This homemade GAPS teriyaki sauce gives you the savory-sweet finish of teriyaki without soy sauce, refined sugar, starch, or a bottle full of ingredients you have to decode. Coconut aminos, raw honey, cider vinegar, ginger, turmeric, garlic, and raw cold-pressed sesame oil blend into a thin, dark amber sauce in about ten minutes.
You can use it fresh as soon as it is blended, or stir in one tablespoon of homemade whey or live sauerkraut juice and leave it overnight for the cultured branch. Both begin with the same measured sauce. The only difference is the starter and overnight rest.
In a household of eight, a jar like this is useful because it turns cooked meat and vegetables into a finished meal without starting another hot-pan sauce. I can make the sauce while the cutting board is already out, refrigerate it, and use the measured half cup that the beef stir fry needs later.
What Makes This Teriyaki Sauce Different
Commercial teriyaki sauce commonly begins with soy sauce, sugar, and starch. This Full GAPS version uses a coconut aminos product with a compatible complete ingredient list, raw honey for sweetness, and apple cider vinegar for acidity.
The sauce stays thin and pourable because tapioca starch and xanthan gum are left out. It will coat food lightly rather than forming a glossy gel. That is the correct endpoint for this formula.
Cold-pressed sesame oil supplies the toasted-nutty direction people expect from teriyaki, but it remains raw. The sauce is used cold or tossed through food only after the hot pan comes off the burner and the sizzling stops.
Where It Fits On GAPS
This is a Full GAPS condiment for the point when coconut aminos, sesame, raw honey, cider vinegar, the aromatics, and the optional starter already fit your diet. It is not an Introduction Diet sauce.
Use cold-pressed, unrefined, untoasted sesame oil. Sesame should wait until diarrhoea has settled, and the oil belongs in ready-to-serve food rather than the cooking pan.
Coconut aminos has conditional GAPS support based on the manufacturer’s information. That does not make every product interchangeable. Read the complete current ingredient list and choose one without soy, cane sugar, starch, preservatives, or another non-GAPS additive.
Fresh Sauce Or Cultured Sauce
The fresh branch is finished as soon as the blender stops. It has the full dark amber color, ginger-garlic aroma, and sweet-sour balance without a starter or counter rest.
The cultured branch begins with that same finished sauce. Stir in one tablespoon of homemade whey from properly fermented GAPS yogurt or kefir, or one tablespoon liquid from homemade live sauerkraut. Put it in a clean glass jar with a little headspace, set the lid on loosely, and leave it overnight out of direct sunlight.
Room temperature and starter activity change the pace. The sauce may smell and taste a little tangier the next morning, but it does not need dramatic bubbles to be finished. Close the lid and refrigerate it after the overnight rest.
Choose And Measure The Ingredients
Measure one cup coconut aminos, two tablespoons cold-pressed sesame oil, two tablespoons raw honey, and two tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Keeping those four liquids exact preserves the sweet, salty, acidic, and oily balance.
Cut one inch fresh ginger into four to six pieces. Use one inch fresh turmeric cut into small pieces, or one-quarter teaspoon pure ground turmeric. Use one turmeric option, not both.
Add one large garlic clove. One-quarter teaspoon ground black pepper is optional. Leaving the pepper out keeps the formula suitable for people who have not introduced it or who are following an AIP-style Full GAPS route.
Blend In The Ninja BN801
Put the coconut aminos, sesame oil, honey, vinegar, ginger, chosen turmeric, garlic, and optional pepper in the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System BN801 pitcher. Do not add whey or sauerkraut juice yet.
Secure the lid and blend on high for thirty seconds. The liquid volume is small in the full-size pitcher, so stop and inspect rather than assuming the clock handled every piece.
The fresh sauce is ready when no ginger, turmeric, or garlic pieces remain and the liquid looks uniform from top to bottom. It should move easily when the pitcher is tilted and should not sit like syrup or pudding.
Use The Fresh Branch
For fresh sauce, pour the blended mixture into a clean glass jar and refrigerate what you are not using immediately. There is no starter and no room-temperature rest in this branch.
Use one-half cup to finish a stir fry made with one and one-half pounds beef and vegetables, then add more to taste. Remove the pan from the burner and let the hard sizzling stop before tossing in the sauce.
The sauce also works cold as a salad dressing or dipping sauce. Stir or shake the closed jar gently if a little natural separation appears.
Culture The Optional Overnight Branch
For the cultured branch, stir one tablespoon of the chosen live starter into the freshly blended sauce. Do not blend the starter into the high-speed step; add it afterward.
Pour the sauce into a clean pint jar, leaving a little headspace. Set the two-piece lid and ring on the threads loosely so the jar is covered without being tightly sealed.
Leave the jar at room temperature overnight and keep it out of direct sunlight. In the morning, tighten the lid and move the jar to the refrigerator.
Use homemade whey from GAPS yogurt or kefir fermented for at least twenty-four hours. For a dairy-free cultured branch, use the measured tablespoon of liquid from homemade live sauerkraut instead.
How To Use The Sauce Without Heating The Oil
Cook meat and vegetables completely in their own approved cooking fat. Take the pan off the burner, wait for the hard sizzling to stop, and then toss in the sauce. This keeps its cold-pressed sesame oil out of the cooking step.
For the fresh or cultured sauce used as a dressing, pour it directly over ready-to-serve salad, cooked vegetables, meat, or a GAPS pancake. Keep the jar cold between uses.
The separate Beef Stir Fry with Homemade GAPS Teriyaki Sauce uses one-half cup of this sauce for one and one-half pounds steak and vegetables. Measure that portion before you bring the pan to the table.
Why The Sauce Stays Thin
The source offers tapioca starch and xanthan gum for other dietary routes, but neither belongs in this GAPS formula. This version uses no starch or gum.
A thin sauce still seasons every piece when it is tossed thoroughly through hot, cooked food off the burner. Serve the stir fry over a separately prepared cauliflower side or beside a salad if you want something to catch the extra liquid.
Do not simmer this sauce in an attempt to make it thicker. That would heat the sesame oil and change the accepted method.
Storage And Make-Ahead Notes
Refrigerate both branches in a clean, closed glass jar. Use a clean spoon or pour from the jar rather than returning a used utensil to the sauce.
For the overnight cultured branch, the original method gives up to three weeks refrigerated. That window does not transfer to the freshly blended branch, which has no separate tested storage period; keep the fresh sauce cold and use it promptly.
Discard either version if it develops mold, a rotten smell, an unexpectedly swollen tightly closed jar, or another clear sign of spoilage.
Recommended Equipment
- Ninja BN801 Professional Plus Kitchen System
- Measuring cup and measuring spoons
- Small stainless knife and wooden cutting board
- Clean glass pint jar with a two-piece lid
- Stainless spoon for stirring in the optional starter
- Covered glass container for refrigerator storage
The photographed blend uses the BN801 full-size pitcher. The batch sits low in the pitcher because it makes about twelve ounces; that low level is expected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Soy Sauce Or Tamari?
No for this Full GAPS sauce. Use one cup coconut aminos after checking the complete current product label.
Can I Use Toasted Sesame Oil?
No. Use two tablespoons cold-pressed, unrefined, untoasted sesame oil and keep it out of the hot pan.
Can I Leave Out The Honey?
The measured GAPS formula uses two tablespoons raw honey. Removing it changes the sweet-sour balance and creates another variation.
Can I Use Ground Turmeric?
Yes. Use one-quarter teaspoon pure ground turmeric in place of the one-inch piece of fresh turmeric. Use one option, not both.
Is Black Pepper Required?
No. One-quarter teaspoon is optional. Leave it out if black pepper is not part of your current food placement.
What If I Don’t Have Whey?
Use one tablespoon liquid from homemade live sauerkraut for the cultured branch, or skip the starter and use the sauce freshly blended.
Does The Cultured Sauce Have To Bubble?
No. Overnight timing, room temperature, and starter activity vary. The flavor may become a little tangier, but dramatic bubbles are not required.
Can I Thicken The Sauce?
This GAPS version stays thin. Do not add tapioca starch, xanthan gum, or another thickener.
How Much Sauce Goes In The Beef Stir Fry?
Start with one-half cup for one and one-half pounds steak and the measured vegetables, then add more finished sauce to taste.
How Long Does The Cultured Sauce Keep?
The original method gives the overnight cultured branch up to three weeks refrigerated in a clean closed jar. It does not establish the same period for the fresh branch.
Homemade GAPS Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
Homemade GAPS Teriyaki Sauce (Fresh or Cultured)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Put the scaled coconut aminos, sesame oil, raw honey, cider vinegar, ginger, chosen turmeric option, garlic, and optional black pepper in the Ninja BN801 pitcher. Leave out the optional starter for now. Blend on high for 30 seconds, until no ginger, turmeric, or garlic pieces remain and the thin dark amber sauce looks uniform.
- For the fresh branch, transfer the blended sauce to a clean glass jar and use it immediately or refrigerate it. Do not leave the fresh branch at room temperature.
- For the cultured branch, stir in the scaled homemade whey or live sauerkraut juice after blending. Pour the sauce into a clean pint jar with a little headspace and set the two-piece lid and ring on the threads loosely.
- Leave the loosely covered jar at room temperature overnight, out of direct sunlight. The flavor may become a little tangier; dramatic bubbles are not required.
- In the morning, tighten the lid and refrigerate the cultured sauce.
Notes
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