
Best Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Teriyaki (照り焼き) is a Japanese culinary technique that involves cooking a protein and then glazing it in a sweet and savory sauce. Teri (照り) means shiny or glossy in Japanese, and yaki (焼き) refers to any high-temperature cooking method such as grilling, roasting, or pan-frying. The key to making an authentic Teriyaki Sauce from scratch is to balance sweet, savory, and umami tastes while ensuring the sauce stays clear and glossy. It only requires three basic ingredients of Japanese cuisine that you probably have in your pantry.
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Why This Teriyaki Sauce Recipe Works
- This simple sauce comes together from just three pantry staples. Adding ingredients such as garlic, ginger, fruit juice, or sesame oil will cloud it and make it lose its shine.
- Teriyaki glaze is thickened by boiling it until the sugar starts to caramelize. This makes it thick and shiny and gives it a marvelous flavor. No thickeners, like corn starch, are necessary and you can make a thicker sauce by reducing it more and a thinner sauce by reducing it less.
- By premixing all of the ingredients together and storing them in the refrigerator, it's ready to be used at any time, and it will keep for several months.
Ingredients for Teriyaki Sauce
- Sugar - Sugar adds a balancing sweetness. It also caramelizes as the teriyaki boils down, giving it its distinctive depth of flavor. I use evaporated cane sugar because it has more flavor than white granulated sugar. You can substitute other sweeteners such as maple syrup, honey, or light brown sugar. I don't recommend using dark brown sugar or molasses because the taste can overpower the other ingredients.
- Soy sauce - Any dark Japanese soy sauce (shoyu), such as Kikkoman, will work. Make sure you're using Japanese-style shoyu. If you want to cut back on the amount of salt, you can use a reduced sodium version.
- Sake - Sake is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice. Proteolytic enzymes break down the protein in the rice into amino acids, which are perceived as umami by your taste buds. The sake also contributes some aromas to the Teriyaki Sauce. Since alcohol turns to vapor at a lower temperature than water, the alcohol will be gone once it's cooked. As for the type of sake, any cheap drinking sake will work. Don't use "cooking sake" because these tend to have salt and other additives that will impact the flavor. I often see rice vinegar suggested as a substitute, but this will not work. It's great for salads and pickles, but rice vinegar has undergone the final stage of fermentation converting the alcohol into acetic acid while eliminating most of the amino acids in the sake. This will not only make it sour; it won't add any umami, which is the whole purpose of adding sake in the first place.
- NOTE: I don't add mirin to my teriyaki because real brewed mirin is hard to find outside Japan. Most sweet rice wine brands are just alcohol, corn syrup, and MSG. If you do have real mirin, you can substitute it for the sake, and then halve the sugar.

Don't Add These Ingredients
For the best Japanese teriyaki sauce, don't add any ingredients that dull its luster. Many Westernized versions contain extra ingredients like ginger or garlic. If you must add them, I recommend using them in a marinade or as a garnish.
- Aromatics - fresh garlic, fresh ginger, green onions, and onions are non-traditional additions that will cloud the glaze. If you want to add these flavors to your dish, grate them and use the mixture to marinate your protein before cooking it. If you add a lot, you'll want to scrape it off the meat before cooking it.
- Fruit Juice - orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc. These will cloud the teriyaki and make it sour.
- Seeds - Sesame seeds are best used as a garnish once your dish is finished.
- Vinegar - Teriyaki shouldn't be sour, so don't add Japanese rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, etc.
How to Make Teriyaki Sauce
To make my 3-ingredient Teriyaki Sauce, add equal parts sugar, soy sauce, and sake to a jar or bottle. Seal the lid and shake the mixture for a minute or two until the sugar dissolves.
This can also be done in a bowl with a whisk. There is no need to heat this mixture since it will be cooked later. You can make a large batch and refrigerate it until you're ready to use it. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a few months.
How to Use Teriyaki Sauce
- Teriyaki - To use this easy teriyaki sauce, pan-fry your favorite protein (chicken thighs, chicken breast, beef, pork, salmon, tofu, etc.) until it is almost fully cooked. Wipe out any oil from the pan. Then, add a few tablespoons of homemade teriyaki sauce for each serving of protein and boil it, repeatedly flipping your protein over to glaze it as it thickens.
- Marinade - Marinate your favorite fish, meat, poultry, or tofu for a few hours with this teriyaki marinade before you broil or grill it. Keep in mind that the sugar content will make it burn easily, so you'll need to adjust your heat source accordingly.
- Stir-fry - This easy Teriyaki Sauce recipe can be used as a seasoning for stir-fries. Just stir-fry as you normally would, and drizzle the teriyaki in at the end.
- Condiment - If you want to use this as a dipping sauce, such as for sushi or steak, you can pre-thick it by pouring it into a pot over high heat and boiling it until it becomes thick and syrupy. Let it cool, and then it can stored in an airtight container such as a squeeze bottle or mason jar.

Other Teriyaki Recipes
I have a ton of easy recipes that use this delicious Teriyaki Sauce, some of my favorite recipes are Teriyaki Meatballs, Teriyaki Rice Balls, and Teriyaki Chicken Wings. Check out a complete list of my Teriyaki Recipes if you'd like to explore all the possibilities of this easy homemade Teriyaki Sauce.
📖 Recipe

Equipment
Units
Ingredients
- ½ cup evaporated cane sugar (120 grams)
- ½ cup soy sauce (135 grams)
- ½ cup sake (115 grams)
Instructions
- Use a funnel to add the ½ cup evaporated cane sugar, ½ cup soy sauce, and ½ cup sake into a jar or squeeze bottle, and then cover tightly with the lid.
- Shake the bottle until the sugar has completely dissolved.
- Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
- If you want to use this as a condiment for cooked foods, you can pour it into a pot and boil it until it becomes thick and syrupy. Then, you can let it cool and store the finished sauce in the fridge.
Nutrition Facts
FAQ
What is Teriyaki?
Teriyaki is a Japanese cooking technique used to cook and glaze proteins with a savory-sweet sauce.
What is Teriyaki Sauce made of?
Teriyaki is generally made from sugar, shoyu, and sake (or mirin), and it's thickened by boiling the ingredients until it becomes thick and syrupy.
How do you pronounce Teriyaki?
Teriyaki is a 4-syllable name pronounced as follows (read the italicized parts).
te like ten
ri -the “ri” sound does not exist in the English language, but the best way to make it is to say the word "ream" with the tip of your tongue at the front of your mouth.
ya like yacht
ki like key
Is Teriyaki Sauce vegan?
Yes, this teriyaki is vegan and vegetarian friendly, and it can be used to season vegetables, mushrooms, or your favorite plant-based protein.
Is Teriyaki Sauce gluten-free?
Teriyaki made with regular shoyu is not gluten-free. However, you can easily make a gluten-free teriyaki sauce by substituting tamari in place of the soy sauce.
How do you thicken Teriyaki?
Teriyaki does not need a cornstarch slurry to thicken it. Instead, the thickness comes from reducing it until the sugar starts to caramelize. This thickens it into a glossy glaze and adds a nutty complexity.
Can I skip the sake?
Sake is added to impart umami and flavor. It is essential to create its distinctive taste. For those of you who are concerned about the alcohol in sake: ethanol has a lower boiling point than water, so the alcohol in the sake will evaporate in the same way that the alcohol in shoyu (it contains 2-3% alcohol) will evaporate when you cook it.
Kathy Stroup says
You'd think I'd have this memorized by now.😅 Good thing you made this recipe! I also struggled deboning the chicken legs.😬 I think that might be why the video gets so many views. We just forget. But that's great; we don't have to carry that information around. We can just rewatch the video!🦴🐓🧠👀 Thank you!💖
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm glad this has been a helpful reference. I still find myself checking back on my own recipes when I'm making something and want to make sure it turns out right 😆
Tami says
Teriyaki chicken has gotten so expensive at local restaurants that I decided to try making it at home. I made this sauce and WOW! it's so delicious! And so simple! I used the palm sugar I had in my pantry, along with some inexpensive sake and Kikkoman soy sauce. Had I not found this recipe I might have put ginger and garlic in the sauce. Glad I didn't as the flavor is already rich and full, hitting four of the seven tastes—sweet, sour, salty, and umami. I added some hot red pepper for spicy teriyaki and served it with stir fried bok choy and mushrooms and white rice for a perfect meal. Thanks so much for the great lesson on how to make teriyaki sauce!
Marc says
Hi Tami, I'm so happy to hear this was able to help you out! Great idea adding some chilies to spice it up! We've got a ton of other popular Japanese recipes on here so I hope you have a chance to look around and try some others out😄
Tim E. says
In your teriyaki salmon recipe you add ginger juice to the sauce and I think it's really makes it so much better! I know you say that the ginger clouds the sauce, but it tastes so good I never go without it.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Tim, I'm glad you enjoy the addition of ginger juice! Another way you can go about getting ginger flavor without clouding the sauce is to marinate the protein with ginger juice before cooking. The flavor soaks into the meat without clouding the sauce.
Kathy Stroup says
My daughter actually asks for this dish, which is a Big Deal to me! We all love it, too. I spent years trying to figure out how my local Japanese restaurant got their Teriyaki to taste so good. With your help I have surpassed their flavors! Thanks to you I now understand fully the processes involved in getting the flavors just right. My husband has fallen in love with Maki's Teriyaki Eggs from Ultimate Bento for his lunch. https://books.google.com/books?id=prD_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58&lpg=PT58&dq=maki+ogawa+teriyaki+eggs+recipe&source=bl&ots=SoHvxNEN1a&sig=ACfU3U2xAsLO3ORX87ijF6FasAGPuOzcCA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOwr6S8PH6AhXSKUQIHXFbB6k4ChDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=maki%20ogawa%20teriyaki%20eggs%20recipe&f=false We both loved the sauce on Atsuage, too.
Marc Matsumoto says
Maki turned me onto teriyaki eggs too and I love them!
Kelvin says
I find that homemade teriyaki sauce with the usual 1:1:1 ratio tends to be a bit too sweet for me compared to restaurant teriyaki dishes in my area. Could you just add less sugar (i.e. 50-66%) of the recommended amount? Or would it be better to dilute the mixture with water? Or maybe I'm just using too much of it...
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kelvin, there's a couple of things that could be going on here. The first is that you do indeed like teriyaki sauce less sweet, in which case you can reduce the amount of sugar, but the sauce will not thicken as well (the thickness comes from the sugar caramelizing). The second possibility is that you haven't reduced the sauce enough to caramelize the sugar. As sugar is heated, sucrose breaks down into glucose and fructose, and as they're further heated, the break down into other molecules which we perceive was the earthy and bitter flavors in caramel. You don't want to overdo it to the point it tastes burnt, but getting enough caramelization in the sauce not only helps thicken it, it also makes it less sweet.
Kelvin says
Good point. Didn't think of the caramelization and the bitterness in offsetting the sweetness. I'll reduce the sugar for now and assess to see if it needs extra sugar after I use it.
Theresa Ryan says
Is there a sake substitute?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Theresa, there is no good substitute that I know of for the flavor of sake. As for the umami it adds, you can substitute MSG.
Tim Etler says
One time I was out of sake and I tried replacing it with Shaoxing Wine which is a chinese rice wine and could barely tell the difference. Although if you don't have sake you probably don't have Shaoxing Wine either.
Izzie says
Dear Mark,
Thank you for this recipe. I am sure I will be using this again and again. Grilled Sirloin Steak is good with this one as I have since made it many times since I read it on your website here. Thank you for this home made one as I have been using the Kikkoman brand. Now I have another one from you. BTW the curry one is a good one too. and of course the mushroom umami.
Keep up the good work, Mark. YOU ROCK!
Izzie
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Izzie! Thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement. I hope you're having a great week!