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.
Chad says
This was perfect! I thought I had some on hand, but didn’t, so I whipped this up. I loved it.
Misty says
I used this in a stir fry and it was perfect.
Oliver says
This is a great recipe
Amelia says
I thought I had teriyaki sauce, but couldn’t find it, and this was so good that I won’t be buying it at all anymore!
Fe Duncan says
I’ve tried several different recipes for teriyaki sauce and this is the best one by far. I already put it in my recipe box. Thank you!☺️
Tara says
This was just what I needed.
Terry says
Excelent!
amilia says
Our whole family loved this recipe.
amilia says
Perfect!
amilia says
This was fantastic
Melinda says
Simple and taste great
Ida says
Best tasting teriyaki sauce!
Barb says
So easy to make! WE loved it!
Darius says
So I made this twice. once following the exact recipe and once with a few two weeks. The initial recipe is good but like others said just a tad too sweet. So I knocked back on the brown sugar and used dark brown sugar to give it a more deep molasses flavor. I also added in an extra tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of mirin and instead of just regular honey I used chili infused honey.
Ryan says
This is an amazing recipe! Just one question, I made a lot of the sauce and stored it in my fridge. This morning I looked at it and it was like jelly. Somewhat like cranberry sauce in a can. Once heated its fine but what’s going on here? What did I do??
Deborah says
It will thicken up once it is in the refrigerator, so that is normal. If you want it to stay looser when it is cold, just use less cornstarch next time. I’m so glad you loved it!
Firewisp says
reduced the brown sugar to 4 tbsps as others suggested and I love it! perfect sauce
damien says
was good made some adjustments and the whole family enjoyed it
Deborah says
Thanks for the review, Damien. I’m so glad you were able to make some adjustments to make it work for you!