It’s hard to beat the ease of buying a dressing or sauce at the grocery store. But that can also mean sacrificing flavor compared to a homemade version. If you’ve ever purchased store-bought teriyaki — despite that it only takes two ingredients to make it at home — you’ve likely noticed it’s heavily salted. Thankfully, there’s a quick way to minimize that salty flavor and balance the sauce a little better: just add sugar and spice.
The sweet and salty balance is scientifically proven to make foods taste better. Our taste buds crave these flavors, and putting them together makes for a more enjoyable meal, according to our brains. So, not only does the sugar help offset the salt in the teriyaki sauce, but it ultimately makes for a more enjoyable meal overall. And that sweet and salty pairing can be balanced even better with a hint of spice; you don’t need to add nearly as much spice to the sauce as you do sugar — just enough to excite the taste buds without feeling like you need a drink.
How to properly balance your teriyaki sauce
For the best hint of sweetness in your teriyaki sauce, reach for the brown sugar. Its warm molasses notes will blend nicely with those savory flavors. If you don’t have any brown sugar, then white sugar will get the job done. How much sugar you should add will depend on how sweet you want the sauce, plus how much teriyaki you’re using. Start with a small measurement, such as a ½ teaspoon for 1 cup of sauce, then taste it and increase the sugar content as needed.
For spice, you can add just about anything. Ground cayenne pepper is a quick way to give it a kick, but if you have any spicy chili crisp or dried red chili flakes, these would pair with teriyaki’s flavors nicely as well. Even something as mild as black pepper could work. If you’re using a dried seasoning, start with a ¼ teaspoon per cup, but since chili crisp is thicker, you can add a little more to start. Then, increase the spice as desired. Ultimately, the adjusted teriyaki sauce can pair with almost anything, whether you’re making a marinade for hibachi steak, a sauce for grilled shrimp, or even one of those wing sauces you never thought to try.
