How to Make Teriyaki Sauce Without Mirin and Sake

Teriyaki is possibly the most iconic Japanese-American dish known to man (well, maybe the California roll). If you want to recreate these flavors at home but don’t have access to mirin and sake (quintessential parts of Japanese teriyaki), you’ve come to the right place.

What are Mirin and Sake?

Mirin and Sake are both types of Japanese rice wine. Sake is both a drinking and cooking alcohol, but mirin, although occasionally drank, is primarily a seasoning wine (per Sake Times).

Both however are mainstays of Japanese cooking, and and are used in almost every dish. Sake is made from the fermentation of rice with a Japanese spore called Koji, and comes in varying qualities, from 2 dollars to 2-3 hundred dollars (per Sake Talk).

If you enjoy knowing dumb facts that make you feel smarter (like me), what we call “sake” in English is actually called “nihonshu” in Japan. Sake (酒) refers to alcoholic drinks in general, whereas nihonshu (日本酒) translates to “Japanese alcohol,” and is used to describe the drink we call sake.

Traditional Mirin is made by the fermentation of steamed mochi rice, koji, and sweet potato alcohol called shouchu (per Food Network). It’s much sweeter than sake and Japanese people use it in savory dishes to balance intense salty and umami flavors like soy sauce and miso.

However, many mirin bottles on store shelves today contain aji-mirin, which includes other sweeteners and fillers. This type of mirin is easier and cheaper to produce, so there are lot of brands selling it, and it’s relatively inexpensive.

Hon-mirin is prepared the natural way. It tastes better, and it’s healthier, so of course it’s also more expensive (kinda annoying how our world works). But if you can find hon-mirin, go for that.

Japanese Teriyaki

In Japanese, teriyaki means “shine-grilled” and refers to cooking ingredients (originally fish) in a savory, salty, and sweet sauce. It’s more of a home-cooked meal than restaurant food (per JCCC of Washington)

Japanese people almost always make their sauce for teriyaki (no bottled teriyaki!), and it’s usually a simple combination of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. I stock up on mirin and sake, so I usually go for the classic Japanese version; it’s easy to make and the perfect balance of salty, sweet, and umami.

Hawaiian Teriyaki

Hawaii is a rich cultural melting pot, and several people groups have had a long-lasting effect on the cuisine. Japanese immigrants mixed their cooking style with Hawaiian ingredients and made their own version that is wildly popular.

While Hawaiian teriyaki is based on the original Japanese version, it’s own dish, just as hamburgers were technically, invented in Germany, but the hamburgers as we (Americans) know them are American.

Luckily for you, sake and mirin were in short supply in Hawaii, instead, they used ingredients like pineapple juice, brown sugar, ginger, and green onion.  

Seattle Teriyaki

I know what you may be thinking, “Seattle? For teriyaki?” But yes, Seattle claims to be the birthplace of modern teriyaki in America. Who and when we may never know… 

It started with a Kyoto immigrant named Junki Yoshida, who gave away free samples using his mother’s teriyaki recipe. He, along with Kikkoman, started Americans on both the soy sauce and wagon (per JCCC of Washington).

After Yoshida, two others have been credited with creating the current Seattle-style teriyaki: Japanese immigrant Toshi Kasahara and Korean immigrant John Chung. Both opened restaurants in Seattle serving up teriyaki in their own way, and both have been dubbed godfathers of American Teriyaki (per Tasting Table).

Seattle-style teriyaki uses garlic, ginger, and sometimes cornstarch blended into the sauce to make a thicker and richer sauce. Also, this teriyaki sometimes uses a pre-marination instead of simply searing and glazing.

We may never know who or where teriyaki originated from, but I think as long as we know how to cook it we be chillin’.

Ingredients for Teriyaki Sauce without Mirin and Sake

The recipe in this post is for Seattle-style teriyaki, but you can learn about Japanese teriyaki in this post, and who knows, maybe I’ll write something about Hawaiian teriyaki.

Soy Sauce – The base of all teriyaki

Brown Sugar – For rich, carmelized sweetness

Rice Vinegar – The third piece of Toshi’s teriyaki sauce

Garlic – The distinctive flavor marking this as American (garlic isn’t common in traditional Japanese food)

Ginger – Fresh ginger is a must if you plan on cooking Asian food even somewhat often (although I have heard frozen ginger works well)

Cornstarch – Cornstarch gives this American-style teriyaki its thick syrupy consistency

Ingredients

• 1 c. soy sauce
• ¾ c. brown sugar
• ½ cup of rice vinegar
• 7 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. of minced ginger
• 2 tsp. of cornstarch

Directions

1. Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and cornstarch in a sauce pot. Bring to a gentle boil.
2. Pound the garlic and ginger into a fine paste in the mortar and pestle.
3. Once the sauce starts to boil turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5-7 minutes, whisking to dissolve the sugar.
4. After the sauce is reduced to a syrupy consistency, remove it from the heat, whisk in the garlic and ginger, and let stand for 5 minutes.
5. After 5 minutes, strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a large jar.
6. You can use this sauce for teriyaki anything, marinades, or as a dipping sauce.