Homemade Teriyaki Sauce with Honey

Imagine drizzling a luscious, homemade honey teriyaki sauce over your favorite dishes, adding a burst of sweet and savory flavor that will have everyone begging for more. This Honey Teriyaki Sauce recipe is amazing, combining the perfect balance of sweetness and umami with just a hint of tang.

It's quick, easy, and uses simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. It's going to take your recipes to a whole new level!

Table of Contents

• 🗝️ Key takeaways
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Variations
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🍴 Equipment
• 🥫 How to store leftovers
• Marye's Tip o' the day
• 💭 Things to know
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 Related recipes
• 🥩 How to use honey teriyaki sauce
• 📞 The last word
• 📖 Recipe
• Honey Teriyaki Sauce
• 💬 Comments

Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.

🗝️ Key takeaways

• So easy: This honey teriyaki sauce is incredibly easy to make, requiring just a few basic ingredients and minimal time. Its rich, complex flavor profile makes it a hit with both kids and adults, perfect for adding a gourmet touch to everyday meals.
• Versatile: Serve this sauce with grilled chicken, beef, or seafood. It's also fantastic as a stir-fry sauce, a marinade, or a dip for appetizers. The versatility makes it ideal for weeknight dinners, weekend cookouts, and everything in between. See the How to use teriyaki sauce section for more ideas.
• Inexpensive: Making your own pantry staples is easy, inexpensive, and totally takes your recipes to a new level of yum. No need to run to the store mid-recipe because you're out!

This sauce is an important ingredient in so many delicious dishes! It's a delicious marinade for meat or poultry (think teriyaki chicken), excellent as a stir-fry sauce, and a delicious dipping sauce for potstickers!

Let me warn you, though. Once you try this homemade teriyaki sauce recipe you'll never go back to the store-bought kind.

It's the perfect combination of savory-salty-sweet flavor!

🧾 Ingredients

This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.

📖 Variations

1. Use pineapple juice or orange juice for part of the water to give it even more flavor.
2. I like to use both brown sugar and honey to sweeten this easy sauce but you can use all brown sugar or all honey if you wish.
3. Add some crushed red peppers for a little heat.
4. For an extra thick teriyaki sauce add a bit more cornstarch.
5. Sometimes I add just a teaspoon of sesame oil, or drizzle of smoked sesame oil or chile sesame oil for even more flavor.
6. This versatile sauce is great with pork chops, too.

🔪 Instructions

This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.

1. Add the soy sauce, 1 cup of water, brown sugar, honey, ginger, garlic, and onion to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in a small bowl with ¼ cup cold water, whisking to make a cornstarch slurry.
3. Stir it into the simmering soy sauce mixture.
4. Cook until thickened. Let come to room temperature and pour into a storage container and refrigerate.

🍴 Equipment

1. saucepan
2. whisk
3. measuring cups and spoons

🥫 How to store leftovers

Put in an airtight container (a pint-sized glass Mason jar works great). Store up to a week in the refrigerator.

I wouldn't suggest freezing it because it has a tendency to get watery and separate because of the cornstarch.

💭 Things to know

• Gluten-free: If you want to make it gluten-free be sure to use a gluten-free soy sauce.
• Adjust the sweetness or saltiness to your taste by tweaking the honey and soy sauce amounts.
• This sauce thickens as it cools, so don't worry if it seems a bit thin while it's hot.
• Always use fresh ginger and garlic for the best flavor.
• If you need a gluten-free option be sure to look for a gluten-free soy sauce like Kikkoman Tamari.
• White sugar gives the homemade sauce a bit more of a delicate flavor than brown sugar.
• I prefer ground ginger to fresh ginger. If you want to use fresh you'll need about a teaspoon and a half of freshly grated ginger.
• You can substitute about ½ teaspoon of garlic powder for the fresh garlic.
• Adjust the saltiness to your own tastes by using low-sodium soy sauce to lower it or regular soy sauce for a saltier teriyaki sauce.
• Marinate chicken in your homemade teriyaki sauce and then grill the chicken. Brush on a little more teriyaki during grilling to create a shiny glaze.
• Thin it: If the sauce thickens too much after refrigeration, simply add a splash of water and warm it up to restore its consistency.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!

📚 Related recipes

You can make all kinds of pantry basics right at home! They save time and money plus they are usually much more flavorful!

🥩 How to use honey teriyaki sauce

You can use this honey teriyaki sauce the same way you would a purchased sauce. If you are going to use it as a marinade leave the cornstarch out.

It's a homemade sauce that's so good that you'll never buy it again. It's so easy to make!

1. Brush on salmon or other fish while grilling
2. It's a delicious sauce for noodle bowls
3. Or rice bowls
4. Brush it on vegetables while roasting or grilling
5. Add a little to ground beef when making burgers or meatloaf
6. Use it as a dipping sauce for dumplings
7. Brush it on kabobs as they're grilling
8. As a glaze for teriyaki meatballs
9. Brushed on ribs
10. Use in stir fry
11. Brush on chicken while grilling

📞 The last word

I learned my lesson during Covid 2020.

I, like Scarlett O'Hara, raised a tired fist to the sky and exclaimed, "I'll never be without bread, sauce of any kind, or toilet paper again!"

Now, I haven't yet learned to make toilet paper but as far as homemade versions of the commercial products I buy?

Y'all, it's not that deep.

This homemade teriyaki sauce is absolutely delicious in any recipe that you'd use the commercial kind in. It's also one of the easiest homemade sauces to make!

You'll just need a few pantry staples.

It's less expensive, has more flavor, and if you go to the grocery stores and the teriyaki shelves are bare?

You'll smile to yourself and head home, confident in your abilities to recreate an even better version.

Add this simple sauce to any recipe that calls for teriyaki sauce. You'll love it!

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published August 24, 2021. Last updated June 17, 2024 for editorial improvements and more helpful information.