Easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe! Thick, vegan teriyaki sauce at home sweetened with pineapple juice and brown sugar. Great for stir fry!
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Oh hey, Rhubarbarians!
Time for another back-pocket recipe for weeknight vegetarian cooking. An easy vegan teriyaki sauce!
When we discovered how easy it was to make teriyaki sauce (and stir fry sauce) at home, we stopped buying all that bottled stuff that just tastes like salt. I guarantee you this is better than what comes in a bottle!
We usually use this sweet and salty sauce for stir fried veggies over rice, but it's great for so many things! Cooking sauce, marinade, even as a dipping sauce.
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Easy vegan teriyaki sauce
Teriyaki sauce is traditionally vegan! And so much easier to make than you might think.
We created this version of teriyaki sauce with garlic powder and ground ginger, so that it is made with only pantry staples. You only need 7 pantry ingredients including water! Cornstarch, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, ground ginger, and pineapple juice.
Feel free to use fresh garlic and fresh ginger if you have it! Just double it for max flavor. 🙂
Have you tried our vegan veggie chow mein?
Sweetened with pineapple juice
We tested this recipe with a few different sweeteners and found that by far, our favorite way was with pineapple juice. It gives it a sweet, but tangy flavor that is perfect for teriyaki sauce.
The pineapple juice and brown sugar make this more of a Hawaiian teriyaki sauce rather than a Japanese sauce. Sweet and salty!
Have you tried this honey stir fry sauce recipe yet? It's amazing!
Using as a marinade
Teriyaki sauce makes an amazing marinade! This recipe is very thick, so if you are using it as a marinade, I would suggest removing it from the heat before it gets too thick.
Use it for marinated teriyaki tofu, marinated tempeh, veggies for kabobs, or maybe even noodles!
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Storing and freezing
This homemade teriyaki sauce recipe makes quite a lot, 2 cups. So you will definitely want to store some for future use.
Store the sauce in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. Lean on the side of 2 weeks if you use fresh garlic and ginger.
It also freezes well! You can freeze the sauce in an air tight container for 6 months to a year. Defrost the sauce in the refrigerator until ready to use or heat it up in a small sauce pan.
The sauce will be very thick and slightly gelatinous, so you may need to add a splash of water to thin it to your desired consistency.
Have you tried our sweet and sour tofu?
FAQs
- Can I use fresh garlic and ginger? Yep! Be sure to double the amount of fresh garlic and ginger, as powdered is more potent.
- Can I sub the pineapple juice? Yes. You can mix together lemon juice and orange juice. OR just use maple syrup or honey (not vegan).
- Can I serve this as a condiment? Technically, yes. But it's better warmed up and used as a cooking sauce. Here's a recipe for teriyaki dipping sauce!
Have a question? Ask in the comments below!
Recipe
Homemade teriyaki sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon cornstarch
- 6 tablespoon water
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup pineapple juice
Instructions
- Mix the cornstarch with the 6 tablespoon of water in a small bowl and set aside.
- Meanwhile, add the soy sauce, ½ cup of water, brown sugar, garlic powder, ground ginger, and pineapple juice in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it just starts to bubble and the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.
- Add the cornstarch slurry to the pan and stir to combine. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer, stirring often to prevent burning on the bottom, until the sauce is thickened and coats a spoon, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let sit for about 5 minutes to cool and thicken a bit more.
Nutrition
If you make this recipe, please let us know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag us on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians
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Reid
It was perfect up until the ginger. I loved the combination of brown sugar and pineapple but was unsure of the ratio's so I looked up a recipe. Taste tested every step of the way, perfect. Unfortunately, 2 TSP of ground ginger destroyed it. I'm an avid lover of real ginger ale, and really, all things ginger. I thought something was off when the entire house smelt like a ginger brew tea. It lost all of its traditional teriyaki sweet smell with the aroma of soy. I thought because of the low simmer heat, the ginger was just temporary. Fast forward to cold chilled, out of the fridge, taste test again. Throat burns from ginger, smells like pure ginger. I looked up every terayaki recipe out there and the most daring recipe's would max out at 1 TSP, most don't include it or at most 1/2 of a teaspoon. I guess this makes sense. Reduce the ginger and this recipe is really good unless you're trying for a natural alternative to morning sickness.
Trish Bozeman
Did you use Tablespoons rather than teaspoons? The recipe calls for only 2 teaspoons of ground ginger. I make this recipe all the time and have never once thought that the ginger was overpowering.
Elizabeth
Oh my God, I could bathe in this sauce. I used ginger from a squeeze tube and frozen pineapples (cooked those first until they were mushy), and swapped honey instead of brown sugar and xanthan gum as the thickener. It turned out incredible. Thanks!
Trish Bozeman
I'm so glad you liked it! 🙂