Easy Homemade Teriyaki Sauce made from scratch and comes together with simple ingredients you have in your kitchen. The recipe is fast, easy and has amazing flavor!
The Flavors in Teriyaki Sauce
I am sure most of you are familiar with Teriyaki Sauce. The flavors are a cross between salty and sweet.
This Teriyaki Sauce made from scratch is made with soy sauce, which brings the salty notes and brown sugar and some honey which brings the sweet. The sauce also has some cider vinegar to balance it all out with a touch of acidic flavor. All in all the Sauce turns out perfect.
Ingredients in the Sauce
Easy Homemade Teriyaki Sauce is made with simple stuff you have in your kitchen.
I mentioned this Teriyaki Sauce is made with soy sauce, brown sugar, honey and cider vinegar, but there are also a few other things added.
Minced garlic, ground ginger and black pepper round out the flavors in this recipe.
You can easily adjust any of the amounts in the recipe to your liking.
To thicken this sauce you will need some cornstarch and cold water to make a cornstarch slurry.
How To Make Teriyaki Sauce made from scratch
To make your Easy Homemade Teriyaki Sauce you will need a small or medium sized saucepan.
First, add your soy sauce, and brown sugar.
Next add the cider vinegar in a saucepan.
Then, add your honey, your minced garlic, black pepper and ground ginger.
On medium heat, bring the ingredients to a boil, whisking it occasionally.
While the ingredients come to a boil, in a small dish mix your cold water and cornstarch together. This is your cornstarch slurry that will thicken the sauce.
What is a cornstarch slurry?
A cornstarch slurry is used to thicken sauces and soups. If you make a sauce or soup and it just won’t thicken, then use a cornstarch slurry!
All you need to do is mix equal parts of cornstarch and COLD water. It will be a cloudy, milky thick mixture! You have to use cold water (or a cold liquid) or else the cornstarch will be lumpy and clumpy making your soup or saucy lump0y.
Do not add cornstarch straight into your warm sauce or soup without icing it cold water/liquid or first or it Weill be lumpy.
Make the cornstarch slurry first, then add it into your hot/boiling/simmering sauce or soup.
Start with just a little at a time and keep whisking it into your soup or sauce until it reaches the desired consistency.
Thickening your Teriyaki Sauce
The sauce should thicken pretty quick once you add your cornstarch slurry.
For this teriyaki sauce, add in more as needed until your teriyaki sauce thickens.
Take the sauce off the heat and it is ready to serve! You just made teriyaki sauce from scratch!
How to use Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce is perfect on som many things! It has the perfect balance of salty and sweet.
I love it as a sauce on meat. Grilled chicken with this Teriyaki Sauce basted on it is amazing! This sauce is also tasty as a dressing for a salad, or as a sauce for a quick stir-fry or Asian dishes.
My favorite thing to use Teriyaki Sauce for is as a drizzle on my Oriental Chicken Wrap, along with my Honey-Dijon Dressing. The wrap is delicious with romaine lettuce, shredded cabbage, chow mein noodles, slivered almonds, chicken, green onions and a Honey Dijon Dressing and I use my Teriyaki Sauce for dipping. It is a delicious meal that everyone loves!
You could also use it for a chicken stir fry. This Easy Teriyaki Sauce made from scratch is amazing used as a stir fry sauce! You can try my Chicken Stir Fry and use this Teriyaki Sauce in place of the sauce on the recipe!
You can also make my Chicken Broccoli Ramen Stir Fry and use this Teriyaki Sauce- it is super yummy!
This recipe is put together in a matter of minutes, cooks for a few more, and is done and ready to use any way you choose. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week (probably longer, but mine never sticks around that long).
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Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar, white vinegar works too
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 clove garlic,minced
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger or more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, mix together brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- While you are waiting for the sauce to come to a boil, mix together the cold water and cornstarch, set aside.
- Once the sauce starts to boil, add the cornstarch slurry, stirring constantly. Stir until sauce thickens.
- Remove from heat and serve over your favorite cut of meat, as a sauce for a fresh stir-fry, or as a dressing for a salad or wrap.
Notes
- You can easily change the flavors in this recipe to your liking. If you like more ginger, add a touch more. If you want it to have some heat, add more pepper.
- You can use white sugar instead of brown sugar. It will change the sweetness a bit, but you can’t go wrong with either. You will notice I also use honey to balance out the sweetness-the combo is so good I promise! But it is just as good if you want to skip the honey.
- I prefer low sodium soy sauce, but regular works great too, it will just have a bit more salty flavor (but in my opinion that is never a bad thing)!
- After you add the cornstarch slurry, your sauce should thicken almost immediately. If it doesn’t, you can slowly add in more cornstarch slurry until it reaches your desired consistency. To do this, just use equal parts of cold water and cornstarch. Just make sure you mix the cold water and cornstarch together first, then add it into the sauce.
- If the sauce turns out too thick, just add water until it reaches your desired consistency. Likewise, add more cornstarch slurry as mentioned above to thicken it to your liking.
- Store any leftovers in a tightly sealed container in your refrigerator for up to a week.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.