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This tangy and sweet sugar-free teriyaki is a versatile sauce for stir fry, rice, burgers, and more! Flexible to adjust to your flavor preferences.
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This sugar-free teriyaki sauce recipe is adjustable depending on sweet/tangy preference. Rice vinegar provides tang and pancake syrup provides the sweetness. As written, the recipe leans more to the tangy side.
The first step in preparation is the most critical. Heat the garlic, ginger, and scallion in sesame oil until it sizzles, and then add the other liquid ingredients. In doing so, flavorful oil-soluble compounds are extracted into the oil.
If you need to avoid soy, the low-sodium soy sauce can be substituted with coconut aminos.
The purpose of the arrowroot powder flour is to add thickness to the sauce. I selected this thickener because it does not impart opacity. Corn starch will also work, but your sauce will be a bit cloudy.
Sweetener
No-sugar pancake syrup provides sweetness without adding calories. Personally, I don’t care for the taste of these products stand-alone as a pancake syrup, but find them handy in cooking and baking. The one I selected uses sucralose; there are multiple brands on the market that use other sweeteners, such as monkfruit. It’s likely you’ll need to adjust the quantity considering all of the products have different sweetening power. In the quantity shown in the recipe, the salty soy and tangy rice vinegar negate the maple flavor to ensure that your teriyaki doesn’t taste like pancakes. 😉 Brown sugar or honey also work in this recipe if you prefer not to use artificial sweeteners (but then of course the recipe is not sugar-free).
If you have extra teriyaki or want to make a bigger batch, it can be stored in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to a few weeks.
Vegan Recipe Idea
One of the first dishes I made was stir-fry tofu and eggplant. The sauce coated well. If you add additional veggies will release water, I recommend cooking off the water and mixing the teriyaki as the final step.
Sugar Free Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp. water
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp. sugar-free pancake syrup
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1 scallion, chopped, white and green separated
- 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
- 1 tbsp. arrowroot flour
- 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 -2 tsp. sriracha (optional)
- 1 -2 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
- In a cup, whisk together arrowroot flour and 1 tbsp., water until there are no clumps.
- In a small pot, add sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and white part of scallion. Turn heat to high and continuously stir the ingredients until they being to sizzle, about 90 seconds to two minutes.
- Keeping on high heat, add 2/3 cup water, soy sauce, pancake syrup, rice vinegar, and optional sriracha to the pot. Stir to combine.
- Mix the arrowroot slurry into the pot and bring the mixture to a high boil.
- Once the sauce reaches boiling, turn off heat and allow to cool.
- Add in optional green part of green onion and/or sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
- Nutrition for the entire batch = 112 Cal, 5.4 g protein, 7.4 g carbs (0 g sugar), 2.2 g fat.
- Nutrition per serving (3 tbsp.) = 22 Cal, 1.1 g protein, 1.5 g carbs (0 g sugar), 0.4 g fat.
- Ok to substitute corn starch for the arrowroot flour, however sauce may look cloudier.
- For soy-free, substitute soy sauce for coconut aminos (this impacts nutrition).
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