Air fryer teriyaki chicken turns out good! With a thick flavorful sauce, you can now make tender marinated chicken in no time at all in a Ninja Foodi or Cosori.

We bet you've thought about air fryer teriyaki chicken, but didn't think it was possible. Well we perfected it the other night so we could enjoy this easy air fryer recipe and share it with y'all! (affiliate links present)

Honey Teriyaki Chicken Air Fryer

Yes we air fry everything nowadays. No, seriously like we use this one and our Ninja Foodi pot daily. It makes everything that much more good and with an easier cleanup than keeping an eye on it on the stovetop.

We tried Veri Veri we used in our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken and it wasn't as thick as we'd like it to be. This one below was solid.

Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.

It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here's a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.

A close-up photo of a hand pulling out the basket of an open air fryer on a light-colored surface. The interior of the air fryer basket is empty and features a mesh design, solid for cooking your favorite dishes like bang bang shrimp. The edge of the air fryer has a latch mechanism for securing the basket.

There are a few choices you can make, and substitutions as well. We add a bit of minced garlic and ginger sometimes. You can leave one or both of these out and it will still be totally delish.

Ninja Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

The brand of teriyaki sauce you use is your choice too but thicker is better in this case. Since we cook it directly inside the air fryer basket you want it to adhere to the meat. If you have a Ninja Foodi you can make this and our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken using the other lid.

This is all you need. To enhance the flavors to be stronger and more intense, marinate chicken longer. We only let it sit coated well for about 15 minutes and it was still great. Depends on how much time you have.

Ingredient notes

You want some Teriyaki marinade in jar or homemade we use for baked teriyaki chicken thighs too If you are looking for a low carb teriyaki chicken sauce you can find some online, gluten free sauce available online too. This is the jar we used here we love.

Boneless skinless Chicken thighs – or cubed breasts work too, we feel thighs are more tender

Onion if you want to add that
You could add a tbsp of diced fresh or jarred garlic if you love all things garlic

We love serving this on a bed of Ninja Foodi rice or quinoa. For a low carb version you could skip these and serve as is.

Like we said, we make air fryer chicken thighs whenever possible. We feel like they turn out more tender than chicken breasts and are less expensive too. Here are a few questions you might have before getting started making your teriyaki chicken:

How healthy is teriyaki chicken?

Well that depends on the nutritional value of the sauce you're using and how fatty your meat is. On the whole air fryer marinated chicken is quite healthy with NO oil required to make it crispy on the outside. Marinated Chicken in Air Fryer

Do you have to flip chicken in air fryer?

We do. Especially if you cube the meat into bite size pieces like we did here it is best to shake the basket halfway thru. That way each piece rotates and gets a bit of crisp all the way around.

What temperature do you cook chicken in air fryer?

That depends. If it is a larger piece, we find that it's best to lower the heat to maybe 350 F. In this case they are boneless bite size pieces so 380 F was better and only took a few minutes to cook to perfection.

You could easily coat the meat and refrigerate for a good hour to get bolder flavors. Only have a few minutes, no problem. The thicker the better in that case.

We tested this out a few times. First we used a thin chicken marinade and it was yummy (kids agreed). Then we used this one and it was more “teriyakiy” if you know what we mean. We have also made a homemade version with our air fryer sesame chicken that was dynamite.

We thought about using a springform pan but mine was leaking so we opted to not do that but you could so the sauce wouldn't leak thru the basket at all. It would likely take a bit more time to cook this way though.

How do you make teriyaki chicken from scratch?

We have made homemade teriyaki sauce with brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and a few other ingredients before. You could too, there is a link in the recipe card below to make with some hoisin the sauce is thickened nicely and a great consistency for this.

How Long to Cook Teriyaki Chicken in Air Fryer

You are going to need about 8 minutes to make this. The cook time will vary slightly depending on how large the chunks of meat are of course but this is typical for cubed chicken thighs coated with sauce. You are going to

Time needed: 8 minutes

Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken

Prepare
Preheat air fryer to 380 degrees F for 5 minutes. Trim boneless chicken breasts and cut into equal sized bite size pieces.
Marinate
Put in a bowl with teriyaki sauce (and onion if you want) and stir so every piece is coated well. Let sit at least 5 minutes to up to an hour if you'd like it to soak in.
Cook
Pour into air fryer basket and shake so they are in one layer overlapping the least amount. Close and cook for a total of 8 minutes cooking time shaking the basket after 4 minutes.
Check
At end check to ensure chicken is cooked thru by taking out largest piece and cutting in half. If it is no longer pink inside you're good, if not add 1 more minute at a time until all chicken is cooked properly and safe to eat. Serve over bed of white or brown rice.

Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken

By Air fryer teriyaki chicken turns out good! With a thick flavorful sauce, you can now make tender marinated chicken in no time at all. Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 8 minutes minsServings: 6 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

1.5-2 lbs chicken thighsboneless, skinless, trimmed, cut into bite size pieces
3/4 c Homemade Teriyaki Sauceor use bottled
1/4 onion, diced, optional

Instructions

Preheat air fryer to 380 degrees F for 5 minutes.
Trim boneless chicken breasts and cut into equal sized bite size pieces. Put in a bowl with teriyaki sauce (and onion if you want) and stir so every piece is coated well. Let sit at least 5 minutes to up to an hour if you'd like it to soak in.
Pour into air fryer basket and shake so they are in one layer overlapping the least amount.
Close and cook for a total of 8 minutes shaking the basket after 4 minutes.
At end check to ensure chicken is cooked thru by taking out largest piece and cutting in half. If it is no longer pink inside you're good, if not add 1 more minute at a time until all chicken is cooked properly and safe to eat.
Serve over bed of white rice.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: Chinese, Japanese Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

What to do with leftovers

If you've only used a pan or slow cooker to make this, we would suggest you try this version next time. Then decide for yourself which you love best. You'll be surprised how well this turns out. When reheating chicken in air fryer there are a few tips you should remember too, we go over them in the above post.