Easy Teriyaki Salmon pan-fried to perfection and served with a homemade teriyaki sauce! It’s the perfect combination of sweet and tangy! Serve with rice and veggies to make it a healthy meal!
Love Easy Salmon Recipes? Then try my Honey Garlic Salmon or my Sriracha Honey Salmon!

Easy Teriyaki Salmon
This teriyaki glazed salmon is the perfect dinner when you are short on time but want something amazing. The sauce can even be made a day or two ahead or time and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook.The salmon get’s marinated in a simple homemade teriyaki sauce then pan fried. The sauce compliments the salmon perfectly and is sweet, tangy and thick. Half of the sauce get’s reserved for marinating and the other half for glazing the salmon during cooking.
I love making my own teriyaki sauce at home. I used the same homemade teriyaki sauce as my Easy Teriyaki Beef Meatballs and my Teriyaki Baked Salmon. This sauce is really easy to prepare and is amazing on chicken as well.
Ingredients for Teriyaki Salmon

How to make Teriyaki Sauce
Making your own Homemade Teriyaki Sauce is super easy! It’s also a great way to control the sweetness and saltiness of the sauce. To make your own teriyaki salmon marinade at home you’ll need:

- Soy sauce: I always use low sodium soy sauce. You can use regular soy sauce with a splash of water to combat some of the saltiness.
- Ginger: I prefer to use fresh grated ginger however ground ginger can be substituted in a pinch.
- Garlic: I love adding garlic to my homemade teriyaki sauce. You can substitute garlic powder if you do not have fresh.
- Light brown sugar: Adds a nice sweetness to the teriyaki sauce. If you like your teriyaki on the sweeter side adjust the honey to taste.
- Rice wine vinegar: This vinegar can be found in the International or Asian isle in the grocery store. It adds the perfect acidity to the sauce.
- Sesame oil: Adds a wonderfully nutty flavor to this sauce!
- Cornstarch slurry: 1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon cold water. This thickens up the sauce!

How to make Teriyaki Salmon
- Marinate Salmon: Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, vinegar and sesame oil to a medium bowl. Add half of the marinade to a ziplock bag and the other half to a small saucepan and set aside. Place salmon filets in the ziplock bag and marinate for 30 minutes.

- Sear Salmon: When you are ready to cook heat oil in a large skillet. Add salmon filets making sure not to overcrowd pan (I had to cook two at a time). Cook 3-4 minutes on each side until desired doneness.

- Meanwhile heat the reserved marinade in the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add cornstarch and water to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture to the marinade and simmer until thickened.

- Serve immediately with the teriyaki sauce drizzled on top as well as green onions and sesame seeds for garnish, if desired.

To make this in the air fryer simply cook the salmon at 400 degrees for 8 minutes then brush with homemade teriyaki sauce!
If you love this Salmon recipes then you will love my Salmon with Firecracker Sauce or my Salmon made in the Air Fryer!

Recipes with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
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Easy Teriyaki Salmon
Ingredients
- *NOTE: Prep time does not include marinating time*
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4 salmon filets, skinless
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce, It is important to use low sodium. I find regular makes the sauce too salty
- ⅛ cup water
- 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar, depending on how sweet you like it
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- green onions for garnish, if desired
- sesame seeds for garnish, if desired
Instructions
- Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, 1/8 cup water, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to a medium bowl.
- Add half of the marinade to a ziplock bag and the other half to a small saucepan and set aside. Place salmon filets in the ziplock bag and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Add salmon filets making sure not to overcrowd pan (I had to cook two at a time). Cook 3-4 minutes on each side until desired doneness.
- Meanwhile heat the reserved marinade in the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add cornstarch and water to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture to the marinade and simmer until thickened.
- Serve immediately with the teriyaki sauce drizzled on top as well as green onions and sesame seeds for garnish, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information

Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear your feedback! Leave a review and make sure to share your pictures on social media! Don’t forget to follow @thechefsavvy.

Navroop Levido
I’m not someone that enjoys salmon but I eat it for the health benefits and omg this is a game changer, LOVED IT!
Kelley Simmons
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing!
Julie Leith
Can I use shop bought sauce in the same way?
Kelley Simmons
Sure! You can just brush on store bought teriyaki sauce to the salmon to save on time and follow the cooking instructions!
Haley
I noticed that some soy sauces can be to salty, I just wanted to mention that there’s a sauce that is called Maggi sauce seasoning it’s just wonderful since I have been using it I don’t even look at regular soy sauce.
Arpita Patel
Family loved it. And I had to use lime juice I had already, since I forgot to get lemons. But I added lemon pepper. Whatever…still delicious.
Kelley Simmons
So glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe Arpita! Thanks so much for sharing!
Jemma
This is the 2nd time I’ve used this recipe and my husband and I are big fans of it. Thank you. Absolutely delicious!!
Kelley Simmons
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Jemma!
Dani
Looking forward to making this. You mention mirin in the beginning but it’s not in the instructions?
Kelley Simmons
Hi Dani!
I’m sorry about that! I think that must have been a typo. Thanks for making me aware of it!
Thank you & Enjoy!
Kelley
Nik
Too many adverts get in the way of reading the recipes
Nancy
Why is the recipe called teriyaki salmon and the recipe calls for soy sauce?
Nathan
Hi Nancy,
Soy sauce is one of the main ingredients in a home made teriyaki sauce. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for commenting!
Nathan
Jessie Lan
I made this with 2 tbsp brown sugar and really enjoyed the flavor! Didn’t have cornstarch so I had to sub tapioca starch (which usually is 2:1 ratio tapioca to cornstarch), but the sauce ended up being really sticky — I would’ve cut the tapioca starch by 1/2 so it’s an exact substitute for corn starch (same amount as recipe). With cornstarch I’m sure it’d be really really good so that was just a blip on my part, not the recipe!
Nathan
Hi Jessie,
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe. We appreciate your comment!
Have a great day!
Nathan
@chefsavvy
Suzanne Mihelich.
So am I my missing something? What is the temp? Seriously?
Nathan
Hi Suzanne,
you want to heat the oil till you start to see a whisp of smoke, it’s about 375 degrees F. this will give you a nice sear. cook the fish till the internal temperature is about 145 degrees Fahrenheit. it will continue to rise about 10 more degrees after you remove it from the pan, that puts the finished temperature at 155. I hope this is helpful! Thank you for commenting!
Nathan
@chefsavvy