sauce contains sweetness from brown sugar, honey, or sake, which all contain carbohydrates. Using keto-friendly sweeteners helps keep our recipe low in carbs but bold in flavor.
Is Teriyaki Chicken Gluten Free?
Soy sauce is the only ingredient in our teriyaki chicken recipe that isn’t gluten-free. This is easy to combat, however, by simply switching out regular soy sauce and replacing it with a gluten-free alternative.
📖 Recipe
Keto Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken Drumsticks
- ½ cup Soy Sauce or coconut aminos
- ¼ cup Water
- 3 tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 3 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tablespoon Low Carb Sugar Substitute
- t tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Minced Ginger
- 1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds to garnish
- 2 Green Onions finely chopped, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together soy sauce, water, sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, Erythritol, minced garlic, and minced ginger to create the teriyaki sauce.
- Place the chicken drumsticks in a large zip-lock bag or shallow dish. Pour half of the teriyaki sauce over the drumsticks, ensuring they are well-coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place a wire rack on top.
- Arrange the marinated chicken drumsticks on the wire rack, leaving space between each.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (75°C) and the skin is crispy.
- While the chicken is baking, pour the remaining teriyaki sauce into a small saucepan. Simmer on low heat until it thickens to the desired consistency.
- Once the chicken is done, brush it with the thickened teriyaki sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Serve the keto teriyaki chicken drumsticks hot, garnished with chopped green onions and a green salad or keto-friendly noodles on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is calculated based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe we provide. Erythritol and other sugar-free sweetener carbs are not included in the carb counts. Net carbohydrates are the total carbohydrates minus dietary fiber.
Copyright
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