Korean Soy Honey Glaze

The soy honey glaze is a perfect introduction to cooking Korean or Asian foods at home. It's a quick and easy sauce recipe that doesn't require any special ingredients and is ready in minutes. Surprisingly versatile, this sweet soy sauce-based glaze works on everything from chicken to veggies. It will spark your interest in the cuisine, and from here, you can try full-on Korean dishes, especially staples such as bulgogi, bibimbap, and short ribs.

For this recipe, you'll need just four common kitchen ingredients: soy sauce, sugar, honey, and extra-virgin olive oil. They're whisked into a sweet glaze that gets a nice salty, umami flavor from the soy sauce. Use light soy sauce in this recipe; it's the easiest to find at any grocery store, and the honey will thicken the glaze nicely as the food cooks. Note that dark soy sauce will make the glaze too sweet, so it's best to avoid that. If you prefer, use a low-sodium soy sauce or switch to tamari for gluten-free dishes.

Extra-virgin olive oil works best for most applications. However, it does have a low smoke point. Switch to pure or light olive oil if you plan to cook over high heat (anything over 375 F) to avoid burnt-tasting food and a smoky kitchen.

Once your glaze is ready, use it as a marinade or baste it on the protein or veggies of your choice. It's particularly well-suited to chicken and is the base for Korean sweet soy and honey chicken, where it's accented with fresh garlic. Try it on chicken wings, pork, ribs, fish, seafood, tofu, or veggies. The glaze can work for pan-fried, baked, or grilled dishes and is an excellent way to boost the flavor of kebab skewers.

If you're making the glaze to serve a large number of people, increase the recipe as needed. Separate a portion for marinating so you don't contaminate the rest of the glaze and use some for basting as the food cooks. Refrigerate any leftover glaze; it keeps for two weeks.