Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients
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- 1/2 cup mirin (hon-mirin)
- 1/2 cup soy sauce (Japanese, koikuchi)
- 1/4 cup sake
- 2 tbsp sugar (granulated)
Instructions
1. Add mirin, soy sauce, sake, and sugar to a small saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar.
2. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bubbles thicken and the sauce reduces by about one-third and lightly coats the back of a spoon, 8–12 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let stand 5–10 minutes to thicken further.
5. Use as a glaze during the last minutes of grilling or broiling, or as a dipping/drizzling sauce. Cool completely before bottling and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
Teriyaki sauce is a glossy, balanced glaze built on the interplay of salty shoyu, fragrant mirin and sake, and gentle sweetness. Reduced over heat, it becomes silky and clingy, giving grilled or broiled foods a savory-sweet sheen and deep umami. Its flavor is clean and straightforward—salty, subtly sweet, with a faint wine-like aroma—designed to highlight, not mask, the ingredient it coats.
In Japan, teriyaki refers to a cooking technique—grilling or broiling with a shiny tare—rather than a catch‑all sweet sauce. The base tare of shoyu, mirin, and sake has been used for centuries to lacquer fish such as yellowtail, mackerel, and salmon. As the technique spread abroad, especially in the 20th century, it evolved into a bottled sauce and marinade; abroad it often gained additions like garlic, ginger, or starch thickeners, while the core Japanese version remains a simple reduction.