Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

If you always grab a bottle from the store, you may be surprised to learn just how simple and easy it is to make teriyaki sauce at home. Many of the bottled varieties contain additives, cornstarch, and extra bits that can make this staple sauce too sweet, too thick, or just downright wrong. If you really want the good stuff, then you have to make it yourself! Our simple Japanese-style recipe takes just 30 minutes and uses only 4 pantry staple ingredients to create the authentic sauce; if you always have these ingredients on hand, you’ll always have teriyaki sauce to put on anything and everything, from chicken to stir-fries. Here’s how to do it right:

What Is Teriyaki Sauce?

You may be familiar with it solely as an irresistible sauce, but technically, teriyaki refers to a method of cooking that involves basting fish or meat with sauce as it cooks (in fact, if you break down the Japanese word “teriyaki” into parts, it means to shine or glisten + to broil or grill). Classic teriyaki sauce will have a rich, soy sauce-forward flavor that’s full of umami. The finished sauce should be viscous and sticky, which makes it a great complement to cooked meat and vegetables.

While there are plenty of variations of teriyaki sauce (Hawaiian, American, etc.), my recipe focuses on the most classic Japanese version. All you need are 4 ingredients—mirin, sake, Japanese soy sauce, and sugar—to create this simple recipe that results in a smooth and straightforward sauce.

How To Make Teriyaki Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• Japanese Soy Sauce: Otherwise known as “shoyu”, Japanese soy sauce is made up of largely the same ingredients as the more-readily available Chinese soy sauce, but it tastes a little sweeter and is less overly salty. Need this to be gluten-free? Try replacing it with tamari instead.
• Mirin: This is a type of sweet and tangy Japanese rice wine, not to be confused with rice wine vinegar.
• Sake: Similar to mirin, sake is another Japanese rice wine, albeit one with a much higher alcohol content that is more likely to be drunk as a beverage than just used in sauces like this one. Just like cooking wine, you don’t need to seek out the best of the best here. You should be able to find a passable version in the Asian foods aisle near the soy sauce and mirin.
• Granulated sugar: I went with white sugar here to keep the flavor simple and clean, but many teriyaki sauces use brown sugar or honey instead, so feel free to swap either of those in here for a slightly different flavor.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all your ingredients into a medium pot, then bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let simmer for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want your reduced sauce to be sticky and thickened, and to yield about 1 cup by the time you are done. Here’s how I like to check: after about 15 minutes have gone by, I’ll carefully pour my sauce into a glass liquid measuring cup to see how much it has reduced. If it is still significantly more than a cup, I’ll pour it back into the pan and keep it simmering.

Once it’s done, use it immediately (on some salmon, perhaps?), or let it cool before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.

Full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.

How To Use Teriyaki Sauce

Just like the origins of its name, you can use teriyaki to baste your grilled meat (we especially love it on our chicken thighs), or vegetables like bok choy, broccoli, or cabbage. Or you can totally go rogue and play up your homemade sushi with a side of dipping sauce, or douse one of your favorite burger recipes in this classic sauce. When you’re making it at home, the sky’s the limit on what you can do with it.

Storage

Make a large batch of teriyaki sauce at once, and store in an airtight container for up to 1 month in the fridge.