Easy Teriyaki Sauce in 10 minutes

Name: Easy teriyaki Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 70 g dark brown sugar; 70 ml dark soy sauce; 20 g ginger (grated); 1 clove garlic (crushed); 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar); 1 tbsp sesame oil; 1 tbsp honey; 350 ml water; 1 tbsp cornflour; 1 tbsp water

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Do you love teriyaki sauce? We eat a lot of stir fry dishes and like a range of flavours, but it would be impossible, expensive and unhealthy to keep piles of sauces in the fridge.

How about if I said you could make this at home as a marinade or a sauce in just 10 minutes, ready to slather onto your favourite stir fry? Best of all, you probably have all the ingredients in your cupboards already.

Problem solved!

bowl of dark sauce on a plate with spring onions

What are the ingredients?

The main ingredients for this is dark soy sauce and dark brown sugar, but you can use white granulated sugar if that's what you have. It will taste very similar but be a slightly lighter colour.

You will also need garlic, fresh ginger, apple cider vinegar, (or white wine vinegar), sesame oil, water, cornflour and honey.

5 square bowls with ingredients such as oil, garlic and ginger

I tend to buy a big piece of fresh ginger and break it down into 20g chunks then keep it in the freezer. It's the ideal amount to add to curries and stir-frys and much easier than finding a dry old piece of ginger in the fridge.

More importantly, it's really easy to grate it straight from the freezer and there's no need to peel. I find it just clogs up the grater when you try and grate it from fresh.

How to make Easy Teriyaki Sauce

Grate the ginger. I find this is easier with a micro plane grater.

Measure all of the ingredients into a saucepan, except the cornflour.

Bring it to a simmer, stirring while the sugar dissolves, then cook for 5 minutes.

At this point you have a teriyaki marinade which you can use to flavour meat before you cook it.

To turn this into a sauce whisk the cornflour with water and stir into the saucepan and stir while the mixture thickens and turns glossy.

How do you store this sauce?

If you put the marinade or sauce in a clean container it will keep for a week in the fridge.

Where does teriyaki sauce come from?

The Japanese name refers to the glossy sheen on fish when it has been grilled with the sauce. In the west it is typically eaten with meat instead.

What can I use this sauce or marinade for?

This Japanese sauce is perfect for a donburi bowl with duck where dug legs are slow roasted first and then shredded and mixed with vegetables and the sauce.

When you have leftover roast meat this is perfect for a quick dinner. Simply slice up the meat and vegetables then fry the vegetables, add the meat and sauce and heat through. Serve on its own or with rice and noodles.

If you are making a stir fry with fresh meat use the marinade to tenderise the meat first before stir frying. This marinade is also perfect when you are grilling or barbecuing and can be used as a baste while you cook too.

sauce dribbling of a spoon into a glass jar

Tell me what you use this sauce for. I would love to have some new ideas!

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