I know, you’re busy. You’ve got people to meet and places to go and here I am with the crazy notion that you should stop what you’re doing and make your own teriyaki sauce from scratch, when you can so easily buy it ready made. I know I’m annoying. But stick with me for just a minute before you banish this post to the black hole of internet trash and I’ll explain how having a jar or two of this gloriously, sticky, finger-lickin’ sauce can actually make your life easier and why you need to whip up a batch asap!

Simply put, homemade teriyaki sauce tastes worlds better than anything you can buy in the store. You know how you can never quite recreate the teriyaki you get from your favorite Asian restaurant at home? I guarantee that it’s because they make their own sauce which is what makes whatever they coat it with infinitely yummier.

So…we need to make our own. And the beauty part of it is that it is crazy easy to do (hence the title) and keeps in the fridge for at least a month.

You simply cook down soy sauce, mirin (Japanese rice wine) and sugar until you get a gloriously dark, thick, sticky mixture and toss in a garlic clove. That’s it, folks!

Then you’re free to get all creative and slather it on whatever you can think of. I like to brush it on chicken wings and throw them on the grill or make beef and veggie kabobs and glaze them with lots and lots of this sauce. Honestly, no matter what you use it on, it’s going to be a big hit.

Okey-dokey, enough explanation, as they say time is money. You know what you need to do. Happy teriyaki-making!

Crazy Easy Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Makes about 2 cups

Prep Time: 45-50 minutes (most of this is just allowing the sauce to boil)

Ingredients

• 1 cup low-sodium soy sauce

• 1 cup mirin

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 garlic clove

The Recipe

1. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Then lower the heat and simmer , skimming off any foam that appears, until the sauce cooks down enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take anywhere from 30-40 minutes. Remove from the heat, add in the garlic and let sit until entirely cool. Then remove and discard the garlic and ladle the sauce into glass jars and store in the fridge. Well covered, it should last at least a month, maybe more. To that end, it doubles well.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from The Dinner Plan by by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion. I used low sodium soy sauce instead.