Best Teriyaki Steak Recipe

Why This Recipe Works?

By separating the marinade and the sauce, you get a well-flavored beef teriyaki that doesn’t burn prematurely and a shiny glaze that’s true to its name. Hanger steak is a cut of beef that’s both tender and flavorful. Japanese teriyaki sauce is a simple savory-sweet combination of soy sauce, sake, and sugar, and its trademark characteristic is its glossy sheen. Resting the steak for 10 minutes allows the steak’s internal temperature to balance out while allowing the muscle fibers to relax and reabsorb some of the liquid they lost. This prevents the beef teriyaki from leaking all of its juices out when you cut into it.

Ingredients

Steak - I used hanger steak, a cut of beef that comes from the cow’s belly. It doesn’t look very pretty, but it’s as tender as tenderloin, and yet it’s much more flavorful. If you can’t find it, feel free to use whatever cut of beef you enjoy. Sirloin steak, skirt steak, or even flank steak would be good choices. Marinade - I’ve used grated ginger, garlic, sake, salt, and oil for my marinade. The ginger and garlic are there for flavor. Sake is an alcoholic beverage made from rice that contains an unusually high amount of amino acids such as glutamate and aspartate. These compounds are responsible for creating the taste of umami and can synergize with the inosinate in the beef. Put simply, it makes the beef taste even better. Don’t worry about the alcohol content, as it will burn off as you cook the steak. You don’t need to use an expensive sake, but I recommend staying away from “cooking sake” as it tends to contain a lot of salt and other additives. If that’s all you have, it will work for the marinade, but be sure to omit the salt. As for the oil, it’s there to keep the meat from sticking to the grill. Teriyaki Sauce - Teriyaki literally means “shiny grilled,” so sauces that include ingredients that cloud it up are technically not “teriyaki.” That’s why I’ve separated out the aromatics, using them to marinate the beef. The teriyaki sauce is a traditional Japanese recipe that uses equal parts soy sauce, sake, and sugar. I highly recommend using drinking sake for the sauce as the salt in “cooking sake” will make the sauce too salty.

How to Make Teriyaki Steak

Make the marinade by whisking together the ginger, garlic, sake, salt, and vegetable oil. Pour the mixture over the trimmed steaks and spread it around to coat evenly. Let this marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. While you wait for the beef to marinate, you can prepare the sauce. Teriyaki sauce will keep for months, so I often make a big batch and store it in a bottle in the fridge. Add the soy sauce, sake, and sugar to a saucepan and boil it until it has the consistency of natural maple syrup. It will take about three to four minutes after it comes to a boil. As the sauce reduces, the sugar will cause the sauce to thicken, and it will want to boil over, so keep a close eye on it and reduce the heat periodically to avert disaster. Once you try this homemade teriyaki sauce, you’ll never reach for that bottled stuff again. To grill the steaks, I like to do it in a cast-iron grill pan, but an outdoor grill, cast iron skillet, or even a regular frying pan will work. Whatever you end up using, the key is to get it nice and hot. Add the steaks to the pan and let it grill undisturbed until they have nice grill marks on one side (about 4 minutes). If you’re doing it in a frying pan, you’ll want to look for a nice brown crust to form on one side. Flip the beef over, and grill the second side until you have nice grill marks on the second side (another 3-4 minutes). Depending on how thick your steak is, it should be rare to medium-rare at this point. Unless you’re a steak ninja, I recommend using an instant-read thermometer to check it for doneness. This one is my favorite. If you want to continue grilling the steak to a higher temperature, flip it over again and turn it 45 degrees to create a diamond shape pattern of grill marks. Continue grilling the steak until it reaches your desired doneness. Keep in mind that the steak’s center will continue rising in temperature by a few degrees after you remove it from the heat. When the steaks are cooked to your liking, transfer them to a tray and let them rest for 10 minutes before you cut them. This is important, as it allows the temperature gradient to level off. It also allows the juices squeezed out from the muscle fibers to get reabsorbed into the meat so they don’t end up all over your cutting board. After the steak has rested, slice it against the grain. Because hanger steak is so tender, I usually go for relatively thick slices. Drizzle the teriyaki sauce on top of the sliced steak, and then garnish the beef teriyaki with sesame seeds and green onions.

Serve it With

Beef teriyaki is loaded with flavor, so I usually steam some vegetables like broccoli or snap peas to go along with it. This is flavorful enough to be served with plain Japanese white rice, but to take it to the next level, try serving this with double garlic rice, or my Japanese fried rice. For side dishes, I like to serve this with Japanese-style potato salad, Hawaiian macaroni salad, marinated mushrooms, or a green salad with wafu dressing. You can even add a sunny side up Teriyaki Egg on top, letting the yolk run down and mingle with those delicious steak juices.