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Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

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Homemade Teriyaki Sauce – the best and easiest sauce for Asian dishes! You only need a few ingredients to make it. Great with chicken, shrimp, salmon, and vegetarian stir fry!

Homemade condiments are so easy to make! Make a bottle of this sauce, the Sweet and Sour Sauce or Homemade Hoisin Sauce, and never go back to the store-bought kind again.

Teriyaki Sauce A Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

After so many requests, I am finally sharing my recipe for the best, thick Teriyaki Sauce! It’s one of the easiest condiments you can make in your own kitchen. You can use it in cooking or pour over a finished dish to add Asian flavor. It only requires a handful of ingredients that most likely are already in your pantry. This Homemade Teriyaki Sauce recipe is the best and easiest and will save you time in the kitchen! Forget the store-bought stuff and make a jar or your own homemade teriyaki sauce!

Ingredients:

  • low-sodium soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • brown sugar
  • garlic
  • ground ginger
  • cornstarch
  • water
  • apple cider vinegar

Teriyaki Sauce ingredients Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

How to make homemade Teriyaki Sauce?

  • Whisk all ingredients in a saucepan.
  • Simmer over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.
  • Make a quick cornstarch slurry with water and add to sauce. Cook just until it thickens. Done!
  • You can use the sauce right away by adding it to cooked chicken in a skillet or pour over salmon, shrimp or chicken tenders and bake.

homemade teriyaki sauce 4 Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Expert tips for the best teriyaki sauce:

  • Cornstarch: it is my go-to thickener for sauces as it will make a smooth and clump-free sauce every time. I almost completely stopped using flour in my sauces and just keep it for baking. Cornstarch will also make this sauce gluten-free, for those with gluten allergies. You can use flour in place of cornstarch in this recipe, just keep in mind that it will not be as clear in appearance.
  • Soy sauce: I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce to control the flavor.
  • sesame oil: if you don’t have it on hand, skip it but I highly recommend this ingredient for the recipe since it will give it that characteristic Asian flavor. You can use olive oil as a substitute.
  • sesame seeds: not necessary but we enjoy them.

Can I use this sauce as a marinade?

Yes! Simply place cubed raw chicken or salmon fillet into a Ziploc bag, add sauce, seal tightly and freeze OR place in the fridge for 30 minutes to overnight. When you are ready, thaw out and bake or cook in a skillet. So easy and saves time! Just remember to use all of the marinade and cook it with the meat.

Storing teriyaki sauce:

If you keep the sauce in a jar with a lid and store it in the fridge, it will last for up to 2 weeks.

Teriyaki Sauce D Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

How to use teriyaki sauce?

This sauce is perfect in many Asian dishes. Here are my favorites:

For more ideas, feel free to browse our Asian Category.

pin it button Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀

4.89 from 17 votes
Teriyaki Sauce A 150x150 Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Print
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 

The best and easiest Teriyaki Sauce for Asian dishes! You only need a few ingredients to make it. Great with chicken, shrimp, salmon and vegetarian stir fry!

Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Asian
Keyword: homemade teriyaki sauce
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 97 kcal
Author: Anna
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger optional
  • 4 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 3 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 4 tablespoons water
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and oil. Heat up until it starts to simmer.
  2. Reduce heat to low.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Add to soy sauce mixture and whisk constantly until the sauce thickens.
  4. Remove from heat and let cool. Use right away or store for later.
Recipe Notes
  1. Keep in glass jar with lid in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
  2. This recipe can be halved to make a smaller amount, good for one meal for 4 people.
  3. Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate.
Nutrition Facts
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Amount Per Serving
Calories 97 Calories from Fat 9
% Daily Value*
Fat 1g2%
Sodium 1067mg46%
Potassium 81mg2%
Carbohydrates 19g6%
Sugar 13g14%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin C 0.5mg1%
Calcium 20mg2%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe was originally published on April 25th, 2018 and updated on October 28th, 2019.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lou says

    This hit the spot! Stir fried some chicken (marinated with garlic powder and cornstarch); added1/2 the sauce; served with broc and basmati rice. De…lish…us…

    Reply

  2. Amy says

    My first time making this sauce and while following the recipe instructions my liquid would not thicken, I even added more cornstarch to see if it would help, It didn’t. I took it off the heat, still wouldn’t thicken. It wasn’t until I turned the heat up it started to thicken up. Then it got too thick because of the extra cornstarch I added. Doh on my part. But I added more soy sauce and it thinned out a bit and it tastes amazing! Probably because of all the salt but still. I will make this again but I’ll turn the heat up when I add the cornstarch instead of turning it to low.

    Reply

  3. Jen says

    I can’t wait to try it! Can you can this so it would have a shelf life? Would love to make this for gifts that they could use any time.

    Reply

    • Anon says

      Who said corn starch has gluten? It’s made from corn.

      Quick google will tell you cornstarch is gluten free.

      While i do agree soy sauce must be gluten free, the corn starch alone WILL make it gluten free.

      Reply

      • Anna says

        Hi Anon! You are correct, the cornstarch is gluten free. However, in this recipe, it is about the soy sauce which is made from wheat (among other ingredients). You would have to find a gluten-free version, like coconut aminos. Hope this clarifies things!

        Reply

  6. Eva-Maria Horner says

    Have not made the sauce yet., but have a question. Can I use potato starch ? I bought some at a German store, used it for my Dumplings but am not sure about using it at as a sauce thickener.
    Stay well,
    Eva

    Reply

  7. Krissy Allori says

    This looks so easy and so good. We love all things teriyaki at my house. It would just make sense to make my own sauce. Thanks for the great recipe.

    Reply

  8. Brooke says

    Low Sodium tip: instead of a cup of soy sauce, use 1/4 c soy (I used low sodium Tamari), 1/4 c apple cider vinegar, and the rest water. Acidic levels are nearly the same, thanks to the ACV, taste is not compromised (soy is very potent), and Voilà! Much lower sodium content, same taste!

    I also threw in some red pepper flakes to make it a spicy/sweet combo! Thanks for sharing this delicious and simple recipe!

    Reply

  9. Kelsey says

    I used a little less sugar and cornstarch, but WOW the flavor of this was delicious!! I’ll be saving this for future use.

    Reply

  12. Toni says

    I was out of teriyaki sauce and needed it for a recipe. I Google’d and found this one. It’s better than store bought sauce.

    Reply

  16. Jennifer Barry says

    Made it. It tastes good, but I feel like it’s way too thick. I made it exactly as posted. I think next time I will use a little less cornstarch. But overall, it tastes just fine.

    Reply

  18. Prakash Nadkarni says

    Really good recipe, thanks for making it publicly available. (It shows up #1 on Gooogle.).
    You might want to invest in a used copy of Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking”(2004 edition) – this is the Bible that most serious chefs use: while not containing a single recipe, it talks about food ingredients, food science and how different things are made (including chocolate and soy sauce). This is a book that you can open anywhere and read for pleasure. (It’s highly likely that your public library may have a copy.)
    Japanese-style soy sauce uses equal parts of soy beans and wheat as the raw materials. (If it uses only soybeans, it’s called Tamari – this is the gluten-free stuff.)
    The wheat serves a useful purpose – its starches are broken down by fermentation into sugars and trace amounts of alcohol, and the sugars combine with the proteins from soybeans to form savory brown compounds (similar to what you get when you brown meat). As a result, soy sauce made with wheat has a more complex and richer flavor than that made with soybeans alone (provided you’re not gluten-sensitive).

    Reply

  19. Ed Matthews says

    I see the picture of this sauce has sesame seeds in it. Is this for looks or was it omitted from the recipe by mistake?

    Reply

    • Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet says

      Hi Ed! I used the seeds to have a point for my camera to focus. It’s hard to do that on a dark liquid surface. Sorry if it was confusing. Sesame seeds are often used as a garnish and you can sprinkle them over the finished dish. I hope you will give this teriyaki sauce a try!

      Reply

      • Ed Matthews says

        OK !! I have seen so many recipes for this sauce but it’s the only one I see that uses Sesame Seed Oil and instead of Mirin, uses apple cider vinegar and no honey. Try omitting the oil,use Mirin,and a bit of honey and let me know how you like it. I’m still looking for that Genuine recipe.

        Reply

  20. Aspen Dean says

    Hey! I was wanting to make this for dinner tonight and was wondering if the ground ginger needed to be fresh or a powder spice. Also, is Braggas Liquid Aminos a good substitute for the soy sauce?

    I’m excited to try!

    Reply

  22. Nicole says

    I’ve made several stir fry or peanut sauces but this by far trumps them all. Definitely going to save this for a go-to sauce. So good!

    Reply

  23. Marc says

    The recipe looks awesome, but-
    BE WARNED:
    This sauce will NOT be gluten free just because you use corn starch instead of flour. If you are using genuine brewed soy sauce, the making of that sauce uses wheat in the fermentation process. You MUST use gluten free soy sauce along with the corn starch to make the recipe gluten free.

    Reply

  24. Patricia says

    What to cook with teriyak sauce? Oh, man…I could eat it with a spoon 🙂 I love it and use it on a lot of things, so I look forward to trying your recipe!

    Reply

  31. KalynsKitchen says

    I love Teriyaki and your homemade version sounds delish! Thanks for a shout-out for my Sugar-FreeTeriyaki Sauce!

    Reply

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