This easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe takes only 5 minutes to make and has no refined sugar or preservatives! You’ll never buy teriyaki sauce again.
Ever made homemade teriyaki sauce? When Alex and I developed this recipe years ago, our worlds are changed. Our homemade teriyaki sauce takes only 5 minutes to make and is seriously good. It tastes better than store-bought teriyaki sauce, and has none of the added salt, sugar and preservatives. There’s also no refined sugar!
We distilled down teriyaki sauce to its major components, but the flavor is still so good with only a handful of ingredients. One of my friends told me she makes it weekly with beef and broccoli, and it’s also perfect for a tofu stir fry or teriyaki salmon!
Where did teriyaki sauce originate?
Teriyaki originates from Japan, but in Japan it actually refers to a method of cooking: by grilling foods in a mix of soy, mirin and sugar. A dish like chicken teriyaki is actually more of an American food than a Japanese one!
It is thought that teriyaki sauce comes from Japanese immigrants who settled in Hawaii. They created a marinade using local products like pineapple juice blended with soy sauce. This eventually turned into what we today call teriyaki sauce. So bottom line: teriyaki sauce has Japanese roots, but it’s more of an American creation than authentic Japanese.
How to make homemade teriyaki sauce
Making homemade teriyaki sauce is truly easy: and in this recipe we made it even simpler by distilling it down to its major components. Our recipe uses just soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and maple syrup.
Using maple syrup means that it has no refine sugar and is naturally sweet, which is a bonus! The level of soy sauce is also perfect: it’s just salty enough but not too salty.
You’ll heat the ingredients then mix in a slurry of cornstarch, which makes it thick and glossy. The sauce can be made in about 5 minutes, so we’re never buying teriyaki sauce again!
As noted in the recipe, as it cools the sauce gets very thick. You may find you need to mix in a very small amount of warm water to bring it to a slightly thinner consistency.
Dietary notes
This easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe is vegetarian, vegan, gluten free (with tamari), plant based, dairy free, refined sugar free, and naturally sweet.
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
This easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe takes only 5 minutes to make and has no refined sugar or preservatives! You’ll never buy teriyaki sauce again.
- Prep Time: 1 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: About 1 cup 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Japanese American
- ¼ cup regular soy sauce (or substitute tamari or coconut aminos)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup water
- For the homemade teriyaki sauce: Combine the soy sauce, maple syrup, and rice wine vinegar in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.
- Heat the sauce for a few minutes, whisking constantly, until it becomes very thick, smooth and glossy. Remove the sauce to a bowl and cool the sauce while you make the remainder of the recipe. (You can also make the teriyaki in advance and refrigerate until serving.) If the sauce becomes too thick after cooling, add a very small amount of warm water a little at a time to return to the desired consistency.
Other homemade sauce recipes to try
Homemade sauces are the best! Here are a few more of our essential sauce recipes:
