Traditional Cultured TERIYAKI SAUCE (Paleo, GAPS, Keto [and can be used as a salad dressing too!])

I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post. I am not a doctor; please consult your practitioner before changing your supplement or healthcare regimen.

Traditional Cultured Teriyaki Sauce is empowering and easy to make! Perfect for Paleo, Keto, Low Carb and GAPS meals, this sauce works great for a quick stir-fry dinner or as a salad dressing. Make it in just 10 minutes, let it sit out overnight, then use and enjoy! — I’ll show you how and why! 🙂

Whole food, cultured condiments are exciting! Knowing they are alive with probiotics makes mealtime a provocative experience. You are putting something healthful into your body that also happens to be intensely flavorful.

There is added satisfaction when you used to buy a factory-made version of the product, laden with ingredients that taxed your body.

What ingredients are in store-bought teriyaki sauce?

Teriyaki Sauce is one of those foods that even seemingly nice Asian restaurants do not make homemade. I worked at a high-end sushi restaurant in Seattle where we made almost everything from scratch. The exceptions were tempura batter, pound cake that we wrapped deep-fried green tea ice cream in 😉 and teriyaki sauce.

Even homemade recipes that you find online contain mostly unfermented soy sauce and white sugar, two of the most dangerous modern foods. Others contain Worchestershire sauce, ketchup and oyster sauce, all factory-made foods with factory-made ingredients.

Here are the ingredients in 3 leading brands of teriyaki sauce, just to give you an idea and points of contrast. I have listed the more gourmet, “healthy” ones first. The third product reflects most teriyaki sauces on the market; but even the first two are laden with disease causing ingredients:

• Product 1- Soy sauce, water, sugar, cooking wine (water,rice,malt), sweet cooking wine (corn syrup, rice, water, malt) modified food starch, fresh dried onion, fresh ginger root, fresh garlic, lactic acid, spices.
• Product 2- Soy sauce, water, sugar, dried onion, sesame seeds, garlic, water, vegetable oil, and ginger.
• Product 3- Soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt, sodium benzoate as a preservative), sugar, high fructose corn syrup, Yoshida’s mirin (water, dextrose, mirin [rice, alcohol, enzymes, salt], lactic and succinic acids), water, dehydrated garlic, spice, modified corn starch, sunflower oil.

Alas! There is a better way!

How do you make homemade teriyaki sauce?

Simple whole foods come together in perfectly balanced proportions to make this savory-sweet treat.

Enjoy it with baked, barbequed or stir-fried meats and veggies. Here’s one favorite preparation we enjoy: Skirt Steak Stir Fry. It’s also great as a dressing, over noodles or zoodles, cold or hot. Even try homemade teriyaki sauce on Asian salads with shredded chicken.

Once you have this easy sauce made up, dinner comes together quickly, with very little leg work. The sauce does all that for you.

Why and how to culture teriyaki sauce?

Regarding the culturing, it is a simple overnight matter of adding whey (or VAD and non-dairy versions included below) to the sauce.

Super easy, but it boosts the flavor and nutrition in all the ingredients — and extends the shelf-life of the product, as well as adding probiotics (which are preserved if you use this recipe as a raw salad dressing).

I have also added turmeric to my version of Cultured Teriyaki Sauce, thus the golden color and additional health benefits.

See sourcing below for ingredients.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Cultured Teriyaki Sauce

Make your own Teriyaki Sauce! This one takes just 10 minutes to make, has great whole food ingredients and it cultures overnight (easy!) for great flavor and nutrition.

Prep Time20 mins

Total Time20 mins

Course: condiment, DInner

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: cultured, keto, paleo, sauce, teriyaki

Servings: 24 ounces, approximately

Calories: 41kcal

Author: Megan

Cost: $5

Ingredients

• 2 cups coconut aminos , or real fermented soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil , toasted
• 1/4 cup local, raw honey or use 1/16 teaspoon monk fruit for Keto version (see link below in Recipe notes)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2" nub fresh ginger chopped into 4-6 pieces
• 2" nub fresh turmeric chopped into 4 pieces
• 2 Tablespoons whey OR sauerkraut juice for VAD and non-dairy; see Recipe Notes for how to extract whey and for more non-dairy versions
• 2 large cloves fresh garlic

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients, except whey, in blender. Puree on high speed for 30 seconds.
• Pour into a colander-lined bowl to filter out any bits that aren't smooth, mostly ginger skin or fibers.
• Stir in whey.
• Pour sauce into 1-2 jars that fit its quantity and screw on lids loosely.
• Leave sauce at room temperature overnight to culture.
• In the morning, screw lids on tightly and refrigerate. Keeps 3 weeks.

Notes

Monk fruit can be found here.

Whey

Whey is simply the clear liquid that comes off of yogurt or kefir.

For non-dairy versions it can be extracted with the same method. Make sure to find a fully cultured, high quality non-dairy yogurt, such as Nancy's brand, that is full of probiotics. This is especially important with soy. Soy is only safe when it has been fermented.

Directions to obtain whey- Nest a small-medium size bowl beneath a colander. Line the colander with cheesecloth or a coffee filter.  Pour 2 cups high quality plain yogurt or kefir into the colander. Allow the yogurt to sit for several hours or in the fridge overnight. What gathers in the bowl beneath the colander is whey. It is full of probiotics and used to inoculate or culture foods. (The yogurt that remains is delicious. It is now considered yogurt cheese, thick and rich.)

Recipe can be halved.

Nutrition

Calories: 41kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 452mg | Potassium: 2mg | Sugar: 1g