3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (2024)

The BEST easy teriyaki sauce recipe and it is made in just 10 minutes! It is so simple to make this homemade, you will wonder why you ever bought teriyaki sauce!

Sometimes the cupboards are close to bare for a variety of reasons and you just have to get dinner on the table. At those times I turn to a small handful of standby recipes that I always have the ingredients for.

This easy teriyaki sauce recipe is one of them and my kids happily declare it is the best dinner ever on the regular. It’s delicious, super easy and way better for you than any store bought sauce filled with tons of sugar and corn syrup!

What Is Teriyaki Sauce Made Of?

Teriyaki sauce is popular all around the world with its savory-salty-sweet flavor with lots of umami undertones.

Traditionally from Japan it’s main ingredients are soy sauce, mirin and sake with a few pinches of sugar and ginger in some cases.

But many people (in America especially) add a significant amount of brown sugar or honey, garlic, ginger, pineapple juice and sesame seeds to their teriyaki sauce.

This variation actually hails from Hawaii where Japanese immigrants introduced the concept, locals mixed in their local addition of pineapples and began using it as a marinade and sauce on chicken and pork especially.

What Is Teriyaki?

Teriyaki in it’s most classic form is actually describing the way the food is prepared, NOT the sauce.

It is used to describe grilling, broiling or pan frying a dish with a beautiful shining glaze. Using it to describe the sauce is a product of americanization of this dish and you will not find the teriyaki you are used to on a classic Japanese menu.

Traditionally, teriyaki sauce was used with fish. In Japanese cuisine, it is mainly used to top mackerel, salmon, marlin, trout, yellowtail and skipjack tuna.

In the west, the sauce is more popularly served with meat such as chicken, beef, and pork. Read more on the history of teriyaki here.

Ingredients You Need:

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (3)
3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (4)

How To Customize Your Sauce:

Creating your own asian sauce from scratch is easy once you understand the types of ingredients you need. Once you understand this you can mix and match within reason with what you have on hand!

  • Salty base: soy sauce, tamari or liquid aminos. Thinned with water to tame the salt overwhelm.
  • Sweetness: traditionally mirin and sake but in our recipe we sweeten with honey and crushed pineapple. Substitute: white sugar, brown sugar, or a sweet wine.
  • Acidity: traditionally sake adds some acidity, but in our recipe rice wine vinegar and pineapple juice. Substitute: orange juice, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Even if you are making the base recipe it’s best to add the acidity in if you can in some fashion, it’s really not well balanced without it.
  • Thickener: you can boil it down to thicken or cornstarch creates a beautiful shiny glaze. Substitute: flour, potato starch or arrowroot powder.
  • Aromatics: ginger and garlic add amazing depth to the recipe. Substitute: finely minced shallots, finely minced onion, dried ginger and garlic powder (start with 1/2 teaspoon and increase to taste)
  • Garnish: sesame seeds add visual interest and a crunch that is delightful. A small dash of sesame seed oil is also lovely (be careful it is powerful!)

While each substitution is not perfect, the ratio and balance is super important to create something edible. Start with our ratios and then tweak to adjust with what you have on hand!

Step By Step Instructions

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (5)
3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (6)
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3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (8)
3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (9)
3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (10)

What’s the difference between soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and teriyaki marinade?

Soy sauce is an ingredient of teriyaki sauce made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds. It is the consistency of water and considered to contain a strong umami flavor. It is very salty so many people recommend low sodium soy sauce when making teriyaki sauce to help prevent the salt from overpowering the dish.

Teriyaki marinade is a thinner version of teriyaki sauce that marinade flavors chicken, beef and fish by slowly being slowly absorbed into the meat for several hours. It is kept thinner so the sauce can be absorbed more easily.

Teriyaki sauce (also called teriyaki glaze) is for instant cooking by brushing on meats before grilling, stir frying and as a dipping sauce. It tends to have more sugar and be thickened more, either by boiling it down or by adding cornstarch or other thickening agents.

Is Teriyaki Sauce Gluten Free?

Yes! So long as you use gluten free soy sauce and thicken with cornstarch. You can also use tamari or liquid aminos if you prefer though the flavor will be slightly different.

How Long Will It Keep?

This sauce keeps well in the fridge for several weeks, so I will often whip up a double batch at the start of the week so we can use it in multiple recipes. It’s perfect for meal prepping on the weekends!

Ways to Use This Homemade Teriyaki Sauce:

We love to make noodle stir fry, teriyaki chicken over rice and we use this all the time to brush on meats to toss on the grill quickly. It is completely addicting and I know it will become a pantry staple in your house too!

Try these recipes:

Almond Chicken Stir Fry
Teriyaki Chicken
Tropical Jerk Chicken Rice Bowl

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (12)

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

The BEST easy teriyaki sauce recipe and it is made in just 10 minutes! It is so simple to make this homemade, you will wonder why you ever bought teriyaki sauce!

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Print Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Basic Easy Teriyaki Sauce

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce, I like reduced sodium
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 4-5 tablespoons honey, to taste

Flavor Add Ins

  • 2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar, to taste
  • 4 tablespoons crushed pineapple
  • 2 tablespoons pineapple juice
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon green onions

Instructions

  • In a small pot whisk soy sauce, water, cornstarch and honey together until smooth. Add any of the optional additional ingredients you are using (vinegar, garlic, ginger, etc) .

    3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (13)

  • Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and whisk constantly until desired thickness is reached, about 8-10 minutes. Do not leave unattended it thickens quickly once it gets boiling and will rapidly burn. It will continue to thicken as it cools so remove it before it looks to the consistency you are after.

    3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (14)

  • Taste and adjust as desired. If too thick, thin with additional water to desired consistency.

    3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (15)

Notes

Sauce will thicken as it stands. If too thick simply whisk in a few tablespoons of warm water at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/8th of recipe | Calories: 57kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 439mg | Sugar: 12g

Author: Dani Meyer

Course : Entree

Cuisine : Chinese, Japanese, American

teriyaki chicken, teriyaki sauce, dinner, easy recipe, healthy, chicken, stir fry, sauce, 3 ingredient recipe, teriyaki sauce recipe, homemade teriyaki sauce, teriyaki stir fry

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GFH

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is teriyaki sauce made of? ›

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.

Can I use white sugar instead of brown sugar for teriyaki sauce? ›

Sugar — Regular granulated sugar is all you need to make teriyaki sauce. It balances the salt from the soy sauce and helps to make the sauce sweet and glossy. Other forms of sugar work, too. Brown sugar, coconut sugar, and even honey will work.

What is a substitute for honey in teriyaki sauce? ›

Honey or maple syrup

Typically, you'll find a combination of honey and brown sugar in teriyaki recipes. I wanted this recipe to be entirely naturally sweetened, so I used all honey instead. If you want teriyaki sauce without honey, simply use maple syrup. It's great, too!

How to make teriyaki sauce taste better? ›

Brown sugar in place of white granulated sugar.
  1. 1 Tablespoon cornstarch.
  2. 1 Tablespoon cold water.
  3. 1/2 Cup sugar. (Brown sugar can add a depth to the flavor too.)
  4. 1/2 Cup low sodium soy sauce.
  5. (1/2 teaspoon of MSG)
  6. 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar.
  7. 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.
  8. 1 garlic clove, minced.
Mar 15, 2023

What to use instead of sake in teriyaki sauce? ›

If you don't have sake: you could use more mirin and reduce the honey. You could also substitute dry sherry or white wine. If you don't have mirin: you could use more sake and add a more honey.

What can I use if I don't have ginger for teriyaki sauce? ›

If you don't have any ground ginger on hand, feel free to use fresh ginger instead or vice versa! If you don't have fresh or ground ginger, use a 1:1 ratio of ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground mace or ground nutmeg to the amount of ground ginger called for.

Can I just use teriyaki marinade as sauce? ›

Teriyaki Marinade Recipes

It's also often used as a dipping sauce or condiment for pork tenderloin, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, flank steak, or, of course, your meat substitutes of choice.

Is it better to buy or make teriyaki sauce? ›

You know how the irresistibly sweet-salty teriyaki-slathered grilled meat you get at a Japanese restaurant is infinitely more delicious than the stuff you make at home? Well, the reason is simple: Homemade teriyaki sauce is just always better than the sickly sweet store-bought stuff.

What happens if you use white sugar instead of brown? ›

Plain white sugar. When all else fails, you can replace brown sugar with an even measurement of granulated white sugar without fear of ruining your recipe. White sugar lacks the same rich flavor that brown sugar adds, but depending on the type of recipe, you may not notice much flavor change at all.

How do I thicken up my teriyaki sauce? ›

How to Thicken Teriyaki Sauce. The easiest way to make teriyaki sauce thicker is with a cornstarch slurry (which this recipe uses). Whisk together 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water, and add the mixture to your sauce while it simmers.

Can I substitute honey for brown sugar in a marinade? ›

While honey makes a great sugar substitute in baked goods, you can also use it in cooking recipes! Adding honey to sauces, marinades, and glazes gives the perfect hint of sweetness to all your favourite meats and vegetables.

What to use if there is no teriyaki sauce? ›

The Best Teriyaki Sauce Substitutes
  1. Make your own. If I don't have any teriyaki marinade I make my own using the following ingredients: ...
  2. Soy sauce + honey. For an even more simple home made teriyaki, just mix equal parts soy sauce and honey.
  3. Oyster sauce. ...
  4. Sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) ...
  5. Hoisin sauce.

What flavor is similar to teriyaki? ›

Sauces often used as a teriyaki substitute usually focus on an aspect of the flavour, for example tangy barbecue, salty oyster sauce or sweet hoisin.

Is hoisin sauce the same as teriyaki? ›

Hoisin Sauce is Chinese and based on fermented soybean paste, whereas teriyaki sauce only has a small component of soy sauce. Hoisin sauce is therefore much thicker and saltier compared to its Japanese counterpart, as teriyaki sauce tends to be sweeter.

Is teriyaki sauce unhealthy? ›

Is Teriyaki sauce healthy? A. While the low amount of calories in teriyaki sauce makes it healthy, the presence of sodium in the sauce in abundance makes it unhealthy. Therefore, the amount of sauce consumed daily determines whether the sauce will prove to be beneficial or not.

What is the difference between teriyaki sauce and soy sauce? ›

Teriyaki Sauce vs Soy Sauce

Teriyaki sauce is a sweet and savory sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. On the other hand, soy sauce is a dark, salty sauce made from fermented soybeans, wheat, and salt.

Is teriyaki sauce Sweet or Bitter? ›

Teriyaki sauce has a complex flavour; a mixture of sweet and savoury, tangy and salty. The sweetness comes from the sweet wine and the caramelisation of the sugar, honey or syrup, which also gives the sauce its shiny glaze.

What kind of alcohol is in teriyaki sauce? ›

Teriyaki is a very simple Japanese condiment that usually consists of just three ingredients: Sake (rice wine), mirin (sweet, low-alcohol rice wine), and soy sauce (the salty, fermented soy bean-based condiment you know and love). These are all very shelf stable, versatile ingredients, so they're great investments.

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