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I love teriyaki. Teriyaki steak and chicken are probably some of my favorite takeout dishes. It sounds like they should be low carb since these are protein packed main dishes, but sadly most of these recipes aren’t. I’ve got you covered though. You can make a yummy, authentic tasting sugar-free teriyaki sauce to brush on your favorite grilled meats or veggies and still keep your macros in check.
Is Teriyaki Sauce Keto?
Most teriyaki sauce recipes are neither keto nor low-carb. Most contain soy sauce, sugar and a thickener, like cornstarch. All of these ingredients have some carbs. But you can make delicious tasting sugar-free keto teriyaki sauce at home with a few key substitutions.
How to Make Sugar-free Teriyaki Sauce
When you make a keto friendly teriyaki sauce recipe at home, you need to substitute a low-carb sweetener for the sugar and a carb-free substitute for the sauce thickener. Besides that, Teriyaki sauce is very easy to make and only requires one bowl and one pot.
To start, add all the ingredients to a small to medium sized bowl & whisk. You can skip this step if you are using a rubber whisk. I mix in a bowl to not scratch my pans. Next, add the whisked sauce to a pan and cook for 10-15 minutes. While it cooks, make sure to stir it on occasion. The sauce is ready when it has reduced roughly by half or is thickened to your liking.
Is Soy Sauce Keto?
Soy sauce is relatively low in carbs. It also does not contain any added sugars. A tablespoon of soy sauce has just about 1 carb. If you don’t want or can’t have soy, you could skip the soy sauce and substitute coconut aminos. Coconut aminos also has the advantage of having less sodium than soy sauce.
Using Low Carb Teriyaki Sauce as a Marinade
Teriyaki works as a great marinade. When I make it for a marinade, I typically skip the thickener (Xanthan gum) so the sauce is a bit thinner. Teriyaki sauce makes a great overnight marinade for beef, chicken, and pork. I then just pour the whole thing into either my slow cooker or pressure cooker and cook it either all day or in about an hour or less.
My only exception to thinner teriyaki sauce is seafood. If I make the sauce as a marinade for seafood, I make it thick and use the thickened sauce as both a marinade and a topping.
Recipes to Use Keto Teriyaki Sauce With
Teriyaki sauce goes great on chicken, beef, seafood, and veggies. It’s one of those sauces that you just need to decide what entree or side sounds best to serve it on. If you like salmon, you should try my Keto-friendly Teriyaki Salmon. Teriyaki always compliments salmon beautifully.
But if you are not feeling salmon, you could coat or dip these Air Fryer Chicken Wings in the teriyaki sauce. Or you could slather it on these Grilled Chicken Kabobs. It’s a great way to add a little Asian flare to these popular recipes.
Green beans make a great side, but when they are covered in teriyaki sauce, it becomes amazing. You could try it on these already delicious Air Fryer or Sautéed Green Beans.
Other Keto Chinese Takeout Inspired Recipes
Chinese takeout is one of our family’s favorites, but it is often hard to find keto-friendly versions. Our favorites are often coated in carbs, swimming in sugary sauces, and, of course, served over rice or noodles. If you love Chinese food, but are struggling to find good low carb alternatives, you can find some of my favorite keto and low carb friendly recipes in one place using my Low Carb Chinese Food Recipes guide. You’ll find delicious, low carb recipes like my Keto Cauliflower Fried Rice – a great, flavorful alternative to carb-heavy white rice. Or my Keto Chinese Orange Peel Shrimp recipe which is great for anyone eating low carb that misses that delicious orange sauce.
More Keto Sauce Recipes
Do you love teriyaki sauce but want more keto friendly sauce options? Here are some of my favorite keto or low carb versions of several popular sauces:
All you need to do is pick the type of food you want tonight and go from there.
Keto Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
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Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup Keto Brown Sugar Replacement
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
- 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum, optional to thicken
Instructions
- Add all of the sauce ingredients to a bowl and whisk to incorporate
- Heat a saucepan to medium heat and add the whisked sauce
- Cook the sauce for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The goal of this step is to allow the sauce to reduce by about half and thicken
- Remove the sauce from the heat
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
Danielle says
So easy, so tasty! Thank you! I used coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce. Looking forward to pouring this on EVERYTHING, not just salmon, like I did tonight. 10/10 recommend this simple recipe to anyone reading this!!
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
We really appreciate you stopping back to write such a thoughtful review. Thank you also for recommending our recipe.
Donna Alexander says
This sauce is on point! I used fresh grated ginger (2/3 if an inch) and 2 large grated garlic cloves in place of the powders, will definitely be making this again, thank you !!!
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you so much for trying our recipe. We’re glad you enjoyed it.
HANNAH BISHOP says
I made this with some chicken. Cooking with it was just like the sugar kind I used to use. The taste was amazing even without the pepper flakes. Thank you for sharing it.
A says
Great sauce – thank you! I used grated ginger and garlic rather than powdered, as I prefer the taste. Used it in a stir fry with meat and it had so much flavour.
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you so much for trying our recipe. You can always make adjustments depending on your taste.
Shanna says
I am going to try this on some chicken tomorrow for some rice bowls. It looks so yummy and I can’t believe it is KETO.
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Hope you enjoyed our recipe.
Emily says
We love teriyaki sauce at our house and this version is our new fave I love how it is sugar free and keto!
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
We’re glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of our favorites as well.
Anjali says
I love teriyaki sauce but almost never use it because it’s so sugary! This recipe is the perfect low-sugar sauce – I’ll definitely be making it again soon!
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you so much for trying our recipe. We really appreciate you stopping back to write such a thoughtful review.
Roxana says
I have never tried a recipe with keto sugar. Sounds very interesting. I love the flavors in it.
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you Roxana. We really appreciate you stopping back to write such a thoughtful review.
Emily Liao says
This keto version is delicious! Used it for my chicken and it turned out perfectly.
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
Thank you so much for trying our recipe. We’re glad you liked it.