You may be surprised to learn that beef teriyaki is more popular in the US and other parts of the world than in Japan. Teriyaki is actually a Japanese cooking technique that we commonly use to cook fish and chicken in Japan. We also prepare pork, hamburger steak, and meatballs in this way as well.
Today, I’ll show you how to apply the teriyaki cooking method to ribeye steaks in my Beef Teriyaki recipe. It’s a delicious way to prepare beef that’s sure to satisfy the biggest steak lovers!
What is Teriyaki?
In the US, teriyaki is considered a type of sauce. However, teriyaki (照り焼き) in Japanese actually describes a cooking method for how to prepare food.
Teri (照り) means luster and yaki (焼き) means grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. So, teriyaki refers to any grilled/broiled/pan-fried food with a shiny glaze. When we prepare food teriyaki-style, we season it with soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sometimes sugar.
Today, teriyaki is a wildly popular seasoning in the US and around the world. You’ll find your favorite protein prepared with teriyaki sauce, whether it’s salmon, tofu, chicken wings, burgers, meatballs, or even chicken quesadillas!
How To Make Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Japanese-style teriyaki seasoning has a delicate flavor. The standard recipe is 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts sake, 2 parts mirin, and 1 part sugar. Of course, there’s no strict rule, so you’re free to add seasonings as I did here with ginger juice for an extra zing.
In Japan, we don’t use bottled teriyaki sauces, as we make our own seasoning right in the pan. The best teriyaki sauce is homemade, like in today’s recipe. It’s as easy as 1-2-3! You can even make a batch of my Homemade Teriyaki Sauce ahead of time, so it’s at your fingertips to use for up to 2–3 weeks.
Thin vs. Thick Teriyaki Sauce
Normally, teriyaki sauce is thin in Japan. We reduce the sauce in a pan until it reaches a slightly thicker consistency. We don’t use a cornstarch slurry or honey like non-Japanese versions.
On the other hand, Americanized teriyaki sauce is very thick and syrupy. If you prefer a thick sauce, combine ½ tsp potato starch or cornstarch and 1 tsp water and whisk well in a small bowl. Although it’s completely optional, I swirled in some cornstarch slurry this time to demonstrate how to make a thick sauce.
What is Beef Teriyaki?
For beef teriyaki, we start with whole steaks—I like to use thin ribeye steaks. We marinate them briefly in the teriyaki seasoning, then pan-sear them in a hot skillet on the stove. Once they’re seared on both sides and slightly charred, we glaze the beef in the pan with a sweet-savory teriyaki seasoning.
We remove the steaks to a plate to rest so the succulent juices redistribute into the meat. It’s common to slice the steak before serving so you can pick up the beef teriyaki slices with chopsticks. It’s delicious served with a bowl of Japanese steamed rice!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Beef Teriyaki
- beef ribeye steaks – each ½ inch, 1.25 cm thick
- neutral oil – to cook the steaks
- Japanese soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and fresh ginger juice (from grated ginger) – for the sauce and marinade
- green onion/scallion and toasted white sesame seeds – for the garnish
- optional potato starch or cornstarch and water – for a slurry to thicken the sauce, if you wish
How To Make Beef Teriyaki
You can make this simple dish in a total time of 1 hour, which includes 15 minutes of prep time, 30 minutes marination, and 15 minutes of cooking.
- Mix the teriyaki sauce ingredients in a bowl. Mix well to dissolve the sugar.
- Marinate the steaks in some of the teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes in the fridge. Bring the steaks to room temperature before cooking and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Heat the teriyaki sauce in a large pan and simmer for 15 seconds. (For an optional thick sauce, add a starch slurry and whisk until thickened.) Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Cooks the steaks in a preheated cast-iron skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Pour the teriyaki sauce over the steaks. The sauce gets bubbly and gives the steaks a nice glaze. Remove the steaks to a plate before the sauce starts to burn.
- Rest the steaks for 5–10 minutes before serving.
How To Serve Beef Teriyaki Japanese-style
In Japan, we often serve steak sliced to pick up using chopsticks and eat along with a bowl of hot steamed rice. If you plan to serve it Japanese style, carefully slice the steaks into thin pieces.
I sprinkle toasted white sesame seeds and chopped green onion/scallion on top for garnish. Serve the remaining teriyaki sauce at the table to drizzle extra sauce. You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Hearty and satisfying, this Beef Teriyaki recipe feels extra special compared to your standard weeknight fare, yet it’s quick enough to pull together any night of the week.
Recipes To Serve with Beef Teriyaki
- Rice: Garlic Fried Rice, Japanese Brown Rice, Onigiri Rice Balls
- Soup: Bacon Asparagus Miso Soup, Tomato and Tofu Miso Soup
- Salad: Arugula Salad with Fennel and Navel Orange, Easy Carrots Salad, green salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Vegetables: Miso Butter Mushrooms in Foil, Stir Fry Vegetables with snow peas, Broccoli in Sesame Oil, Blistered Shishito Peppers
More Teriyaki Recipes You’ll Love
- Teriyaki Salmon
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Teriyaki Tofu
- Teriyaki Burger
- Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
- Teriyaki Wings
- Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Beef Teriyaki
Ingredients
- 2 beef ribeye steak (each ½ inch, 1.25 cm thick; I used Snake River Farms American Kobe beef)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
For the Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade
For the Slurry (optional, to thicken the sauce)
- ½ tsp potato starch or cornstarch
- 1 tsp water
For Garnish
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Before You Start…Please note that this recipe requires 30 minutes of marinating time. Gather all the ingredients.
- In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for teriyaki sauce: ¼ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup sake, ¼ cup mirin, 1½ tsp ginger juice, and 2 tsp sugar. Mix well to dissolve the sugar.
- Trim off the extra fat from 2 beef ribeye steak and put them in a resealable plastic bag. Add 4 Tbsp (¼ cup) of the teriyaki sauce to the bag to use as marinade. Tightly seal the bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove the bag with the steaks from the refrigerator and let the meat return to room temperature before cooking.
- Meanwhile, heat the teriyaki sauce. Normally in Japan, teriyaki sauce is thin. However, American teriyaki sauce is often thick. If you prefer a thick sauce, combine ½ tsp potato starch or cornstarch and 1 tsp water and whisk well in a small bowl.
- In a large pan, add the teriyaki sauce and bring it to simmer for 15 seconds. If you prefer not to add the slurry, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
- For thick teriyaki sauce, add the starch slurry to the sauce and whisk over heat until thickened. Remove the pan from heat and set aside.
To Cook the Steaks
- Before cooking the meat, make sure the steaks in the marinade are at room temperature. In a cast-iron skillet or frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil on medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, remove the steaks from the marinade and pat them dry with a paper towel to prevent steaming.
- For medium-rare to medium steak, add the ½-inch-thick steaks to the pan and sear for 2 minutes on the first side, then 1½ minutes on the other side.
- Pour 2 Tbsp of the teriyaki sauce over each steak. The sauce gets bubbly and gives the steaks a nice glaze.
- Remove the steaks from the pan to a plate before the sauce starts to burn. Let the steaks rest for 5–10 minutes to allow the succulent juices to redistribute before slicing.
To Serve
- In Japan, it’s not unusual to serve steak slices to eat with chopsticks. We eat steak along with a bowl of rice. If you plan to serve in the Japanese style, carefully slice the steaks into thin pieces.
- I sprinkle 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds and 1 green onion/scallion (chopped) on top of the steak for garnish. Serve the remaining Teriyaki Sauce at the table and drizzle on top.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @justonecookbook on Instagram so we can see your delicious creation!
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Nov 3, 2011. The contents have been updated in July 2017.