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Home » Recipes » Cooking Tips and Basic Techniques

Retro Hibachi Sauce for Steak

Published: Jul 10, 2024 by Marye

This hibachi sauce recipe is the perfect marinade for all kinds of meats and poultry. It's quick and easy to make and gives grilled food delicious flavor. This vintage recipe is from my parents recipe stash from the 1960s.
Total time for the recipe to be finished.Total Time 4 hours hours 5 minutes minutes
Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe
Closeup of grilled steaks showing the sauce.
Collage of hibachi sauce images with title text overlay for Pinterest.

If you’re a fan of Japanese cuisine, you’re going to do backflips over this retro hibachi sauce recipe that I found in the family recipe box! This velvety, umami-packed sauce is the secret to making your homemade hibachi dishes taste just like they do at your favorite restaurant.

It was one my dad used all the time and it is SO good!

Closeup of grilled steaks showing the sauce.
Table of Contents
  • 🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
  • 🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need for this hibachi sauce recipe
  • 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
  • 🍴Must have tools: essential equipment
  • 🥫 Leftover love: how to store hibachi sauce
  • Marye's Tip o' the day
  • 💭 Insider tips: things to know
  • 👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
  • 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
  • 🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose hibachi sauce
  • 📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
  • 📖 Recipe
  • ✍🏻 A note from Marye...
  • hibachi sauce
  • 💬 Comments

Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.

🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite

  • Y'all, this is so quick and easy to make! It really amps up the flavor on chicken, pork, beef, and grilled veggies.
  • Any time you are grilling you'll want this sauce on board!
  • Be sure to reserve part of the marinade in a separate container from the one you are marinating the meat in.

Hibachi cooking was HUGE in the 1960s! This hibachi steak marinade is a delicious part of my childhood summers and I wanted to share it with you.

The flavor is sweet and tangy, salty and garlicky. It adds so much flavor to burgers and steaks! Give it a try.

🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need for this hibachi sauce recipe

This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.

Labeled ingredients for hibachi sauce.

📖 Make it your own: yummy variations

  1. Zesty: Add a pinch of ginger or grated fresh ginger for a zesty kick.
  2. Spicy: Mix in a bit of sriracha or hot sauce for some heat.
  3. Low-sodium: Use low-sodium soy sauce for a healthier option.

🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up -

Add a teaspoon of miso paste (or to taste) for an extra layer of umami flavor. Trust me, this takes the sauce to a whole new level of deliciousness!

zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive

🍴Must have tools: essential equipment

  1. mixing bowl
  2. whisk
  3. cups
  4. chef's knife
  5. cutting board

🥫 Leftover love: how to store hibachi sauce

Once you've marinated the meat in the hibachi sauce throw the sauce out. This is important to maintain food safety.

Store any unused, leftover hibachi sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Marye's Tip o' the day

Always taste and adjust the seasoning before using. A little tweak can make a big difference!

💭 Insider tips: things to know

  1. Use fresh garlic for the best flavor.
  2. Let the sauce stand for 30 minutes so that the flavors can blend.
  3. Be sure to pat the meat dry after removing from the marinade.

👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs

Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!

Can I make this sauce ahead of time?

Sure! It actually tastes better after sitting for awhile.

Can I freeze the hibachi sauce?

You can and it's fine. The thing is it's so easy to make there's really no need to.

⏲️ Marye's time saving hacks -

Use diced onions and chopped garlic from the produce section of your grocery store to cut out a few minutes of chopping.

📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love

  • Closeup of the homemade dry rub in a bowl.
    Texas Dry Rub Recipe
  • Side view of a jar full of the homemade sauce.
    Homemade Teriyaki Sauce with Honey
  • Close up of hot pepper vinegar in jars.
    Southern Hot Pepper Vinegar
  • Onion bacon jam in a canning jar.
    Onion Bacon Jam

🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose hibachi sauce

Have extra? Use the hibachi sauce as a salad dressing, or mix it into a pasta salad for a tangy twist.

📞 Wrapping it up: the last word

My dad was the hibachi king. He grilled everything that could be grilled in the summer.

In fact, he even would use the grill to make his fried eggs in the morning on the weekends. He had a repertoire of sauces that would make Bobby Flay cry.

The other day I was going through some old recipes and found Dad's Hibachi Sauce recipe.

He used it for all kinds of beef from kebabs to hamburgers but it is amazing when used to grill steaks. You just marinate the meat in the sauce for 4 to 6 hours and then grill.

You can brush some reserved Hibachi sauce on the meat as it is grilling if you like but it isn't necessary. You come up with tender, juicy, flavorful meat that can't be duplicated anywhere... and you get to share in some of the best flavors of my childhood.

Welcome home.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

Closeup of grilled steaks showing the sauce.

Retro Hibachi Sauce for Steak

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This hibachi sauce recipe is the perfect marinade for all kinds of meats and poultry. It's quick and easy to make and gives grilled food delicious flavor. This vintage recipe is from my parents recipe stash from the 1960s.
Course Sauce
Cuisine American - Vintage
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
marinating time: 4 hours hours
Total Time: 4 hours hours 5 minutes minutes
Servings:16
Calories:21
Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • ⅛ cup vinegar
  • 4 bay leaves

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
  • Let hibachi sauce stand for 30 minutes so the flavors can blend, if possible.
  • Reserve ¼ cup for brushing steaks when you grill them. Cover and refrigerate.
  • Soak your steaks in remaining sauce at least 4 hours.
  • Drain and blot dry. Discard sauce.
  • Cook steaks until done to your liking on the grill, brushing with reserved sauce.

Notes

Discard any sauce that's been used to marinate meat or poultry.
Keep unused sauce in the refrigerator.
You'll find more helpful tips and variations in the body of the post.

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 21kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.02g | Saturated Fat: 0.004g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.003g | Sodium: 406mg | Potassium: 30mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.

First published August 11, 2010. Last updated July 10, 2024 for readability and editorial improvements.

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.

Some of you may have grown up watching The Wonder Years. I grew up IN the Wonder Years.

The 1960s were an interesting time to be a kid. There was still a lot of freedom to run around in most areas. You could ride your bike to the corner store for a 5 cent bottle of Coke.

If you lived in a big town you might have a McDonalds and you could get a burger 35 cents or a cheeseburger for 45 cents. They had, as I recall, a  menu that consisted of  plain burgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, onion rings, several kinds of coke, coffee, and shakes.

No Big Macs, no triple cheeseburgers, no fancy salads or coffees.

Oh, and you might as well know, if you don't all ready, that everything carbonated in my house is called coke. So, we have conversations that go something like this:

Can you bring me a coke on ice?

Sure, what kind do you want?

Ummm.... Do we have Coke?

No, We have Dr. Pepper and Pepsi.

Next time you get cokes can you get Coke?

Sure.

Closeup of grilled steaks showing the sauce.

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About Marye

Meet Marye Audet, a wizard in the kitchen and a storyteller at heart. Marye is like your eccentric but fun aunt who knows all the secret recipes and isn't afraid to spill them.

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Marye Audet-White, founder of Restless Chipotle Media

Hey Y'all, I'm Marye

Welcome to my kitchen! ☕

NY Times bestselling author. 10 cookbooks. Mom of 8 kids. Homeschooling mom for 22 years. Addicted to Hallmark Christmas Movies. Collector of old cookbooks.

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