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I'll bet lots of you think of teriyaki sauce as something that comes in a bottle, but actually, this slightly sweet sauce from Japan couldn't be easier to make at home. When you make teriyaki sauce yourself, the flavor is fresh, it's free of preservatives, and it's much less expensive than buying bottled sauce. Teriyaki flavors can go with chicken, pork, beef, seafood, or tofu, and it's a nice finishing sauce to add interest to grilled foods, making it perfect for summer. If you haven't made teriyaki sauce from scratch, just repeat after me: I will not buy bottled teriyaki sauce ever again.
In Japan, the word "teriyaki" actually refers to a cooking method, where foods are glazed with this type of soy-based sauce, and Japanese food blogger Maki has written about it in a post called Japanese Basics: Teriyaki. (Read that post to get Maki's authentic recipe for Teriyaki Chicken.) Her sauce mixture includes soy sauce, grated fresh ginger root, sugar, and a type of Japanese rice wine called mirin (available in most grocery stores). Some less authentic but tasty teriyaki sauce versions also include fresh garlic, sake, or sesame oil as well. Below are more teriyaki ideas from food bloggers to help you with that resolve not to buy bottled sauce!
I'm sure chicken is the most common thing that's glazed with teriyaki sauce. Cooking it in a crockpot is definitely not traditional, but the sauce ingredients in the Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki found at A Year of Slow Cooking sound like a good combination. Other chicken ideas include Black and White Sesame-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs from Salad in a Jar and Chicken Teriyaki from The CookMobile.
If you want to try teriyaki with pork, how about the absolutely drool-inducing Teriyaki Pork Chops above from Crepes of Wrath, which were marinated for a few hours, and then grilled. (Sydney found this recipe for Teriyaki Pork Chops at Use Real Butter, and Jen says it can also be used on chicken.) For another option using teriyaki sauce on pork, consider Pork Steak Teriyaki from Home Cooking Rocks.
Elise has used sauce ingredients that look very traditional in the Steak Teriyaki from Simply Recipes, and this recipe uses inexpensive flank or skirt steak that's marinated in the sauce. I also like the sound and looks of Teriyaki Flank Steak Sandwich with Napa Cabbage, Red Pepper, and Carrots from Cooking Canuck and Teriyaki Burgers with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce from White on Rice Couple.
Teriyaki sauce is always good on seafood, and the Teriyaki Shrimp from The Perfect Pantry uses dark soy sauce for extra flavor in this sauce with garlic and ginger. You might also like Salmon Teriyaki with Sweet and Sour Cucumbers from Phoo-D or Teriyaki Salmon, Shrimp, and Vegetable Kabobs from The CookMobile.
You don't have to have meat to enjoy the flavors of teriyaki sauce, as Susan shows us in these Teriyaki Tofu and Vegetable Kabobs from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Other tofu options include Teriyaki Tofu Wraps from The Perfect Pantry or Ugly But Delicious Tofu for the Slow Cooker from A Veggie Venture.
That should be plenty of options for homemade teriyaki (or teriyaki-like) sauce, so please consider making your own sauce next time you want teriyaki flavors. If you have a good recipe with homemade teriyaki sauce, I hope you'll leave a comment and share your recipe or recipe link.
(Every week on BlogHer, we spotlight five recipes with a common theme for a feature called Weekend Menu Planning, hoping one of them might make it onto the menu at your house. You can find previous recipes shared by checking the Weekend Menu Planning Archives or clicking the tag Weekend Menu Planning.)
Kalyn Denny also blogs at Kalyn's Kitchen, where she's
