Wondering how to make homemade teriyaki sauce? It’s so easy and only requires a few simple ingredients. A great make ahead stir fry sauce or glaze for Teriyaki Salmon.
Do you buy a lot of bottled sauces? I know I used to.
But you’re reading this post now, so you probably started turning those bottles around to read the labels – and ugh! You were shocked, just like I was.
Probably not even because you found the ingredients so gross, but because you didn’t even UNDERSTAND what the ingredients were supposed to be.
You felt so overwhelmed by all the gibberish that, in the end, you gave up and threw it into the cart anyways.
Grocery shopping with toddlers doesn’t really come with a gigantic amount of patience or liberal time to study labels.
At home you put it away, but you felt that nagging guilt for not properly doing your research. I mean, all you’re wanting to do is get the right nutrition into your kids for them to grow up well, right?!
So you pulled that bottle out after bedtime to research a little on the Internet… And now you’re here.
When I started changing our diet more and more about a year ago, we already didn’t have many bottled sauces or dressings around.
But I didn’t feel like making my own either, because I thought it would be way too hard. So dinner was often a little boring or… Dry?
But now I’m starting to figure out how SIMPLE it is to make certain sauces at home, so I want to share my excitement with you. I mean, everyone knows you can make healthy peanut sauce at home, but teriyaki sauce?
This Asian inspired honey sweetened version comes together in no time and you can keep it in the fridge if you have extra.
What ingredients are in teriyaki sauce?
What surprised me the most was that you only need a handful of really simple ingredients you can find at any grocery store:
- water
- soy sauce
- cornstarch
- honey
- brown sugar
- garlic
- butter (which is 100% optional!)
How To Make Teriyaki Sauce:
It’s so easy, you won’t believe you haven’t made this yourself before!
- Whisk everything together.
- Bring to a boil.
- Simmer for 2 minutes or until thickened.
REALLY. This teriyaki sauce recipe couldn’t be any simpler.
If you’re wondering about substitutions, here are a few of my suggestions:
Make it dairy free
I do love the added butter, but if you’re vegan or dairy free you can easily substitute coconut oil.
You can even leave it out, but it does give the sauce a silky smooth finish, some shine and a little richness.
Skip the brown sugar
I’m using a bit of sugar here. If you want to nix it completely, you can add 1-2 tablespoons extra honey.
Omit the cornstarch
I just use cornstarch whenever I need to thicken a sauce like this teriyaki sauce or something like my favorite Homemade Pineapple BBQ Sauce, it’s SO easy.
I do have a jar of arrowroot powder here though, so if you know how to use it – please enlighten me 🙂 I’m sure you could use it to thicken this sauce somehow?
Otherwise you can just simmer the sauce for longer, until it has thickened to your liking. It might take a while though.
Seriously, though. This is the BEST teriyaki sauce.
I use it on so many things now – even on teriyaki meatballs! Teriyaki anything, I’ll make it.
Next up: Teriyaki Chicken! Probably Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken? I guess I’ll have to make both 😉
And if you tried this and loved it, I’m pretty sure you’re going to love my Homemade Korean BBQ Sauce, too!
Watch How To Make Homemade Teriyaki Sauce in this recipe video here:
Here’s the printable recipe for How To Make Homemade Teriyaki Sauce:
How To Make Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar OR light brown
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Whisk together the water, soy sauce and cornstarch in a medium pot. Whisk in the honey, sugar and garlic. Add the butter and bring to a boil, simmer for 2 minutes.
- Either use immediately or fill into a clean jar, cool down completely before closing and storing in the fridge, where it will keep for about a week.
Kelly says
Very good my picky son loved it.. Thank you
Kevin says
Arrowroot is easy:
Crush to a powder(optional, but makes it easier to pour) dissolve in hot water, pour/scrape out.
Put in early enough to cook, careful not to scorch (duh!).
I use a ramikin, and make individual amounts by crushing w/ a spoon, add hot water, stir, and wait 5 min or so. Add soy sauce or dry ingredients into it, too. Careful: it can become a paste, or a solid block.
But, yeah, hot water, stir wait, cook.
Sunshine Lady says
My, My, My!! This sauce was to die for! Absolutely Delish!!
Nora says
Glad to hear it! It’s one of our favorites for all kinds of stir fries, meatballs and the works!
Mary Ihla says
I was looking for an easy teriyaki sauce that called for ingredients I had in my cupboard or fridge. (I don’t regularly purchase oyster sauce or sesame oil.) It would also have to a appeal to my picky pre-school granddaughters, my autistic grandson who loves Asian food, and my husband who has a sweet tooth but hates anything spicy. I hesitated when I saw butter as an ingredient, but decided to try it to make lo mein. Everyone loved it, including my daughter, who said it was better than any she’d eaten in Asian restaurants. I agreed! This will be my go-to sauce for Asian dishes. Next we’re trying the Korean BBQ sauce because my daughter spent over a year in Korea and fell in love with the food.
Nora says
Hi Mary, wow! I’m so happy to read this feedback. I know, the butter sounds strange at first… But it really adds a nice smoothness and richness. I hope you’ll like the Korean BBQ Sauce just as much!
Muriel Mulawka says
This sauce is amazing! Everyone in the family (picky eaters included!) loved it with my chicken stir fry. It’s so easy to make and I love that I know everything that’s in it. Because there were quite a few of us, I had doubled the recipe and ended up having some left over, which I am going to try to freeze. If freezing doesn’t keep the flavor and/or texture as yummy as the original, I absolutely will just continue to make it fresh as needed! Thanks so much!
Nora says
That’s awesome, Muriel! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed the sauce. I have never tried freezing it, let me know how that goes. And thank you so much for taking the time to review the recipe – I appreciate it very much.
Fairy says
You can use psyllium husk to thicken your sauce too. Start out with a small amount.
Nora says
That’s a good idea! Thanks for sharing!
Darlene says
Do you think this sauce should be frozen?
Nora says
Hi Darlene, I haven’t tried it myself so can’t give you any advice, sorry! If you end up experimenting, please let us know if it works – I’d love to know!
Daniell Jarrell says
You mentioned arrowroot powder. It’s a great substitute for cornstarch and if subs in equal measure. I prefer it over cornstarch.
Nora says
Thank you for that information, Daniell! I’ll finally have to try it. It’s not going to do much sitting in my cupboard 🙂