Korean Barbecue sauce is typically made of soy sauce, pear (often fresh Asian pear), dark brown sugar, vinegar (mirin, rice, or apple cider), chilis, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and green onion. Although, home recipes and branded product versions of the sauce can vary. Rice wine vinegar (aka rice vinegar). You can substitute rice wine or mirin if you’d like. This is usually as easy to find at the store as soy sauce. As you might have probably guessed, like most Asian condiments, it is made from a base of soy sauce and Asian vinegar (most typically mirin). Soy sauce. I actually like to buy low sodium tamari and use that in my cooking. Tamari is a Japanese soy sauce, and it is gluten free. Equally, the type and amount of vinegar varies, too. Korean BBQ sauce typically uses rice or apple cider vinegar, rather than distilled vinegar found in its ‘regular’ counterpart.

Brown sugar, garlic, ginger. You can sub white sugar, turbinado sugar, or coconut sugar. The sweetness balances out and enhances the salty flavors. The ‘specialty’ ingredients:But from there, the inclusion of fruits (often Asian Pear), spices, and other flavorings makes this sauce really unique, flavorsome, and versatile. To make the Korean BBQ sauce, add all of these ingredients listed so far together and bring to a simmer over low heat until the sugar dissolves. In fact, if we take a look at a typical home recipe we can see how it differs from those offered on the market. Home Recipe Korean BBQ Sauce Ingredients

This salty, umami rich soy sauce based Korean barbecue sauce is perfect slathered over burgers, tofu, tempeh, veggies and more. While similar in texture, Korean BBQ sauce is generally considered a little more oily and moist than regular BBQ sauce. Korean BBQ sauce tastes rich, sweet, tangy, and spicy with savory umami notes. It is oily and moist in texture, and relatively runny in consistency. What Does Korean BBQ Sauce Go Well With?

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So as you can see, branded and bottled versions of this sauce often include preservatives, other flavorings, colors, and sweeteners. You can use a different soy sauce, but if you use full sodium soy sauce you may want to decrease the soy sauce to 1/3 of a cup just to keep the sauce from getting too salty. It’s easy to make using pantry friendly ingredients. And if you don’t already have these ingredients on hand, they’re definitely ones you want to consider adding! Ingredients you need for Korean BBQ sauce: