BEST Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
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For an absolutely phenomenal homemade Teriyaki Sauce recipe, look no further! Ready in 10 minutes, no junk ingredients, and crazy delicious, you’ll never use store-bought again! Just read the hundreds of rave reviews below. This recipe has consistently enjoyed top ranking across the web for over 10 years for one reason: it’s simply the BEST!
It happened one too many times. I needed teriyaki sauce for a recipe and thought I had some on hand only to find – after all the other ingredients had already been prepped – that there wasn’t any. No doubt you can relate to this scenario, whether it’s teriyaki sauce or some other condiment like tahini paste, black bean sauce, or hoisin sauce. So I whipped up my own homemade teriyaki sauce…and have never touched store-bought since! And trust me, after making this teriyaki sauce recipe, you won’t either.
What is Teriyaki Sauce?
This thick and sticky Japanese sauce is popular all around the world with its dark, bold, savory-salty-sweet flavor with lots of umami undertones. Its primary ingredients include soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, honey and mirin. The word teriyaki refers to both a Japanese cooking technique as well as to the sauce. It was developed in the 17th century and has become synonymous with Japanese cuisine, being served all over the world. The term teri in teriyaki refers to the aesthetic shine on the food created by the sugar content in the sauce, while yaki refers to the method of grilling. With its shiny luster and robust flavor, teriyaki sauce is a natural pairing for grilled foods.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This recipe calls for 8 ingredients, all of which are pantry staples with maybe the exception of mirin which you can substitute or omit. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Tamari: you can substitute low sodium soy sauce but tamari has much more flavor while also have less sodium.
- Brown sugar: adds flavor and sweetness. For sugar free teriyaki sauce you can substitute a brown sugar alternative.
- Fresh ginger: adds flavor and zing
- Fresh garlic: adds flavor and depth
- Honey: adds flavor complexity and sweetness
- Sesame oil: adds depth of flavor
- Mirin: adds flavor complexity and a hint of sweetness. You can substitute sherry and a pinch of sugar or omit it altogether.
- Cornstarch: to thicken the sauce.
Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
This is a super quick and easy sauce to make, all you have to do is:
- Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, honey, sesame oil, mirin and water mixed with cornstarch together in a bowl
- Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and simmer for about 4 minutes until thickened.
- Your sauce is ready!
You can use it right away or store it in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks. And the flavors will get even better over time. Enjoy this homemade teriyaki sauce in the dish of your choice (see below for ideas).
Ready in less than 10 minutes, thoroughly delicious and free of fillers or junk ingredients, there simply is no good reason to EVER use store-bought again!
Enjoy!
How To Use Teriyaki Sauce
Teriyaki sauce is a versatile and flavorful Japanese sauce that can be used in various ways to add a sweet and savory taste to your dishes. Here are some common ways to use teriyaki sauce:
- Marinating Meat, Poultry, Seafood or Tofu: To use this sauce as a marinade simply omit the cornstarch. Place the protein in a ziplock bag, pour in the sauce, and allow it marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
- Grilling: Brush this sauce onto your proteins or veggies to create a delicious caramelized glaze.
- Stir-Fries: This makes an excellent base sauce for stir-fries of all kinds.
- Chicken Teriyaki, Teriyaki Salmon, Teriyaki Tofu, and Teriyaki Pork: Slather this on and bake to create a delicious sticky glaze.
- Dipping Sauce: This makes a great dipping sauce for sushi, spring rolls, dumplings, tempura, or other appetizers.
- Bowl or Rice Topping: Drizzle it over your rice bowls with your grilled teriyaki chicken, pork, beef, salmon or tofu and some steamed or stir-fried veggies.
- Glaze for Roasted Vegetables: Brush some of this sauce onto roasted vegetables for a sweet and savory glaze.
- Sandwiches, Wraps or Burgers: This adds a burst of flavor to your favorite sandwiches and burgers.
- Noodles: Add a drizzle of teriyaki sauce to noodle dishes, such as udon or soba, and toss to coat.
- Salad Dressing: Combine the teriyaki sauce with some oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and a little sesame oil for a unique and flavorful salad dressing.
For more homemade Asian sauces try my:
- Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Yum Yum Sauce
- Plum Sauce
- Hoisin Sauce
- Eel Sauce
- Black Bean Sauce
- Kecap Manis
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Char Siu Sauce
- Ponzu Sauce
- Ginger Sauce
- Big Mac Sauce
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BEST Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Small saucepan I use and recommend All-Clad stainless steel cookware!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup tamari , can substitute low sodium soy sauce. Note: tamari has more flavor than soy sauce and significantly less sodium.
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- see brown sugar alternative (for low sugar option)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger ,minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic ,minced
- 1 tablespoon honey (Vegans: use agave nectar or sweetener of choice)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons mirin (see note)
- 1/4 cup water mixed with 3 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week. Makes about 1 1/4 cups teriyaki sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet May 27, 2013
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Loved this recipe… it’s a keeper! Hubs slathered on bbq’d London broil last night and I drizzled the last little bit over our fried rice and veggies!
Wonderful! So glad you both enjoyed it, Correen, and thanks for the feedback!
Used saki and a little extra brown sugar. The alcohol evaporates when you heat the sauce since the boiling point of alconol is much lower than water. Sauce was delicious. I’m going to try to add some pineapple juice as an experiment.
Glad you enjoyed it, Frank Two Hawks, and thanks so much for your feedback!
Fixed chicken marinated overnight in teriyaki sauce mixed with minced garlic, ground pepper and curry powder last night. Loved it, but the bottled sauce made it too salty. This sounds yummy! (I use low-sodium soy sauce.)
Hi Renee! Yes, most everything pre-packaged tends to be high in sodium. That’s just one advantage of homemade – you can easily adjust the salt to meet your dietary needs. You’ll love this sauce!
I love this recipe! I use 3 tbs of angry orchard’s hard apple ginger cider in place of the ginger and mirin. Sauce comes out delicious and the rest of the bottle pairs well with dinner!
That sounds yummy, Alissa, thanks for the feedback!
I made this tonight for stir fry vegetables on rice. Perfect. I had to look up a substitute for ginger, it was the only ingredient I didn’t have (we lived in Japan for a while so we like to have things like mirin on hand). I used all spice. I think I’d use less of it next time, if I had to substitute again, but really it still came out amazing. My husband told me to hide the sauce so he wouldn’t drink it straight!! He agreed we’ll never buy again, and now we need to thaw chicken so we can grill with this later this week. One question: your picture, before cooking, looks like it contains diced onion. Are those just large pieces of garlic or is onion supposed to be an ingredient?
Hello! That’s wonderful to hear – I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! I love how versatile teriyaki sauce is. Your question: The pieces you see in the picture are just the pieces of garlic and ginger. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Made this for tonight’s stir-fry. It was absolutly delicious! Thank you!
Fantastic, Liora, so happy to hear that! Thanks for making this and for your feedback!
What would you use of you don’t want the alcohol at all?
Hi Elizabeth! Really the only substitutes for mirin and sake would be another form of wine (all of which, by the way, have a much, much lower alcohol content than vanilla extract), but if you’d prefer not to use any, just leave it out and don’t worry about a substitute. I think you’ll still be happy with the flavor of the teriyaki sauce.
Also consider simmering the sauce for an extra few minutes. This will cook off the alcohol from the mirin as it will simply evaporate away. The mirin itself is meant in this recipe for its flavour not the alcohol. If that isn’t reassuring enough then you can simmer the mirin for 6-8 minutes prior to adding it. Or even flash it on high heat and ignite it. when the flame dies out the alcohol is gone. Mirin has a wonderful sweet flavour that accents the overall finished product quite nicely.
On a side note there are many different varieties of mirin some of which only contain as little as 1% alcohol. With a low percentage like that the alcohol is cooked off very quickly.
Am doing my sauce in slow cooker with strips of beef on low would that still be ok to cook the way an how long for thank you
Mirin already has such a very light alcohol content that the alcohol boils off during the cooking.
Looking forward to trying this on tonight’s dinner. I’m using it as a basting sauce for some chicken I’m baking at the moment. Smells absolutely divine in the oven!
Mmmmm, that sounds yummy, Kristen! There are few things that can beat the smell of a roasting chicken!