Sake

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

by:
July 29, 2014
4.4
10 Ratings
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
  • Makes 3/4 cup
Author Notes

I found that combining soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar yielded a sauce with the essential flavors of teriyaki but that lacked its typical luster and thickness. After I added just a touch of cornstarch for thickness, however, it was perfect. Now, I never buy teriyaki sauce. I like it with chicken and noodles, or as a dipping sauce. It's fantastic when barbecuing -- just make sure to brush it on when your meat is almost done so it doesn't char too much.

Note: If you can't find mirin, you can leave it out and add extra sugar to compensate but I find that it adds an extra layer of depth and extra shininess to the sauce. —stephanie le

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup sake
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons water
Directions
  1. Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a saucepan and bring everything to a boil over medium-high heat.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and the water. Whisk this slurry into the sauce. Turn the heat to medium and reduce the sauce until slightly thick. Taste and adjust with soy sauce and sugar if needed.
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  • Ellen S
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  • David Smith II
    David Smith II
  • Can I have a bite?
    Can I have a bite?
  • Susan W
    Susan W
stephanie le
Obsessed with food, photography, good design, potatoes and noodles. Recipes and ramblings at www.iamafoodblog.com. My first book, Easy Gourmet is coming out September 2nd, 2014 and is available for preorder on Amazon!

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14 Reviews

Nancy M.
Nancy M. February 5, 2019
Doing salmon on the grill with mostly veg fried rice and green beans with toasted sesame seeds. Needed a departure from the soy in the rice; added some fresh grated ginger, used soy with chiltipen peppers, tablespoon agave honey, no slurry. Excellent. Noticed the extra disappeared on people's beans!
 
Elle
Elle January 13, 2019
I used it on salmon! It was easy and tasted very close to my Korean grandmother’s.
 
Elle
Elle January 13, 2019
I used it on salmon! It’s easy and tastes close to my Korean grandmother’s.
 
jean
jean January 10, 2016
I found a recipe years ago, much like this, but with ginger and garic. However, the star ingredient wasn’t the wine or mirin, but sherry. Omg. How good it is.
 
Ellen S.
Ellen S. November 13, 2015
I made this with white wine and find it just gets better with age. I love that you can control the amount of sweetness or thickness according to taste. Thanks for posting, as I've been looking for a good Teriyaki Sauce recipe for years!
 
Vanessa
Vanessa October 7, 2015
I found this recipe a bit lacking in flavor.
Check out this one which has ginger and garlic as well, but is still super simple to make :
bit.ly/teriyakisauce

xoxo
Vanessa
www.theupgraded.life
 
Kym E.
Kym E. September 12, 2014
This has become one of our all time family favourites!!

In Australia we are lucky enough to have cooking sake and mrin ine of our leading supermarkets!

Thanks for this recipe!
 
David S.
David S. August 12, 2014
Why isn't there ginger and garlic like in Japanese teriyaki?
 
JohnL
JohnL August 29, 2014
I have a recipe for a teriyaki glaze that I have used with great success. It is great for putting your teriyaki over the top with an added punch of flavor. I'll post it for you. It has ginger and garlic.
 
SFmom
SFmom August 9, 2014
What can we substitute for sake?
 
Susan W.
Susan W. August 10, 2014
Karen, I usually use white wine or mirin. I found a drinking quality rice wine at my local H Mart that I am going to use for this.
 
stephanie L.
stephanie L. August 10, 2014
Yes, exactly what Susan said - white wine is a good substitute! I haven't tried with rice wine, but I expect that would work as well.
 
SFmom
SFmom August 12, 2014
Thank you for the substitution ideas!
 
Can I.
Can I. August 9, 2014
Thanks for posting this. I tried it last night on grilled chicken thighs and it was really good. I'm always looking for quick sauces I can make with pantry ingrediants and this one was super quick. Done in 3 minutes.

The sake I had on hand was a little sweet, so I did add an extra splash of soy. Next time I may just use a dry white wine.