This homemade teriyaki sauce is a must-have in my kitchen. It takes just a minute to make, but is a shortcut to dozens of dishes – many of which aren’t even teriyaki dishes. Teriyaki in Japanese is made from the characters teri 照 (glazed/shiny) and yaki 焼 (grilled/fried), so teriyaki is essentially a glaze that is applied to something grilled or fried.

This base sauce contains less than a third of the sugar of many commercial sauces, and although it may look very watery it reduces to a shiny glaze in the pan, coating your ingredients.

Ingredients

250ml (8 oz) soy sauce

200ml (6 oz) mirin

200ml (6 oz) sake

60-90g (2-3 oz) white sugar

Method

Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan and place the saucepan over medium heat. Stir for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves. Don’t boil the mixture. Transfer the sauce to a bottle and store in the pantry until ready to use.

For ideas on what to make with your homemade teriyaki sauce, check out my playlist on YouTube:

Or just check out these recipes:

Simple teriyaki salmon

Tips

• You don’t need to refrigerate the sauce. It will keep out of the fridge for years, but you’ll use it long before that.
• If you don’t have access to sake you can use a 50:50 mix of vodka and water.
• If you don’t consume alcohol, I’d recommend a recipe of 250ml soy sauce and 100g of sugar with 250ml of the stock of your choice. It won’t be quite the same and you’ll need to keep it in the fridge, but this mixture can be applied in the same way as teriyaki sauce in the following recipes.