The Teriyaki Sauce Brand You Should Never Buy At The Grocery Store

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Teriyaki sauce is an all-purpose condiment that transforms everything from proteins to vegetables; you can use it for this more traditional Teriyaki chicken recipe or even as a marinade and dressing for this teriyaki chicken crunch salad. While we've got plenty of tips on how to make the perfect teriyaki sauce from scratch, a bottled teriyaki sauce is a great resource to cut your prep work in half, and many teriyaki sauce brands are as delicious as anything you might be able to cook up at home. But that can't be said for the La Choy brand.

In our ranking of 13 popular teriyaki sauce brands, La Choy teriyaki sauce came in last place. We based our ranking on the flavor profile and texture of each sauce, with the ideal being a thick yet pourable sauce with a balanced trifecta of sweet, salty, and umami. Unfortunately, La Choy fell far short of the complexity you'd expect from teriyaki sauce. Despite garlic and ginger making an appearance on the ingredients list, the flavor of La Choy was very soy and sugar heavy. Not only was the flavor profile one-sided and underwhelming, but the texture was gloopy and congealed; we suspect that too much cornstarch is the culprit. While the low price tag might catch your eye, with La Choy, a cheap price means a cheap taste.

Not only did La Choy come in last on our list of brands, but it's also the subject of many one-star customer reviews on La Choy's own website. Disgruntled customers on both Lachoy.com and Amazon assert that La Choy has changed its original recipe to this new and seriously downgraded version. Customers describe the taste as "soy sauce, vinegar, and little else" and "bland and one-note." Another customer described La Choy teriyaki sauce's consistency as a gelatin that forms a clump on top of your food instead of coating it in a thick, smooth sauce.

If you have already bought this disappointingly gloopy and bland teriyaki sauce, you don't have to throw the bottle away. You can help correct the flavor and texture of La Choy teriyaki sauce with a few additional ingredients. If the sauce is too thick, you can easily thin it out by adding more liquid. Instead of just whisking in a few tablespoons of water, you can try adding mirin, rice vinegar, or even the juice of one lime to brighten the sugar and soy sauce with more acidity. You'll want a thinner sauce for marinades, while a thicker sauce will work better for dipping.