Create a sweet, sticky, jammed-packed flavorful Korean BBQ Sauce in just a few minutes! It will elevate your favorite dishes, from BBQ tofu bowls to your favorite grill recipes.
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This simple vegan and gluten-free Korean BBQ sauce features common ingredients you probably have in your kitchen. It’s loaded with BIG, bold flavors. It’s salty, tangy, full of ginger and garlic. The best part? It takes just a few minutes to make, and barely any prep work is needed!
Korean barbecue sauce is different from general tomato-based American-style BBQ sauces. Many other brands of bottled sauces are available at local stores and online platforms, but they often contain added sweeteners and tend to be high in sugar. With this homemade version, you can alter the flavors and sweetness to meet your taste preference.
Enjoy this Korean BBQ dipping sauce with your favorite grill recipes, tofu bowls, or simple as a drizzle over roasted vegetables.
💗 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make.
- Takes a few minutes.
- A perfect balance of sweet and savory.
- Versatile and can be used much like American-style barbecue sauce or as a marinade.
- No need for special equipment to whip up any batch of this.
🥣 Ingredients and Notes
Soy Sauce: I use regular to add bold flavor. You can use a low-sodium soy sauce for less salt. For a gluten-free version, use tamari.
Rice Vinegar: I like plain rice vinegar, but if you like “seasoned” rice vinegar, that will work here too.
Brown Sugar: If you wish to add a bit of sweetness, do not skip it. I used brown sugar; you can even use maple syrup.
Sriracha: I used Sriracha because it is easily obtained at the grocery store, but if you have it available, use gochujang sauce.
Toasted Sesame Seed Oil: I used toasted sesame oil to add a touch of richness with a unique, toasty, and nutty flavor.
Fresh Ginger: Freshly grated ginger root will give a very fragrant and moist taste. If you have old, dried-up ginger, it’s a good idea to head to the grocery store and get a fresh one.
Garlic: You will need 2-3 cloves, depending on their size.
Black Pepper: Just a little to taste. Black pepper is always excellent for solo seasoning and should be equally appreciated for how it punches up the sauce.
Red Pepper Flakes: You can’t go wrong with red pepper flakes. Adding it, in the beginning gives the entire dish some heat, while adding it at the end gives it a subtle spicy edge.
Cornstarch: Helps to thicken the sauce; if you need a substitute, you can use arrowroot powder.
Water: You will need two tablespoons to create a cornstarch slurry.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Korean BBQ Sauce
- Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, black pepper, rice wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, Sriracha, ginger, and garlic in the saucepan.
- Slowly bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
- While the sauce is heating, combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl to prepare a slurry.
- When the sauce starts boiling, add cornstarch, whisk continuously until the sauce is thick and can coat the back of a spoon, about 6-8 minutes.
- Use immediately on your favorite dishes, or wait for it to cool before transferring it to an airtight container to use for later. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
❓ Recipe FAQS
While Korean BBQ sauce is made from a soy sauce base, the American-style BBQ sauce has a tomato base.
All the ingredients used in the Korean BBQ sauce recipe are gluten-free. However, the earlier traditional sauce is not gluten-free so it can be replaced with a certified gluten-free tamari.
You can use your favorite sweetener or any substitute, but be sure it can change the taste and consistency of the sauce. Therefore, you may need to adjust and add more of the sweetener as needed.
Red pepper flakes and Sriracha in the sauce give it mild to medium spiciness. If you like mild spiciness, you can use less red pepper flakes, then taste and adjust accordingly.
📝 Expert Tips
- You can tweak the flavors once the sauce heats and thickens. Give it more flavor by adding more sweetness as desired or more spice with sriracha or red pepper flakes.
- To make the Korean BBQ sauce unique and your own, use additional ingredients, such as chopped white or red onion, green onion, hoisin sauce, or spicy Korean chili paste.
🍽 How to Serve
The bold flavors of the sauce are great with the following:
- Pair with tempeh, tofu and seitan.
- Use this as a finishing sauce for grain bowls, rice, tacos, and pizzas.
- Vegetable stir-fries.
- Marinate vegetables.
- Dip your favorite appetizer and finger foods.
- Spring rolls.
- Lettuce wraps.
- Spread layers on sandwiches and vegan burgers.
🫙 How to Store and Keep
Once the sauce has been prepared, transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to one month. Be sure to write the date you prepared it on your jar to help you keep track.
⚖️ Serving Size
This recipe makes up to 10 servings. However, you may end up using more or less depending on the recipe you use to incorporate the sauce into.
🎥 Video
😋 More Korean Recipes!
Recipe
Korean BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup soy sauce or tamari for gluten-free
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, black pepper, rice wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, Sriracha, ginger, and garlic in the saucepan. Slowly bring it to a boil.
- While the sauce is heating, combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl to prepare a slurry.
- When the sauce starts boiling, add cornstarch, whisking continuously until the sauce is thick and can coat the back of a spoon, about 6-8 minutes.
- Use immediately on your favorite dishes, or wait for it to cool before transferring it to an airtight container to use for later. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
- You can tweak the flavors once the sauce heats and thickens. Give it more flavor by adding more sweetness as desired or more spice with sriracha or red pepper flakes.
- To make the Korean BBQ sauce unique and your own, use additional ingredients, such as chopped white or red onion, green onion, hoisin sauce, or spicy Korean chili paste.
- Keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
Dannii
This sauce was perfect on tofu. I will definitely be making it again.
Ali
This korean bbq sauce was so simple to make and was exactly what I was looking for. Used some on tofu and some as a bbq pizza base sauce, both were so tasty!
Beth Sachs
This is such a tasty BBQ sauce! It’s perfect with air fried tofu.