I go through a lot of homemade sauces cooking for my family. I use the easy teriyaki sauce recipe below primarily for marinating chicken.
It is also very useful for making homemade barbecue sauce as well.
Bottled teriyaki sauce from the grocery store has so many additives that it is downright frightening to read the label. The brands at the healthfood store are disappointingly not a whole lot better.
Most healthfood stores carry the San-J brand of teriyaki sauce. Unfortunately, it has nonorganic (translation: GMO) canola oil in it, so this an unacceptable product in my home.
Why Canola Oil in Teriyaki Sauce Makes it Unhealthy
Canola oil is a good source of omega 3 fats and is thought by many in the health community to be a quality oil.
Nearly all restaurants cook with an olive oil/canola oil blend (25/75). Â Even when nonGMO, organic and cold pressed, canola oil should still be avoided.
Canola oil goes rancid very easily requiring manufacturers to deodorize it to hide the off smell. The deodorizing process forms a dangerous form of transfat in the canola oil which is not labeled!
And worse, if it’s not organic canola oil, it is more than likely from genetically modified canola to boot!
For this reason, skip any bottled sauces or dressings that contain this very misunderstood and unhealthy oil!
Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
Once you have abandoned the teriyaki sauces from the store with frightening ingredients and resolve to make your own truly healthy, homemade teriyaki sauce alternative, you will be shocked at how easy and fast it is to whip together.
The homemade teriyaki sauce recipe below recommends optional liquid whey to add additional enzymes and probiotics to the final blend.
By the way, making your own homemade steak sauce is a good idea too for the same reasons outlined above!
Use your DIY teriyaki sauce to make this delicious teriyaki chicken recipe with roasted vegetables.
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
This recipe for teriyaki sauce makes about 1 1/2 cups and can be used for any of your Asian recipes instead of unhealthy bottled versions from the store.
Ingredients
- 1-3 tsp ginger freshly grated, preferably organic
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced, preferably organic
- 2 Tbl toasted sesame oil
- 2 Tbl rice vinegar preferably organic
- 2 Tbl raw honey preferably local
- 1 Tbl liquid whey
- 1 cup soy sauce naturally fermented, unpasteurized
Instructions
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Mince and mash the garlic gloves.
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Mix with the freshly grated ginger and whisk in the remaining ingredients including healthy soy sauce of choice.
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Pour into a one pint glass mason jar.
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Stir in optional liquid whey, affix the lid and leave the teriyaki sauce on the counter overnight before refrigerating.
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Homemade teriyaki sauce will keep for a month or two if liquid whey is added and a couple of weeks if not used.
Recipe Notes
Wheat free soy sauce is fine to substitute for regular soy sauce as desired.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source:Â Nourishing Traditions Cookbook
OH I am sooooo excited to make this recipe. I have everything I need! Sarah, question….what are your views on Braggs Liquid Aminos? There is some question about how it gets salty since there is no sign of any salty ingredients so it must be a chemical reaction? This was thought to be a healthy alternative but now I am not so sure? I just bought a big bottle! Eek. But I will gladly toss if there is any other word about it.
Bragg’s Liquid Aminos is loaded with msg last time I checked.
How do you know there is MSG in it if it says nothing of the sort on the label?
Does the ingredients list mention anything “Hydrolyzed” or “Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins”? It’s most likely soy. That is the process by which MSG is made. I haven’t seen the back of the bottle, so I’m not sure if it has MSG or not.
Braggs is made from soybeans, but does not have any MSG added, some naturally occurring MSG is created when you ferment soy but its not the nasty additive you get in hydrolyzed foods. Just FYI! Check out their website for more info.
Braggs is not “loaded” with MSG. I am certainly not trying to criticize anyone, but it seems if you are going to bash a product that prides themselves on their natural ingredients you might want to take a moment to do some research:
how about using coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce for those avoiding soy?
I’ve not ever tried coconut aminos but be careful with them as I know Bragg’s Liquid Aminos is loaded with MSG.
Coconut aminos do not have MSG AFAIK. It’s only concentrated coconut sap. It’s delicious and works great instead of soy sauce.
Teriyaki chicken is one of my family’s absolute fav dishes. I would have a serious revolt on my hands if I couldn’t make it with a healthy version! 🙂
Now this sounds fantastic! Ginger, garlic, sesame oil, honey and tamari…delish! Thanks for sharing the recipe- I’ve not used teriyaki sauce in a long, long time- because it’s always so processed- and I honestly never thought about making some. Great idea 🙂
Sound sooo good!!!!!
I wanted to try this but I can’t find the raw soy sauce anywhere. Not even on your site. Is there another brand you recommend?
Hi Lisa, I’ve updated the links for the unpasteurized naturally fermented soy sauce and tamari sauce .. they are both available in my Amazon store if you can’t get locally.
Mmm, thanks, looking forward to trying this.
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce – The Healthy Home Economist: http://t.co/mFW9gBC
Thanks for the recipe. I used to love Teriyaki chicken but haven’t eaten it since staring to eat real food. I’ll be making this for my family soon.
Thank you! Been so disappointed w store bought as well. RT @realfoodmedia: Homemade Teriyaki Sauce http://bit.ly/octXKI
I’m so glad you posted this! My daughter LOVES teriyaki and I hadn’t found a bottled brand I could trust. Do you know if coconut aminos can be used in place of the soy? I have to order my natural soy sauce online.