Learn how to make the most delicious Best Vegan Gluten-Free Teriyaki Sauce totally oil-free and soy-free! Loaded with flavor and made with coconut aminos, fresh ginger and chives, it will become your go-to teriyaki sauce.
Meet my new best friend. Sauces can be best friends, can’t they? I originally fell in love with the Teriyaki sauce made by Coconut Secret. It is really delicious and the best list of clean ingredients I’ve seen in teriyaki sauce. But, like with anything, I love to recreate my own homemade sauces. They are fresher, cheaper and can be tailor-made. Well, I think I not only nailed the store-bought version, additionally, I made it oil-free. It’s also made with Coconut aminos, instead of soy sauce, so it’s totally soy-free, whoop!
This sauce is so delicious and so popular with readers that I included it in my cookbook! I have a Teriyaki Burger in the book too and it was featured on NBC News!
THE BEST INGREDIENTS FOR VEGAN TERIYAKI SAUCE
This isn’t your average tasting vegan teriyaki sauce. This teriyaki sauce has 8 delicious ingredients:
- fresh ginger
- fresh garlic
- green chives
- toasted sesame seeds
- coconut aminos
- maple syrup
- brown rice flour
- cayenne
THIS TERIYAKI SAUCE WILL BECOME YOUR GO-TO
Eating this with a spoon is likely going to happen for you too, just warning you now. If you aren’t familiar with teriyaki sauce, basically it is a sweet and salty Japanese sauce that is much more sweet than say, a peanut sauce. It has a syrup consistency and really sticks to your food. I lived in Japan many, many years ago, but I don’t know if I ever had any while there. My version is naturally sweetened by using pure maple syrup, instead of refined sugars like brown or white sugar. Much better flavor too, in my opinion.
This vegan teriyaki sauce will go on just about anything your heart desires. In other words, you will want to add it on top of fluffy brown rice, peas and some carrots and drizzled some of this bad boy sauce on it, added extra chives and sesame seeds and it was like the best party in my mouth I’ve had all year. The recipe require just 8 ingredients (+ water).
MORE VEGAN SAUCE RECIPES
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
The Best Vegan Teriyaki Sauce (Soy Free!)
Best Vegan Gluten-Free Teriyaki Sauce totally oil-free, gluten-free and soy-free! Loaded with flavor and made with coconut aminos, fresh ginger and chives, it will become your go-to teriyaki sauce.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup coconut aminos (this is sweeter and less salty than soy sauce and important)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (60g) water
- heaping 1/2 tablespoon finely minced ginger (8g)
- 1 teaspoon (4g) minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon (3g) finely chopped chives
- 1/2 tablespoon (5g) toasted sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour
- 1/16 - 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients, except the rice flour, to a small pot and whisk together well. Now whisk in the brown rice flour until there are no lumps. Add the cayenne.
Turn the heat to medium and once the entire surface is bubbling, let it cook for about 5-7 minutes as it starts to reduce a bit. Whisk around the edges a couple of times while it cooks. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. It should have a syrup consistency as it cools. If it's not a syrup consistency after a few minutes, cook just a couple more minutes. Use over your favorite dish. I served it over some fluffy brown rice and peas and carrots, then topped with extra chives and sesame seeds. This would also be great over cauliflower wings as a great dipping sauce.
- To serve this with peas and carrots, zucchini or broccoli, simply cook them in a pan over the stove in a little bit of water, salt and pepper, and garlic powder until tender. I cook my broccoli in a large wok separately to reach desired tenderness. I like to cook my rice in a rice cooker using jasmine brown rice, but if you don't have one, follow this link to cook it over a stove.
I could almost drink this Girl!!!
I’d add red pepper….surprise?
and it would be like almost all my homemade salad dressing!
Love these flavors and thank goodness we can enjoy them cruelty free and oil free ??
Angela, I totally almost did drink it, it is probably one of the best sauces I’ve ever created. I totally created it on a whim, by taste, after loving the Coconut Secret brand one, but felt it needed a fresher element, so I added so much fresh ginger and garlic and chives and seeds. It’s so much better than the storebought one to me. Haha, you can add red pepper if you want, but there is already cayenne pepper in it which gives a wonderful kick!
Where do u get coconut aminos? Thanks, love your recipes!
Hi Debbie! I just purchase it from my local grocery store, it’s in the gluten-free isle but it may also be near the other soy sauces depending on the grocery store. It’s also carried at Whole Foods 🙂 You can also order it through Amazon, but I only see a large bottle of it sold on there. I linked above to Amazon. 🙂
Oh I would definitely be eating that sauce with a spoon too! And I’m going to need a really big spoon to shovel that rice into my mouth, my mediocre chopstick skills just aren’t going to cut it with something SO tasty!!! Teriyaki is the best sauce ever if you ask me, I would love to try a homemade version. The brown rice flour is such an interesting thickener, never would’ve guessed that could work. I’m definitely going to be trying this! Awesome recipe girl <3
Bahahaha Natalie!! I know, I didn’t learn how to eat with chopsticks until living in Japan, then when I returned, all I wanted to do was eat with chopsticks for everything for the longest time, lol! I love eating with them, but admit most of this eating was done with a spoon with this dish, my rice was more on the fluffy side, not sticky, so chopsticks don’t hold up too well with fluffy rice. Oh yes, that is the only flour I really use to thicken my sauces/gravies since I’m not a fan of using all-purpose flour. Brown rice is super healthy and it works amazingggg as a thickener!
Your pictures look so inviting and just beautiful. They make me feel I just want to dive into that sauce and drink, Brandi! Did you use the new lighting? It looks beyond amazing, you really know how to use the new light. To the recipe I bet this flavor combination tastes just scrumptious adding sesame gives so much flavor to the sauce and for sure I recently told you ginger is one of my favorite spices.
Awww thank you so much Florian, that means so much to me! Yes, this is with my new lights! I actually used both natural light and the new lights for this setup. I used 2 of my new lights and left one window shutter open to catch some overall natural light from the distance, that way it wasn’t too harsh. I’ve found the new lights to be amazing, but they are very challenging as to how to figure out how to manipulate them properly for photos….you have to keep moving them around to find the best compliment to the food. It’s a whole new learning curve, but I’m learning and really loving it. Thank you again for the compliments on the photos! Isn’t ginger the best?!
Teriyaki is the best! And coconut aminos are a blessing for me since my soy allergy! I love making it homemade, any of the Asian sauces, I make homemade (kinda have to with the soy thing!)
Teriyaki sauce is the best! I haven’t tried making it with coconut aminos before, I bet it’s a great flavour. And toasting the sesame seeds makes all the difference!
Thank you! Yes, they are typically made with soy sauce but I find that to be a bit strong and too salty sometimes, the coconut aminos is simply perfect in this! Yes, I wanted sesame seeds in mine, none of the storebought versions have them except in the form of sesame oil, but I like the fresh element it adds 🙂
I am not fan of sweet Asian sauces. I like the Asian favors,but not the overly sweet sauces like a lot of Thai dishes are made. Before I make this, is it real sweet? If so, how can I retain the flavor but cut back on the sweetness? Thanks so much..
Hi Diane! This is definitely sweet, but that is characteristic of a Teriyaki sauce, they are sweet and salty. You can definitely cut back on the syrup if you like, you can try to make it with just 3-4 tablespoons syrup instead, it will definitely taste less sweet, not so much Teriyaki, but should still be good. I originally tested it with 1/2 cup syrup and found it too sweet and then reduced it to what is listed above, which I found perfect, but it’s still sweet. I would reduce the water by 1-2 tablespoons too (guessing here) so it still thickens up. Cook it the same amount of time. Let me know how it turns out.
Hi! Can I freeze your sauce? How long is your sauce good in the refrigerator? Thank you
LOVE YOUR SAUCE!
On my way to Whole Foods to get the Coconut Aminos ? My daughter has a non vegan friend staying with us for a few days so I will pair this with some Trader Joe’s gyoza, brown rice and some veg!
Oh yum, sounds amazing! Let me know how it turns out, thank you Beverley! 🙂 Make sure to get the right kind, Coconut Secret has several sauces at Whole Foods.
Oh wow, this sacue looks incredible, Branid. Loved the combination — this looks so delicious..bookmarked. Definitely going to try it. Thanks for this visual treat. 🙂
oh gosh i am imagining every thing i want to put this one right now! terayki sauces are typically loaded with sugar and preservatives and that’s why i never eat them! I need to make this and put it on everything!
Thank you so much Rachel!
Looks so yummy! I recently bought a bottle of coconut aminos and I’m in love!! It’s so much less salty than the regular stuff and I am so sensitive to the flavor of salt…really don’t like it. Definitely gonna try this!
Yes, much less salty and it’s sweeter, which is why I like it. I do like low sodium soy sauce, but not for Teriyaki sauce. This is probably the best Asian sauce I’ve ever made. I literally just went off of taste based off of the Coconut Secret brand and list of ingredients and totally did my own twist.
Can’t wait to make this tonight!!! Don’t have rice flour…. Anyone know if I could use coconut, or almond?
Hi Alaina, I wouldn’t recommend coconut or almond, they won’t work properly. I would suggest just using regular white flour or using 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch instead. Just whisk it in really well before heating. Let me know how it turns out!
ok! this is genius and sounds amazing… I have never ever thought of actually making my own teriyaki sauce! 😉 I might just need to try this! YUM!
So sweet of you Michele, thank you so much!! It’s truly the best teriyaki sauce and probably the best sauce I’ve made in general!
I made this tonight, and took your suggestion from Facebook to sub 1/2 tbsp of corn starch for the rice flour. I have to say, I’m disappointed… that I didn’t double the recipe!! Holy deliciousness! Perfect consistency, tonnes of flavour, and not too salty like a lot of soy sauce based sauces are. Thank you so much for posting this!!
Oh Rachel, I was nervous at first when I saw the words “I’m disappointed” haha…but thank God I kept reading to hear how much you loved it! And wow, such a wonderful feedback, thank you so much! You described it exactly as I feel, it truly is one of my favorite sauces I’ve ever, ever created. Thanks again for the wonderful feedback! 🙂
Looks beautiful, Brandi! I never really had a proper Japanese food experience, though I’ve had plenty of fast food teriyaki stir-fry wanna-be meals — I therefore have no idea what proper teriyaki should taste like. But judging by the ingredients I’m pretty darn sure I’ll love this. Plus I love your other sauces, so yeah, I know I’ll love this 🙂
This is definitely a traditional type of teriyaki sauce, sweet and salty, but it’s typically full of too much sodium and sugar or storebought contains crap ingredients. I added my own thing by using fresh ginger and garlic and the toasted sesame seeds and green onions. It exceeded my expectations!
Yum, this looks so good! I’ve never used coconut amino’s, but must track some down 🙂
Yes, it’s sooo worth it, I promise!
Brandi – this sauce looks DIVINE! I am so speechless. I will definitely be making this ASAP! I am obsessed with teriyaki, I cannot wait to make this! <3
Please do Harriet, you won’t regret it! Thank you!
I finally got a minute to check out your recipe. Looks divine! Mine has a few similarities, but overall different since mine is teriyaki with a twist. Can’t wait to share it! I just love any and all teriyaki sauce so this is definitely on my must try list!
Thank you! This is classic teriyaki and should be renamed drinkable-yaki, lol! It’s that good! Can’t wait to see yours!
Drinki-yaki LOLOL!!!
Made this sauce and served it over stir fried veggies and rice! AMAZING! My husband and two kids loved it. Definitely will be using it as my go to teriyaki sauce.
Thank you so much Jenn! I’m so happy to hear that, thank you so much for leaving feedback, it is really appreciated!
This looks amazing. Homemade is always better than store bought!
Awwww! You’re the best! XOXOXO Thank you, friend. I love Coconut Secret’s aminos and teriyaki sauce and I am so excited to try your version! I love that you use fresh ingredients – I bet it gives the sauce that extra flavor boost! We’ve been enjoying stir-fry once a week so I will most definitely have to try your sauce to pour over my veggies and rice…notice how I said “pour” Ha! Looks soooo good! Also, I’m so blown away by the photos in this post – beautiful!! You’ve got such an eye for detail and photography.
Seriously, ever since you first talked about it on IG, that’s what got me hooked onto it! I even told Sophia about it, haha! Since I love to recreate storebrand sauces, once I got this I knew I was up for the challenge! I literally had mine side by side with the Coconut Secret teriyaki and my version I was creating….they are SO close, but of course I wanted a slightly different fresh take, so I added what I typically like to add to my asian sauces, fresh ginger and sesame seeds! It turned out better than I imagined!
Oh and thank you sooo much for such kind words about my photography, you are so incredibly sweet, thank you Mandy!!
I’ve never made my own teriyaki sauce…or bought it before. It looks simple and so good! Definitely need to try this one, Brandi! Pinning 🙂
Oh, I’ll definitely try it! 🙂 Bookmarked!!!!
I always have fresh ginger and add it to most things – when I used to cook for Dad, one of his favorite things was teriyaki (born and raised in Hawaii…), so I made a healthier low sodium teriyaki he could enjoy… mine had ginger, but I didn’t think of using coconut aminos – great idea!
ASIAN FLAVORS ! RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!! Epic win hashtag!!!
Haha, thanks Levan!
Beautiful photos!!
So kind, thank you so much!
This looks sooo good! I haven’t had teriyaki sauce in ages. I’ve never tried coconut aminos before, it it similar to soy sauce?
Hi Gin! It is KIND OF similar, but much, much less salty and it has a sweetness to it. So, regular soy sauce would not work here and would be too overpowering. It definitely needs the coconut aminos 🙂
This sounds like such a great combo, Brandi! My boyfriend absolutely loves teriyaki sauce, so I need to make this for him! 🙂
Thank you so much Sina!!
I finally made this sauce tonight. And my son just flipped over it. When I first had him taste it, he was like OMG what is that?? Then at dinner he kept raving and talking about it asking me if there is more. He wants to take some rice and the sauce for lunch tomorrow. And told me he could eat this every day. He also insisted to lick the pan. I would say this is an out of the park knockout. I personally think this is the best sauce I’ve ever tasted.
I’m so darn happy to hear this is the best sauce you’ve ever had, wow, thank you Estee!! I said the same exact thing too, haha! SO glad your son loved it too, thank you so much for making it and leaving wonderful feedback!
I’m all about new easy asian-based sauces…they are my favorite! This look looks great…hoping to try it out soon Brandi!
This is now my go-to Asian stir fry sauce – it is delicious, easy to make, stores well in the fridge, and did I mention delicious? Thank you so much!
Wonderful Susan! I’m so happy this is now your go-to! It is our absolute favorite around here and I’m thrilled you love it so much, thank you for the feedback!
Your Teriyaki Sauce is my go-to sauce. Delicious!
So happy to hear, thank you Barbara!
I just made this…..so so good!!!!
Yay, so happy to hear it Louise, thank you for the feedback!
Brandi, just made this sauce for lunch. OMG, it was amazing. I served it with “water fried” vegetables & brown rice. Thank you for such a fantastic recipe. I wish those coconut aminos weren’t so expensive, the recipe calls for 3/4 of a cup. I’m wondering if you can use Braggs regular aminos and then add coconut sugar??
SO happy to hear that! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I actually tested a version with liquid aminos and did not like it….it is MUCH more salty and a different flavor than the coconut aminos so I wouldn’t really recommend it. I guess you could try playing around with it by adding more syrup and using a bit less of the aminos, but I wasn’t a fan of all the liquid aminos version I tried.
I made this today and it was amazing. I served it over stir fried veggies and rice. This is truly the best sauce I have ever made. It was a big hit in my family. Thank you for the recipe!
I made this twice because the first time I accidentally used coconut nectar that I had in my cabinet. The taste is also incredible-very sweet, but I knew that the calorie count would be crazy. I might try using it as a marinade for baked tofu or as a dipping sauce of some kind.
That is just wonderful to hear Wendy and such a kind compliment! I’m so happy this is the best sauce you’ve ever made, thank you for the awesome feedback!
I can’t tell you how excited I was when I made and tasted this recipe! Every time my husband wants to take me out to eat I always choose the same restaurant and order the same thing–stir fried veggies with teriyaki sauce. This was even better than my favourite restaurant version, so now I can make this at home and try something else when I go out! I absolutely loved this and so did the rest of my family.
This is an excellent no-oil teriyaki sauce! Has anyone ever been to Panda Express and got their eggplsnt and red bell pepper dish? Theirs is of course full of salt and oil, so I made eggplant and red bell pepper and onion with teriyaki sauce that rivaled Panda Express and had no salt(except what was in the Coconut Aminos) and no fat,(because I left out the sesame oil entirely and I cooked the onions and bell peppers and eggplant with no oil in a dry stainless steel pot), and it was so delicious, my husband and I ate almost the entire dish in one sitting. Thank you once again for a great 8 recipe:)
I’m so happy you loved this so much Rebecca! Thank you so much for the lovely review and that dish at Panda Express sounds soo delicious!
I can’t wait to try this…I love love asian food….can you point me to the recipe of the rice dish in your pictures…..I can’t wait to try the teriyaki sauce on that dish. Thank you for all you do.
Hi Steve! If you check out step 3 under the directions I give a basic description of how I make it. I don’t really measure, just kind of eyeball how many veggies I want to eat at that time. I would do the broccoli separately since it takes a bit longer to cook. Alternatively, you could roast the broccoli if you want to add some to the dish. Just add some to a pan of parchment paper and bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes or so until tender, which will vary depending on the size of your florets. Then I just add everything to a bowl and drizzle lots of Teriyaki sauce on top!
Brandi, I’ve been making this sauce for over a year and it’s so delicious and perfect when you have that craving for Asian food. It’s a keeper.
Brandi, I’ve been making this sauce for over a year and it’s so delicious and perfect when you have that craving for Asian food. It’s a keeper.
So very wonderful to hear Debra, thank you so much for leaving a review!
This teriyaki sauce is SO GOOD!!! I have made it for the past 3 weeks and each time it doesn’t stay past 3 meals – and I have learned to triple the recipe to get it to last that long. If my sweetie is hungry – forget about it!
Thank you! I needed the low sodium sauce because I’m working to regulate my blood pressure without using medication. You helped me. I truly appreciate your recipes!
Yay! So happy to hear how much you love it Dawn, thank you so much for the awesome review!
Absolutely LOVE this sauce! We used it for tofu/veggie stir fry and it was delicious!!!!!
So so happy to hear Monica, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!!
This looks and sounds so delicious. I will definitely be trying it. Thank you for sharing
This is so good! I love Asian style foods and sauces and I was really bummed when I realized that soy makes me feel terrible. Thank you for a delicious alternative. My toddler thought it was too ‘spicy’ so I’ll try it without the ginger next time. My husband and I both love ginger, but the kid needs a bit more time. 🙂
Awesome, so happy you loved it Shalyn!!
I AGREE WITH THE OTHERS WHO’VE SAID THIS IS THE BEST SAUCE EVER! WE’RE SNOWBIRDS AT THE MOMENT AND NO COCONUT AMINOS AVAILABLE AT ANY STORE. I’VE SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW SO I USED THE LIQUID AMINOS. STILL THOUGHT IT WAS FABULOUS. MAYBE I’LL FIND THE COCONUT AMINOS WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE BIG CITY, BUT ACTUALLY NOW THAT COULD BE A WHILE. I LOVE YOUR BLOG AND HAVE TRIED SEVERAL OF YOUR RECIPES.
So sorry – didn’t mean to use all caps. Thought it was your formatting!
What could I use to replace the rice flour? I’m trying to get off rice for a little while 😊
1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch.
I made this for the first time tonight and it is soooooo good. I don’t know why I waited so long to make it but I will never buy it from the store again. This was easy and it’s so much better.
So awesome to hear that Lisa!!
Just making this now, scaled down to go with one meal. Please let us know about refrigeration and freezing, as it would be nice to make it ahead and have it on hand. Thanks!
Hi Karey, yes, you can freeze this for a few months in the freezer and just thaw in the fridge! Works well!