Add Ginger To Your Homemade Teriyaki Sauce For A Boost Of Flavor

While soy sauce is the kind of condiment that you should always buy in bottled form — who wants to bother fermenting their own soybeans, after all? — the same cannot be said for teriyaki sauce. Store-bought teriyaki sauce can certainly be convenient, but it takes very little effort to whip up a homemade version that is far more flavorful and can be customized to suit your preferences.

Mashed recipe developer Cecilia Ryu has come up with a very simple take on traditional teriyaki sauce that is made from a base of soy sauce mixed with equal parts water and the Japanese rice wine called mirin, these liquids being boiled up with some sugar. You can increase or reduce the amount of sugar depending on how sweet you like your sauce, although in Ryu's personal opinion, the amount she uses (one part sugar to six parts liquid) "creates the most authentic flavor."

The real secret to flavoring the sauce, however, comes in the form of a thin slice of ginger that is also added to the sauce. Again, you can opt for more ginger if you prefer, or, if necessary, substitute dried for fresh ginger. As the dried stuff is more potent, it's probably best to just stir in a small pinch at a time until you achieve your desired level of ginger flavor.

This homemade teriyaki sauce can be used in much the same way as you would use store-bought sauce because, as Ryu says, "There are so many foods this goes well with." It can, of course, be used as a sauce for teriyaki steak, chicken, or fish, while you could also use it as a condiment for a vegetarian entree such as a Buddha bowl. Other ideas include mixing it with rice wine vinegar to make a salad dressing, using it in fusion tacos, or making it into a glaze for chicken wings or barbecued ribs. The ginger-forward flavor of Ryu's teriyaki sauce recipe means that it could also make a tasty dip for egg rolls, wontons, or other types of dumplings.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that this homemade teriyaki sauce does not include any preservatives, so it will not last as long as the bottled kind. It's also not shelf-stable, either, so you'll need to keep it in the refrigerator. Still, you should have about three weeks in which to finish it off, so hopefully some of these ideas will allow you to make the best use of it.