If you like your barbecue sauces a little sweet, a little fiery, and a bit exotic, try crafting up a homemade yakiniku sauce. Yakiniku in Japanese simply means “grilled meat”, so really the sauce says exactly what it is: grilled meat sauce. It’s a perfect marinade to add an Asian-inspired sweet and gingery twist (with a little crushed red pepper heat) to your steak, chicken, or pork. Or just use it as a drizzling or dipping sauce, as you would any other barbecue sauce.
Try this yakiniku sauce over veggies too. There’s an earthiness behind the sweetness that brings life to plain broccoli or cauliflower. It turns a simple vegetable dish into something much, much more. This is an excellent crudités sauce, particularly if you’re looking for something more unique than the norm.
See it being made:
Like this recipe? You’ll love these too:
- Homemade Yum Yum Sauce: The popular steak sauce is surprisingly easy to make at home.
- Sriracha Lime Sauce: This one is tasty with chicken or steak, and is excellent as a dipper.
- Spicy Plum Sauce: One of our favorite dips for off rolls. And it works just as well with chicken fingers. Fiery and sweet.
Homemade Yakiniku Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 1 tablespoon ginger juice or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper or to taste, keep it coarse or crush fine
- Mirin to taste, can use cooking sake as a substitute
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients and stir to combine.
- Pour the sauce into a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, lower the heat and allow the sauce to thicken. While thickening, adjust the crushed red pepper, miso, and mirin (or cooking sake used) until you get your desired balance of flavor.
- Remove from the heat and allow the sauce to cool. Use immediately. Or for best flavor, cover the yakiniku sauce and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours to allow the flavors to meld.