Teriyaki Salmon Recipe: Tips for Making Teriyaki Salmon

Teriyaki salmon is a savory Japanese main course consisting of grilled or roasted salmon fillets glazed in teriyaki sauce. You can pan-grill teriyaki salmon on the stovetop, bake it in the oven, or cook it on an outdoor grill pan. Like teriyaki chicken or beef, teriyaki salmon is a popular item in Asian restaurants and home kitchens.

Teriyaki is a Japanese cooking technique that involves glazing meat, veggies, or tofu in a traditional mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin before grilling or broiling them. In Japanese, “teri” refers to the lustrous, glossy effect of repeatedly brushing with the sauce during the cooking process, while “yaki” refers to the grilled preparation.

With the right pantry staples on hand, teriyaki-glazed salmon is easy to prepare with little notice. Here are a few tips for cooking teriyaki salmon:

1. 1. Make teriyaki sauce. While most grocery stores sell teriyaki sauce, you can create a more authentic version of the dish by making the sauce at home with a handful of ingredients. There are many benefits to making homemade teriyaki sauce: You can tweak the flavors, control the sodium content, incorporate different spices, or adjust the sweetness. You can also make gluten-free teriyaki sauce by using tamari in place of standard soy sauce.
2. 2. Use glaze instead of a marinade. Salmon is a relatively delicate fish with a unique sweetness, so it doesn’t require marinating beforehand. Allow the natural flavors to develop as it cooks, then brush it with glaze or add the teriyaki sauce directly to the pan for a quick braise. The braise will help caramelize the sauce quickly along the exterior and prevent scorching as the salmon cooks.
3. 3. Serve teriyaki salmon with mild side dishes. To let the sweet and salty notes of the teriyaki sauce shine, serve the salmon with a side of steamed white or brown rice (or grains like quinoa or couscous), lightly stir-fried veggies or leafy greens, and a few pickles, like umeboshi plums or red pickled ginger (beni shōga).