Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Unless you are evil, you like teriyaki sauce. It’s dependable, flattering, and remarkably unpretentious—like a well-cut unisex sweater that somehow works with everything. Salmon, chicken, steak, broccoli. And, biting my tongue as I type this and bracing for correspondence from sushi purists, yes: it is also quietly excellent on a California roll.

You can, of course, buy a bottle at nearly any grocery store. But when you can make teriyaki sauce at home with three ingredients and about ten minutes of attention, it feels unnecessary—if not a little careless—to outsource it. This version is glossy, balanced, and unfussy, shown here with a simple chicken and baby broccoli rice bowl.

I often make it using the soy sauce packets that accumulate in kitchen drawers from Thai, Chinese, and Japanese takeout orders. Consider it a small act of redemption.

INGREDIENTS
[makes about ½ to ⅔ cup sauce, enough for 4 servings]

a quarter cup of soy sauce

a quarter cup of sake

a quarter cup of brown sugar

Place a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add all the ingredients and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Continue stirring as the sauce thickens to your desired consistency.

If you prefer a slightly thicker sauce, let it simmer an extra minute or two, stirring constantly. For a lighter finish, remove it from the heat sooner—the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before using as a marinade or finishing sauce. The teriyaki sauce keeps well refrigerated.

_____

Craving short ribs without the fuss? Try my Galbi Jjim recipe.

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