Simple Teriyaki Sauce (2024)

You'll never reach for the store-bought stuff again after making this incredibly tangy, rich, and sweet homemade teriyaki sauce. Enjoy a quick, flavorful glaze, marinade, or dip made with pantry ingredients like soy sauce and brown sugar. Plus, learn about the ingredients needed for an authentic teriyaki sauce, how to make it, and how it's stored.

What Is Teriyaki?

Teriyaki refers to a style of Japanese cuisine that includes cooking proteins and vegetables in a thick, sweet, and savory sauce. The word loosely translates to "glossy broil" and is synonymous with a bold, tangy flavor that is beloved the world over.

Teriyaki sauce can be used as a marinade, basting agent, or dipping sauce. It's a versatile tool in the kitchen, elevating stir-fries, steaks, and seafood dishes. It's easy to throw together with just a few pantry ingredients and packs a potently delicious punch.

Teriyaki Sauce Ingredients

Authentic Japanese teriyaki sauce combines soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake to create a distinctively sharp taste, with Westernized versions incorporating honey, garlic, and ginger for added edge.

Cornstarch is often added to teriyaki sauce as a thickener. Create a slurry with cornstarch and cold liquid before integrating it into the mixture.

How to Make Teriyaki Sauce

Making our top-rated homemade teriyaki sauce couldn't be easier. Simply combine soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, spices, cornstarch, and water over medium heat, stirring throughout. Cook the sauce for five to seven minutes or until it has thickened.

Remove sauce from heat and allow time for cooling. It's that straightforward — have tantalizingly delicious teriyaki sauce ready to glaze, marinade, or stir-fry at a moment's notice with this effortless recipe.

How to Store Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Homemade teriyaki sauce can last up to a week in the refrigerator, but be mindful of added ingredients like alliums or herbs that can shorten its shelf life. Keep leftover sauce in an airtight container for best results.

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

"I have no complaints with this recipe," shares home cook Ashley. "Used it to switch up leftovers. Perfect sweet-salty balance and super simple."

"Great basic stir-fry sauce!" raves Jumpiwan. "Just what I was looking for. You can go any which way from here — sweeter, spicier, thicker, or thinner, but this sauce is great just the way it is."

"This recipe saved my life tonight!" says reviewer Sherri. "My bottle of store-bought sauce got knocked off the counter and shattered. Almost every teriyaki sauce recipe I found had ingredients not in my pantry. This recipe uses ingredients I always have on hand."

Ingredients

• 1 cup water

• ¼ cup soy sauce

• 5 teaspoons packed brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• ¼ cup cold water

1. Gather all ingredients.

   

2. Combine 1 cup water, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, ginger, and garlic powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until nearly heated through, about 1 minute.

   

3. Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cold water together in a cup; stir until dissolved. Add to the saucepan.

   

4. Cook and stir sauce until thickened, 5 to 7 minutes.

   

5. Enjoy!

   

Nutrition Facts (per serving)