Substitutes for Teriyaki Sauce: 4 Best Alternatives, FAQs +Recipe!

Do you like ordering Chicken Teriyaki or making it at home? I don’t blame you; everything with teriyaki sauce is incredibly savory and delectable. Apart from sushi and ramen, it’s one of Japan’s most well-known foods.

If you don’t have any teriyaki sauce on hand, you may always use barbecue sauce instead. You can also use soy sauce with sugar, Korean galbi sauce, or oyster sauce as a replacement.

Teriyaki sauce substitutes

Let’s explore how you can make teriyaki sauce at home using these alternatives, plus a bonus recipe just for you!

No. 1 Barbecue sauce

Not to mention that in Japan, teriyaki sauce is essentially the same as barbecue sauce. Compared to the smokey barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce is sweeter and milder. When I run out of teriyaki sauce, I turn to barbecue sauce, which is particularly good for grilled meats.

Barbecue sauce is simple to create from scratch, but you may also go for store-bought barbecue brands for added convenience. King’s Hawaiian Original Sweet Pineapple Barbecue Sauce is my preferred choice. Because of its sweetness and mildness, this brand has a teriyaki sauce-like flavor.

If you only have ordinary barbecue flavor at home, add a spoonful of sugar to sweeten it up and make it taste more like teriyaki sauce. That’s how this method works, and the result is a much milder yet sweeter flavor.

No. 2 Sugared soy sauce

The main component for producing homemade barbecue sauce is soy sauce blended with sugar. However, it is the most basic version that you can utilize in an emergency circumstance like this. Whatever brand of soy sauce you have on hand should suffice, but if you can get it, I suggest Kikkoman’s Soy Sauce.

Add two tablespoons of sugar to 12 cups of soy sauce. Mix everything until the sugar has dissolved in the soy sauce, then marinate the beef in it. I like to marinate it with garlic cloves to bite the sauce. Allow the beef to soak up all of the goodness of the sauce and marinate overnight.

Also, when cooking, do not discard the leftover marinade. It’s better if there’s a lot of sauce! Please save it to use as a glaze for subsequent grilling because you can brush it directly onto the meat to impart a savory taste.

No. 3 Galbi sauce (Korean)

If this is your first time hearing about Korean Galbi sauce, you should give it a try. This Korean sauce is similar to Japan’s teriyaki sauce in that it is their type of barbecue marinade. In some ways, it resembles teriyaki sauce, yet the Korean Galbi Sauce keeps its smoky flavor while remaining sweet and pleasant.

I discovered this sauce in one of the Korean Barbecue restaurants during my visit to Seoul. We got the beef ribs barbeque, and the flavor has stayed with me ever since. I searched up what kind of marinade they generally use in a hurry, and that’s how I discovered the sauce.

It’s just the sauce and the meat. This sauce is unquestionably a game-changer, and I strongly urge teriyaki fans to give it a try. It’s ideal for marinating the beef in the sauce overnight, with no other seasonings. You’re sure to get a delicious treat that tastes like teriyaki.

No. 4 Oyster sauce

Oyster sauce, commonly used in Chinese cuisine for stir-fried meals, is another option if you don’t have teriyaki sauce. This sauce is prepared by thickening tonnes of cooked oysters until they transform into a dark, caramel-like sauce.

Oyster sauce has a sweet-savory flavor that pairs nicely with vegetables and meats. I like to blend it with barbecue sauce to give some tanginess or directly use it as a barbeque glaze. When used in place of teriyaki sauce, you won’t tell the difference due to its sweetness.

If you’re unsure which brand to go with, I highly recommend Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce. This brand has been used in Chinese kitchens for a long time and is now well-known worldwide. I ALWAYS HAVE THIS IN MY CUPBOARD when I create stir-fried foods or barbecue glazes.

I’m confident that these substitutions will work just as well as the original teriyaki sauce. Feel free to experiment with all of these alternatives to see which one best suits your tastes.

If you genuinely can’t live without teriyaki sauce, here’s a fast recipe that you can make at home in your spare time:

Teriyaki sauce (homemade)

Ingredients

• 2 quarts water
• 1/2 cup iced water
• 12 CUP SOYA SAUCE
• Honey (two tablespoons)
• Brown sugar (about 5 tbsp.)
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered garlic
• One teaspoon of powdered ginger
• Cornstarch (four tablespoons).

Instructions

1. Two cups of water, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, garlic powder, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved.
2. To prepare, combine cold water and cornstarch in a glass. Mix thoroughly until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. It will thicken the teriyaki sauce with this.
3. Combine the cornstarch and water in a saucepan and stir vigorously until everything is thoroughly blended.
4. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until the teriyaki sauce has thickened.
5. Allow cooling before storing in an airtight jar. This recipe can make about 2-3 cups of teriyaki sauce.
6. Refrigerate your teriyaki sauce for three weeks. Discard it once the sauce has reached the end of its shelf life.
7. That concludes the discussion. You don’t need to buy teriyaki sauce from the store if you can make it yourself. It’s simple to prepare and takes less than 10 minutes to prepare. There will be no more concerns about running out of money in the future.