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
Now and again not made at home food — notably pizza from Whole Foods and if shopping at Sprouts (not often) I will get one of their wraps made up and take that home. They had a tomato pesto that
was so good I asked if they sold it; they did and I bought a small
container from the fridge section. Its delicious on so many things that
I wanted to buy it again but won’t because it contains canola oil and
is not organic in any of its ingredients. So, I would be delighted if you
ever are in Sprouts if you would look at the ingredients and come up
with a recipe for it perhaps using using avacado oil rather than olive or coconut oil. I’m thinking olive oil has too strong a flavor and coconut oil is thinner than avacado oil. Thanks, gail
I have a suggestion how to get whey. Buy a good quality full fat organic yogurt like Tremona or Maple Hill. Scoop out a serving of yogurt from the middle of the container and eat it. Yum Put container back into refrig for one or two days and you should get a clear liquid in the hole you left from before. This is whey..Scoop out 1 Tbs and use in recipe
Wow … this is a great tip. Thanks!
Sesame oil is very high in Omega-6!
Yes, but you don’t use very much and sesame oil is traditional and perhaps the safest oil with omega-6 in it because it is very resistant to rancidity.
This recipe is delicious. I made as directed, but didn’t get the thick texture as shown in the picture. I added arrowroot powder to the sauce before putting in stir fry…otherwise it was too runny. The flavor is perfect, though.
What is there is soy allergy? What can you make/use in place of soy sauce?
I would tentatively suggest coconut aminos. The label on this product looks great … I have not fully and deeply researched the production methods as of yet (it’s on my to-do list!). However, as of this time, it looks like an extremely good alternative. Please do not use bragg’s liquid aminos as it is loaded with MSG.
My brother sent me an article on MSG being used in Asia for millennia and it being fine. I totally disagree and have read about this before, but cannot find it. Can someone help me to educate him?
Perfect. Have been thinking I needed to find a healthy recipe. 🙂
so easy to make, it will become automatic, no recipe needed
I read this and I was like..I throw this together all the time and didn’t even realize it was ‘teriyaki sauce’ lol. It’s so good, easy and way more healthy. Even if you found a good one commercially it’ll save you money to just make this yourself. Generally I don’t even measure. Throw some of each of those in a bowl..whisk, taste, adjust..
Make our own all the time. SO easy!