A delicious homemade teriyaki sauce turns ordinary steak into this flavorful Grilled Teriyaki Steak. Serve it with rice and stir-fried vegetables for a quick, wholesome meal.
Love teriyaki? Get my Baked Chicken Teriyaki and Easy Teriyaki Salmon on your menu!
As summer hits its stride, I’m happy to be sharing another great grilling recipe with you all. With a little advance prep, you can have this Grilled Teriyaki Steak on your dinner table in under 30 minutes. It’s quick, easy, and will totally satisfy your craving for that sweet, sticky teriyaki flavor that pairs so perfectly with savory grilled steak.
The key to this recipe is a homemade teriyaki sauce that will knock your socks off! Store-bought teriyaki sauce can be too thick, overly sweet and many times, loaded with sodium. Who needs that? It is really very easy to make and your efforts will pay off big time when you drizzle it over grilled steak and serve it with rice and stir-fried veggies.
Love this quick, easy meal!
Table of contents
Teriyaki Steak Marinade Ingredients
- Soy sauce – Always go with reduced sodium soy sauce so it’s easy to control the salt content of your recipes. You can substitute tamari for gluten-free teriyaki.
- Olive oil
- Minced garlic
- Freshly ground pepper
What is the Best Cut of Beef for Teriyaki?
- Flank steak – This is the cut you see most commonly used for teriyaki. Flank steak is a very lean cut with great beef flavor. The drawback to this cut is that it can become tough and chewy if not cooked properly.
- Top sirloin steak – This is my favorite cut to use for teriyaki steak. It’s quite lean but very easy to grill to tender perfection. It’s also readily available the one of the less expensive cuts of steak.
Teriyaki Sauce Ingredients
- Soy sauce – Or tamari for gluten-free.
- Mirin – Also known as sweet rice wine. Mirin adds a punch of umami and a hint of sweetness to Japanese sauces, marinades, and dressings.
- Granulated sugar
- Sesame oil – It adds an unmistakable and absolutely crave-worthy nutty flavor that is common in so many Asian dishes.
- Fresh ginger – To finely grate your ginger, use a microplane zester. You can use ginger paste if you’d like.
- Minced garlic
- Water and cornstarch – To create the cornstarch slurry that will thicken the sauce.
- Garnish – It looks pretty to garnish the sliced Teriyaki Steak with sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onion.
To save time, make a batch of the sauce and store it in a container in the fridge so it’s ready for you when you need it. Just warm it briefly in the microwave and you’ll be good to go. You may want to thin it with a little water if it has thickened too much.
How to Make Grilled Teriyaki Steak
- Combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl.
- Place the steak in a zippered plastic storage bag and add the marinade. Seal the bag and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 6 hours.
- Grill the steaks for approximately 6 to 7 minutes per side to an internal temperature of no more than 145 degrees F for a medium-rare to medium result. The amount of time needed to cook your steak to the desired level will depend on the type and thickness of your cut.
- Meanwhile, add the Teriyaki Sauce ingredients, except the cornstarch and water, to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the cornstarch into the water until dissolved and then add the mixture to the pan. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened.
Time Saving Tip
If you are in a hurry, you can skip the marinade altogether. Just drizzle the steaks with a little olive oil, season them with salt and pepper, and pop them on the grill. The flavor-packed Teriyaki Sauce is a quick way to turn simply grilled steak into something really special!
How to Slice Teriyaki Steak
Allow the grilled steak to rest for about 10 minutes, then slice the steak across the grain into thin strips and drizzle the steak with some of the teriyaki sauce. I like to serve the steak right from the cutting board, garnished with sesame seeds and green onion. Place the remaining teriyaki sauce in a small bowl so everyone can add as much as they’d like to their plates. It’s delicious drizzled over rice and vegetables too!
Serving Suggestions
Quickly stir fry any veggies you love in a little oil in a frying pan or wok on the stove. Start with the harder ingredients like carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers. When they begin to soften, add softer vegetables like mushrooms and zucchini and season with a bit of salt and pepper. There’s no need to add a stir-fry sauce, just plate the vegetables and cooked rice with the Teriyaki Steak and drizzle everything with the flavorful teriyaki sauce.
More Grilling Recipes You’ll Love
- Steak Fajitas
- Pineapple Chicken Kabobs
- Carne Asada Tacos
- Grilled Steak Marinade
- Best Grilled Chicken Marinade
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Grilled Teriyaki Steak
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds beef top sirloin or flank steak
Marinade
- ½ cup less sodium soy sauce, or tamari for gluten-free
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Teriyaki Sauce
- ⅓ cup less sodium soy sauce, or tamari for gluten-free
- ⅓ cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon finely grated or minced fresh ginger
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For Garnish
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 3 or 4 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Place steak in a gallon-sized resealable plastic storage bag. Combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour it over the steak. Seal the bag and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 6 hours.
- Grill the steaks for approximately 6 to 7 minutes per side to an internal temperature of no more than 145 degrees F for a medium-rare to medium result. The amount of time needed to cook your steak to the desired level will depend on the type and thickness of your cut. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk together all of the Teriyaki Sauce ingredients, through the garlic. Place over MEDIUM-LOW heat. Combine the cornstarch with the water until dissolved and then add the mixture to the pan. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Thinly slice the steak across the grain and drizzle with some of the Teriyaki Sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onion and serve with the remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published on July 6, 2015. It has been updated with new text and images.
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Me and my husband loved this recipe! Thank you…we’ll be making this again soon!
You always do such beautiful food, Valerie!
Alas, I have changed schedules at work, I go late into the evening now, so I’m not able to collaborate on a nice dinner with my wife during the week anymore. But I guarantee ya, I will grill this up at some point over the weekend!
I agree with you, bottled teriyaki sauces are by and large too salty or sweet, so this looks to be the perfect compromise. I make up my own stir-fry sauce ahead of time by the quart, so this is right in my wheelhouse.
Valerie this looks so yummy!