An easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe made from pantry staples. This sauce is bold and thick and is great as a marinade or as a sauce served with your favorite meats or vegetables.
In the mood for teriyaki? Make up a batch of this sauce and then use it to make Teriyaki Chicken Pizza or Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers!
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
There are lots of things I used to never considered making before, turning instead to the conveniently bottled versions. Salad dressings, mayonnaise, etc. Some of them I still buy bottled – mayonnaise – and some I make from scratch at home – salad dressings. One of these condiments that I love to make from scratch is homemade Teriyaki sauce. It is so super easy and good, it made me wonder why I ever bought the store bought kind!
This homemade teriyaki sauce recipe only takes minutes to make, and tastes a lot better than the jarred sauce. This sauce is great just served as a sauce alongside your favorite meats as well as a marinade. I love that it is so versatile!
Ingredients
- Brown Sugar: I use light brown sugar. You could also up the amount of honey, but I think they both bring in different flavors, so I like to use both.
- Soy Sauce: I always use low sodium soy sauce. You could also use tamari.
- Honey: If you like the sauce sweeter, use 2 tablespoons, otherwise just use one.
- Garlic: I always have fresh garlic on hand, so I like to use fresh. You could sub in garlic powder. If you do, you’ll need about 1/4 teaspoon.
- Ginger: I don’t always have fresh ginger on hand, so that is why I use ground ginger. Feel free to use fresh if you do have it, though. You’ll need 1-2 tablespoons of fresh ginger if you do sub.
- Cornstarch: This is what will thicken up your sauce. The sauce will get decently thick, so if you prefer a thinner sauce, feel free to cut this amount in half.
How to Make Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
It really doesn’t get much easier than this recipe!
1: Start by combining all of your ingredients except the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Whisk to combine, and set over medium heat.
2: In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the 1/4 cup water.
3: Pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan.
4: Cook, whisking, until the sauce thickens.
How to Use This Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
This homemade teriyaki sauce makes a thicker sauce that the bottled sauce, so it would be good served on top of something, but I have also used it as a marinade. If you don’t want it thick as a marinade you can skip adding the cornstarch and extra water.
Here are some of my favorite ways to use this sauce:
- As sauce with grilled chicken
- Add it to chicken pieces and broccoli and serve over rice
- As a glaze for salmon
- Mixed into noodles
- In any stir fry
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Video
If you want to watch how this teriyaki sauce is made, watch the video above.
Storage
I usually make this teriyaki sauce when I need it, but it’s also great to just have on hand for an easy dinner.
I store it in a mason jar in the refrigerator. I will usually try to go through it in a week or less, but really, it should be good for 2-3 weeks if stored properly.
I have not tried to freeze this, although I’m assuming it would freeze well.
More Asian Inspired Recipes
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Mongolian Beef
General Tso Chicken
Orange Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken
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Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 oz) water
- 5 tablespoons (67 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) low sodium soy sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons honey
- 1 large clove garlic ,minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) cold water
Instructions
- Combine the 1 cup water, brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the 1/4 cup water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.
- Heat the sauce until it thickens to your desired thickness. If the sauce becomes too thick, add more water to thin it out.
Parker says
This recipe is delicious and so simple! I’m making it for my fiancée tonight to have with fried rice – no more store bought teriyaki sauce for us! This will be our go to recipe for teriyaki in the future!
Anjie says
This was sooo good. Thanks
Jennifer says
I made this last night and it turned out amazing! I didn’t have ginger, so I googled a replacement and added allspice instead. Different but still amazing. My husband loved it!
Jho says
Followed the recipe to a T and it’s FANTASTIC! I saved half to use another day it’s really good!
Angela T says
Recipe was easy and delicious! We shall see if the kids will eat it haha.
Celeste L Lundeen says
Best teriyaki sauce I’ve ever had
B. L. says
Thank you for this amazing and simple recipe. I made chicken wings for the first time. I added your recipe to them for the last 15 minutes of cooking. I also added some Chili Garlic Sauce to the recipe for heat.
My wings were delicious!!!!
mavee125 says
This Teriyaki sauce is indeed a must try! So tasty with a very rich flavor. It’s our family’s new fave sauce! Definitely gonna try this again over the weekend. Just glad I can immediatly access my Asian fave ingredients in Karman Foods. By the way, I used a low-sodium soy sauce as an alternative, and the taste is still so much alike, but with a lighter side.
Mari Gomez says
Family loved thid
K Nich says
Tastes amazing!! 6 yr old approved! Thank you
jack loganbill says
Excellent recipe. A lighter teriyaki sauce, I liked it. Used it on top of a NY Strip…perfect. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Felicia says
Love this recipe! We made a few adjustments for our taste (a little less brown sugar and honey, added some red pepper flakes), but it’s perfect as is. Super versatile and can be added to SO many things.
Helen m Carter says
I love this recipe I found myself without teriyaki sauce and gave it to go turned out wonderful
Julie Sylvester says
I love this recipe. I substituted coconut sugar for the brown sugar and it came out well. I am part Hawaiian, and would like to try substituting pineapple juice for the water and honey to see how that lands. I garnish with green onion because I had it.
My recipe of choice is to serve this over grilled chicken tenderloins with a side of homemade potato salad and another side of macaroni salad and white rice. Yep, 3 starches make it a Hawaiian “plate lunch” and I call it Hawaiian soul food. Mmmmmmmmmm. We could eat this all summer.
Kieth says
Absolutely terrible. Flavorless. Weird texture.
Lily kaur says
Great recipe