This teriyaki marinade is a blend of soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. It adds so much flavor to chicken, beef and shrimp and takes just minutes to prepare!
My family loves Japanese food, especially teriyaki dishes like salmon teriyaki and Instant Pot teriyaki chicken. Teriyaki marinade is perfect for grilling, and tastes so much better than what you’d get in a bottle at the store. Serve your teriyaki with dishes such as sushi rice and greens tossed in Asian salad dressing. You can even add a sushi bowl to your meal to make it even more memorable!
In my opinion, you can never go wrong with teriyaki. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and savory flavors that pairs so well with a variety of protein options. During the warm weather months, I use this teriyaki marinade to add flavor to all my meat and seafood before it goes on the grill.
Table of Contents
Teriyaki Marinade Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need low sodium soy sauce, water, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, honey, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
How Do You Make Teriyaki Marinade?
Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl or resealable bag, and mix until everything is well incorporated. Add your meat or seafood to the bowl or bag, then cover the bowl or seal the bag. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove the meat or seafood from the marinade, and bake, broil or grill as desired.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- This recipe makes enough marinade for one pound of meat. You can easily double or triple the recipe if you need larger quantities.
- Fresh ginger and garlic provide the best flavor in the marinade. If you need to use garlic or ginger powder, use 1/3 of the amount as fresh.
- Teriyaki contains sugar which can have a tendency to burn if cooked at very high heat. It’s best to grill your meat and seafood over medium heat, and bake at a moderate temperature if you’re using an oven. If your grill is too hot, the outside of the food could burn before the inside cooks through.
- This recipe can be prepared up to 3 days before you plan to use it. Store it in the refrigerator in a resealable bag or airtight container.
- I recommend marinating your food for at least 2 hours, but 8-12 hours is ideal. I would not go more than 24 hours as it could change the texture of the meat.
Quick Tip
I recommend using low sodium soy sauce so that you can better control the salt content of your meal. It’s easy to add more salt later if you find you need it.
Recipe FAQs
The primary ingredients in teriyaki marinade include soy sauce, oil, vinegar, sugar, ginger and garlic.
You can use teriyaki sauce as a marinade. That being said, I find that bottled teriyaki sauce is often very salty and contains added preservatives that I prefer not to put in my food. I do have a homemade teriyaki sauce recipe that will also work as a marinade.
Teriyaki sauce is thicker than a marinade, and is meant to be brushed onto food to add flavor at the very end of the cooking time. Marinade has a thinner consistency and the flavor soaks into the food over time as it sits in the liquid.
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Flavor Variations
While this recipe is great as-is, you can add other flavors to customize it to your tastes.
- Herbs: Feel free to add some sliced green onions or even cilantro to the marinade.
- Garlic Lover’s: If you love garlic, feel free to double the amount in the dish.
- Spicy: You can add red chili flakes, sriracha or chili garlic sauce to make a spicy marinade.
Once you try this teriyaki marinade, you’ll find yourself making it all year long. It’s just that good!
More Marinade Recipes To Try
Shrimp Marinade
11 mins
Tri Tip Marinade
6 mins
Chicken Fajita Marinade
41 mins
Pork Tenderloin Marinade
30 mins
BBQ Chicken Marinade
2 hrs 10 mins
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Teriyaki Marinade
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl or resealable bag. If you're using a bowl, whisk to combine everything. If you're using a bag, seal the bag and shake to combine.
- Add one pound of meat or seafood to the bowl or bag. Cover the bowl or seal the bag, then refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Grill, bake or broil as desired over medium heat.
- If you'd like to have some sauce to brush over the finished dish at the end, reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade mixture BEFORE you add the chicken. Bring the reserved marinade to a boil. In a small bowl mix together 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water. Add the cornstarch to the boiling marinade and cook for 1 minute or until thickened. Brush the sauce over the cooked meat right before serving.
Notes
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- Teriyaki contains sugar which can have a tendency to burn if cooked at very high heat. It’s best to grill your meat and seafood over medium heat, and bake at a moderate temperature if you’re using an oven. If your grill is too hot, the outside of the food could burn before the inside cooks through.
- This recipe can be prepared up to 3 days before you plan to use it. Store it in the refrigerator in a resealable bag or airtight container.
- I recommend marinating your food for at least 2 hours, but 8-12 hours is ideal. I would not go more than 24 hours as it could change the texture of the meat.
I used this marinade on a pork tenderloin over the weekend and OMG was it delicious! Definitely will be using again!
This is such a great marinade! We made it on chicken last night and every last drop was sopped up. So good.
This Teriyaki Marinade recipe looks delicious and easy to make, will add it to my sauces for daily use. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Used this teriyaki marinade to make some teriyaki tofu poke bowls and it was so good! Love how quickly this marinade is to make as well.
I actually used this teriyaki marinade on baked tofu and it turned out amazing!! Super flavorful and delicious!