Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

A few weeks ago, I had placed down on my meal plan - Beef Teriyaki.

It used to be one of our favorite meals but it had also been quite a long time since I had made it.  Stupidly, I should have checked my pantry beforehand, but I was convinced I had Teriyaki sauce on hand.

Well, no, I didn't and honestly didn't even realize it until I had sliced up the beef and was ready to start making dinner.

One thing I'm always talking about on my main blog, is my belief that you don't need to always buy everything you run out of, because most of what you buy at the store can be easily  made at home and much healthier too.

I quickly went on the hunt for a good homemade teriyaki sauce, and found one over on Taste and Tell. It came out so good and it was easy to make.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

1 cup water
5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water


Combine the 1 cup water, brown sugar, soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the 1/4 cup water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.

Heat the sauce until it thickens to your desired thickness. If the sauce becomes too thick, add more water to thin it out.


**I omitted the first two steps because I was in a hurry, so I basically sprinkled the cornstarch over the meat and stirred well to make sure it was well incorporated.  Dumped the meat, and sliced onion into the skillet, then added all the other ingredients and mixed well.

Then cooked the steak as I normally would.  It turned out really well and was delicious.  

Island Teriyaki Chicken

So tonight's dinner came about purely by accident.   When I got groceries two weeks ago, it was right before Memorial Day and they had a few sales going on, one of which was a huge bag of Chicken Leg Quarters for only $4.  It was a 10 lb bag, so even though it wasn't on my list, I grabbed it.

For dinner tonight, I knew I wanted to make the chicken but I wasn't wanting the usual roast chicken that I make, I wanted something different.

I've also been dealing with some major sinus issues and feeling a bit light headed and achy etc, so I wanted something simple that I could throw together using what I already had on hand.

Something else I had purchased on my last grocery trip, was Teriyaki sauce but from a different brand that I had never tried before.  It is now my absolute favorite and I don't think I'll buy any other kind.  It's the Soy Vay Island Teriyaki.  Truly delicious.

The chicken was extremely easy to prepared, the trick though is to bake it for a long time, about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

But enough talking, let me show you.

Island Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken Leg Quarters (but you can use whatever chicken you have on hand)
Soy Vay Island Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce


Method:
Clean the chicken and place in a roasting pan.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Pour some of the teriyaki marinade on each piece of chicken and using a basting brush, slather all over making sure to cover well.

Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for about an hour.  My chicken leg quarters were huge so they took a while to bake, but if you're cooking smaller pieces just adjust the cooking time accordingly.

About an hour into the baking time, remove the foil, flip the chicken over and using the basting brush, baste the chicken with the juices in the bottom of the pan.

Continue cooking, basting every 20 minutes or so until the juices run clear.

Turn the heat up to 450, and finish off by allowing the skin to crisp and brown.  When done, you can baste with a little more of the juices, move to a serving dish and serve immediately.