You won’t believe how easy it is to make your own homemade vegan teriyaki sauce with just a few simple ingredients!  No need to ever buy store-bought teriyaki again when you see how easy it is to make your own. 

A blue bowl filled with teriyaki sauce with a spoon in it.

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Pour it over vegetables, tofu, stir fry, and more!  Use it as a stir-fry sauce or a marinade and even adjust the sweetness or add spice to suit your taste!  It’s vegan and with a few simple changes can easily be made gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and even soy-free.

I love making homemade sauces like vegan sweet and sour sauce, vegan orange sauce, vegan BBQ sauce, or vegan stir-fry sauce. It saves you money to make it from scratch, plus you can adjust the recipe to suit your dietary needs and taste like making it lower sodium or less sweet.

❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe

  • It’s quick and easy to make in about 5 minutes.
  • You can adjust the sugar and spice levels to suit your taste.
  • It works perfectly as a marinade or a sauce for a healthy teriyaki bowl.
  • This can easily be made gluten-free or refined sugar-free.

🧾 Ingredients and substitutions

  • Soy Sauce – you can use regular soy sauce, Tamari, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to make it gluten-free.
  • Water – to dilute the strong flavor of the soy sauce.
  • Brown Sugar – to give it sweetness.  You can use any sweetener that you choose like agave or vegan honey, but brown sugar gives it the most authentic flavor.
  • Vinegar – for the acidity.  Either apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar works well.
  • Sesame Oil – for flavor and richness.
  • Ginger – for the authentic teriyaki flavor.  Freshly grated ginger will give the best flavor.
  • Garlic – for flavor. One to two cloves of fresh minced give the best flavor.
  • Cornstarch – to thicken the sauce.  You can use potato starch or arrowroot if you choose.
  • Garlic Chili Paste – aka Sambal Oelek or Sriracha for optional spiciness.    You can find this at any Asian market and most major grocery stores.

🔪 Helpful tools

  • Saucepan – to cook the sauce in.
  • Garlic Press – to press the garlic cloves.
  • Microplane – to grate the ginger root. You can chop up the ginger very small with a knife too, but a microplane makes it much easier.

🥄 How to make vegan teriyaki sauce

Step 1Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan.

Step 2Stir well with a whisk, then turn on the heat to medium.

The homemade gluten-free teriyaki sauce before cooking.
Teriyaki sauce before cooking.

Step 3Stir frequently, and heat the sauce until it begins to boil and thicken.

Step 4Allow to slowly boil for about 30 seconds and then remove from heat.

A red saucepan filled with homemade teriyaki sauce with a spoonful of it over top of it.
The teriyaki sauce after cooking.

👩🏻‍🍳 Pro Tips

  • Be sure to add the starch to the ingredients while they are still cold. The cornstarch will clump up if it heats up before it is fully dissolved.
  • You can omit the starch from the recipe to have a thinner teriyaki marinade that will soak into tofu and seitan better. You can then add the starch mixed with a little water (a cornstarch slurry) to the marinade and bring it to a boil to thicken it later.

🌟 Variations of vegan teriyaki

Teriyaki marinade

  • If you want a teriyaki sauce to use as a marinade for tofu, veggies, or anything else you choose, simply omit the cornstarch from the recipe.  This will make a sweet and savory sauce that is thin enough to soak in and not stick and burn when you cook it. 
  • You can make a second batch of teriyaki sauce with the starch for a thicker glaze to pour over your cooked items.  You can also use the leftover marinade, add the cornstarch to it, and recook it to thicken the sauce. (See all my vegan marinade recipes)

Spicy Teriyaki

  • For extra flavorful spicy teriyaki, add 1 tsp of Thai garlic chili paste or sriracha.

Gluten-Free Teriyaki

  • To make it gluten-free teriyaki simply swap out the soy sauce for Tamari or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.  All other ingredients are naturally gluten-free.

Refined-Sugar Free Teriyaki

  • Simply swap out the brown sugar for equal amounts of maple syrup for a refined sugar-free teriyaki sauce.

Low-sodium teriyaki sauce

  • Simply use low-sodium soy sauce in place of regular soy sauce.
Seitan kebabs with teriyaki sauce being poured over them.
Seitan kababs with teriyaki sauce.

🍽️ Serving suggestions 

This sauce is delicious over teriyaki tofu, seitan kababs, teriyaki noodles, and stir-fried veggies.  It’s also incredibly delicious when poured over fried cauliflower to make a teriyaki cauliflower.

This makes a great dipping sauce for tofu fries, vegan chicken nuggets, fried tofu, vegan fried shrimp, fried oyster mushrooms, or seitan wings.

🥡 How to store teriyaki sauce

Store your leftover vegan teriyaki sauce in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.

Tofu and stir-fried veggies with refined sugar free teriyaki sauce being poured over it.
Teriyaki tofu stir-fry.

📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!

📋 Vegan teriyaki sauce recipe

A red saucepan filled with homemade teriyaki sauce with a spoonful of it over top of it.
5 from 13 rating

Vegan Teriyaki Sauce

An easy homemade teriyaki sauce that is vegan and can be made gluten-free and refined sugar-free too.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, or any other sweetener of choice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce , or Tamari or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar, (either white or apple cider vinegar)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, grated
  • 1 teaspoon garlic chili paste, aka Sambal Oelek or Sriracha (optional for a spicy sauce)
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch, or potato starch

Instructions
 

  • Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan. (1/2 cup cold water, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp sesame oil, minced garlic, ginger root, garlic chili paste, and 1 tbsp corn starch)
  • Stir well with a whisk, then turn on the heat to medium.
  • Stirring frequently, heat the sauce until it begins to boil and thicken.
  • Allow to slowly boil for about 30 seconds and then remove from heat.

Notes

Teriyaki marinade
If you want a teriyaki sauce to use as a marinade for tofu, veggies, or anything else you choose, simply omit the cornstarch from the recipe.  This will make a sweet and savory sauce that is thin enough to use as a marinade, and it won’t stick when heated.  You can make a second batch of teriyaki sauce with the starch for a thicker glaze to pour over your cooked items.
Spicy Teriyaki
For extra flavorful spicy teriyaki, add 1 tsp of Thai garlic chili paste or sriracha.
Gluten-Free Teriyaki
To make it gluten-free teriyaki simply swap out the soy sauce for Tamari or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.  All other ingredients are naturally gluten-free.
Refined-Sugar Free
Simply swap out the brown sugar for equal amounts of maple syrup for a refined sugar-free teriyaki sauce.
Serving: 3tbsp, Calories: 59kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 409mg, Potassium: 28mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 9mg, Iron: 0.2mg
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