Teriyaki Sauce (4 Ingredients)

Teriyaki sauce ready in just 10 minutes. Sweet, salty, umami full authentic teriyaki sauce that’s so much better than shop-bought. And, only four ingredients!

Teriyaki Sauce

While teriyaki sauce is everywhere in super markets in many countries, I've never seen it in Japan. Teriyaki sauce is something Japanese people rarely buy. There’s really no need when it’s so easy, and so tasty  to make at home.

What is teriyaki sauce?

In Japanese teri means shiny, and yaki means fried or grilled. This thick and umami rich magical sauce turns almost any ingredient into appetizing deliciousness instantly. It's not soy sauce or no need to confused with ponzu sauce. That’s why it’s so popular and can be found at almost any super markets.

What's in teriyaki sauce?

So I’d like to share a traditional Japanese teriyaki sauce recipe with you.

Sometimes teriyaki dishes are a bit Westernised with garlic or onion powder. That can be tasty but it’s not common for teriyaki in Japan. Making teriyaki extra thick and sticky is also not necessary.

The ingredients we use are very simple and that’s the key for success.

This simple and easy teriyaki sauce is based only four ingredients - soy sauce, mirin, sake and brown sugar. I know that it's tempting to add more ingredients or make the sauce sticky, but really there’s no need. You can cook it a bit longer to thicken it if you want.

But when the simple, umami rich ingredients are blended together, something special happens. The flavour becomes intense, balanced and direct. It's so powerful!

Ingredients for teriyaki sauce

Only four ingredients are required for this authentic sauce, and no need to add oil, water, pepper or salt.

Soy Sauce: Soy sauce is the base for teriyaki. Either koikuchi (dark coloured) or usukuchi (light coloured) shoyu (soy sauce) works, but koikuchi is better. My favorite is "Kikkoman Yuki Organic Soy Sauce".

Mirin: (or Hon Mirin): A umami rich and great flavor enhancer, naturally sweetened, mirin shines through in broths, marinades and glazes. For homemade teriyaki sauce, mirin brings the rich and complex sweetness. It can also be used for salad dressing, ramen soup, stir-fried vegetables or almost any Japanese dishes. So keep some in your fridge.

Japanese sake is rice wine, and is one of the well kept secrets of Japanese cooking. There are many varieties but you can use inexpensive drinking sake for cooking.

Sugar: I use brown sugar for this recipe.

How to Make Teriyaki Sauce

What you need are those essential Japanese ingredients:

• Soy sauce
• Sake
• Mirin
• Sugar

The importance for a  successful teriyaki sauce is to use even amounts of soy, sake and mirin. Then add sugar in accordance with your preference. I usually use one tablespoon (or half the amount of each of the other ingredients).

This is the traditional Japanese teriyaki sauce golden formula. It's easy to remember:

One thing to avoid is adding oil. It prevents the sauce from caramelising with the ingredients (such as tofu or vegetables)

This is the reason to remove the oil with kitchen paper from the frying pan once the ingredients are cooked. Then pour teriyaki sauce into the pan. This way the ingredients and the sauce are well mixed together and create an intense flavour!

How to Use Teriyaki Sauce

I made teriyaki stir fry with tofu the other day. It was super delicious and takes just 15 minutes to make. But you can really use this on just about anything – try it.

The ideas of teriyaki sauce variations

Once you master the golden formula of the traditional Japanese teriyaki sauce, you can make your own original version with other ingredients.

Garlic teriyaki sauce

The American style teriyaki sauce often includes garlic. When the sauce meets garlic, the flavour becomes slightly different. My favorite is to add fresh garlic when the ingredients are stair fried or baked with broccoli.

Teriyaki ginger sauce

Baked tofu and vegetables like eggplant work well with a slightly gingered teriyaki sauce. Add shaved ginger into the sauce and caramelize with the cooked vegetables in the frying pan. Or pour the teriyaki ginger sauce once tofu and vegetables and  bake in the oven.

Teriyaki Sauce for BBQ

Why not? We use teriyaki sauce at our family and friends' gatherings. Teriyaki sauce works very well with corn, onion, broccoli and many more. Let me know how you find this or if you discovered something new!

Tips for Tariyaki Sauce

How long can you save teriyaki sauce?

This teriyaki sauce can be saved in the fridge for 2 weeks. You can pour it into an ice cube maker and keep it in the freezer for 3 months. Use the amount of ice cubes you need for cooking.

Is teriyaki sauce plant based?

Teriyaki sauce is mostly plant based, like from Kikkoman, a leading Japanese soy sauce manufacturer. (source) It includes soy sauce, Japanese sake and mirin, which are naturally animal free.

But shop-bought bottles may include honey, fish sauce or washed sugar by bone char. Homemade teriyaki sauce recipe is always good because we know what ingredients are included, and it’s so easy to make. It seems so mystical in a Japanese restaurant, but you’ll wonder what took you so long to discover making it at home.

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