Teriyaki Marinade
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Teriyaki Marinade is the perfect recipe to use to flavor your chicken breast, chicken thighs, pork chops, pork tenderloins, steak and more! It’s a quick and easy marinade recipe that has an amazing flavor!
After you let your meat of choice marinade you simply throw it on the grill, cook it in a skillet or even bake it! Teriyaki Marinade recipe calls for pantry ingredients so whip it up today and pick your favorite meat and veggies to throw in there – we love making burgers and kebabs with it!
This homemade teriyaki marinade is simple, flavorful and so delicious. It’s a blend of being sweet, salty, and garlicky. The only question is what are you going to put in this marinade first?
This Asian marinade is so simple and tasty. It’s the BEST teriyaki chicken marinade recipe, but you can use it for all kinds of meat. So, if you’ve been looking for a new and exciting way to flavor up your chicken, beef, pork, or lamb, it’s the one for you.
Everything about it from start to finish will have you relaxed and at ease. I love a marinade recipe because the prep time is quick – once it’s made, all that’s left to do is let it do its work combining and flavoring the protein!
Ingredients for Teriyaki Marinade?
If you’d rather skip my (very helpful, I think) tips and tricks, essential cooking info, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to this delicious easy recipe – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
- Soy sauce
- Brown sugar
- Powdered ginger
- Water
- Worcestershire sauce
- Dried Onion Flakes
- Garlic
Substitutions
There are a few subs you can use in this recipe or add a few of these ingredients to put a spin on the recipe!
- Use fresh ginger in place of ground ginger powder.
- Sub some of the water for pineapple juice.
- Add some heat with some red pepper flakes.
- You can also add a splash of rice wine vinegar.
How to make Teriyaki Marinade!
This recipe is so simple.
Whisk – All you need to do is combine and whisk together all the ingredients (see the full recipe below)
Marinade – Add to your meat of choice and let the marinade do the work!
Cook – Then prepare your meat on the grill, oven, or skillet!
That’s literally all you have to do!
While this might be a fairly simple recipe, there are still questions that might come up that you need answers for. Here are some of the most common questions associated with this marinade.
Is Teriyaki Marinade the same as Teriyaki Sauce?
It’s not. The marinade is made and meant to have your meat setting in it and soaking up all the flavors for hours, while a teriyaki sauce is often what is used as a stir fry sauce or dipping sauce for the meat once it’s cooked and ready to eat.
How do you thicken Teriyaki Sauce with brown sugar?
While some people use corn starch to thicken up their marinade, you can use brown sugar as well.
Add your ingredients to a pot on the stove and start to whisk it over medium heat. As the mixture gets hotter, it will start to thicken.

What can I marinade in Teriyaki Marinade?
Any type of protein is actually really great with this marinade – it’s so versatile! Think pork, beef, or even vegetables. This would even work great with fish as well. Here are a few different cuts of meat we love with it:
- Flank steak
- Skirt steak
- Top sirloin
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and chicken thighs
- Pork tenderloin or pork chops
- Or try it with fish like salmon, tuna, or white fish.
How long should I marinate different kinds of meat?
This is ultimately up to you but consider a minimum of 2 hours for any type of meat to be the least amount of time and a maximum amount of time at 24 hours.
The longer that you let this marinade combine with the meat, the more flavor that it’s going to have.
This is a simple cheat list for you!
- Marinate beef, pork, and lamb for 4 to 24 hours.
- Chicken and other poultry for 2 to 12 hours.
- Fish, seafood and vegetable and meat substitutes for 1 hour.
Is it safe to eat marinade sauce?
It is as long as you’re taste-testing it before you apply it to the raw meat. Once you transfer it from the mixing bowl to the raw meat, don’t taste it because, at that point, it’s been in contact with something that isn’t safe to consume undercooked.
The easiest way is to just take a spoon and dip it right into the mixing bowl after you get done whisking it. That way you can see if the flavor is there or not and if you’re needing to alter any of the added ingredients or elements.
If you’d like to baste your meat while it’s grilling reserve 1/2 c. of marinade before you place the protein in the marinade and use that for basting!
Easy Ways to Use It
Hawaiian Kebabs: Marinate cubes of chicken or pork, skewer them with pineapple chunks, grill, and then serve them with rice.
Teriyaki Steak and Mushrooms: Marinate sirloin steak and mushrooms and then grill! Serve with a drizzle of sesame oil for garnish.
BBQ Rice Bowls: Grill your favorite teriyaki marinated protein and vegetables. Pile it all on rice in a bowl, sprinkle some sesame seeds, and sliced green onions over the top.
More Quick Marinade Recipes!

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Teriyaki Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 c. low sodium soy sauce
- 1 c. water
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp powdered ginger
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk all the ingredients until sugar is dissolved.
- Add protein of choice and marinade for at least 2 hours.
Tips
-
Marinate beef, pork, and lamb for 4 to 24 hours.
-
Chicken and other poultry for 2 to 12 hours.
-
Fish, seafood and vegetable and meat substitutes for 1 hour.
Eggie says
How much is 1c? In Dutch
Gwen says
Loved this marinade! How long can I store left over marinade?
the Evinks says
We recommend discarding any leftover marinade.
Marion says
Absolutely loved how the flavor of our chicken turned out using this recipe! I’ve tried a lot of Teriyaki recipes and this one is by far my favorite. I’m not sure what makes it so different, but I’m happy to have found the one I can return to any time I want a teriyaki dinner.
Megan Mitzel says
That’s wonderful to hear, Marion! I’m so glad you loved it!
Ashley says
Absolutely Delicious!!
Megan Mitzel says
That is great to hear! Glad you loved it!
Ashley says
This is the perfect teriyaki marinade! We will be saving this recipe to use again.
Megan Mitzel says
So happy you loved it!
Sandi says
This marinade recipe adds so much flavor! Love it!
Megan Mitzel says
It is one of our favorites – so happy you enjoyed it!