The famous Japanese steakhouse sauce that’s phenomenal for dipping, drizzling and enjoying with your grilled meats, seafood, vegetables, rice, noodles and more! This homemade Yum Yum Sauce recipe is super quick and easy to make and tastes at least a hundred times better than store-bought, and without any junk ingredients!
One of our favorite places to go for date night is our local Japanese steakhouse for a hibachi grill dinner. Todd usually gets his standard, sushi, while I enjoy sampling the grilled chicken, vegetables, rice and noodles….all drizzled with the deservedly popular sweet and slightly tangy Japanese steakhouse sauce known affectionately as “Yum Yum Sauce.” Here’s our homemade yum yum sauce that captures the flavor you know and love!
What is Yum Yum Sauce?
While this sauce is referred to as a Japanese steakhouse sauce, you won’t find it in restaurants in Japan because it is an American invention. But it is a key component to the Japanese restaurant experience in the United States and Canada. It’s uncertain who was the first chef to invent it but chef Terry Ho is credited with being the first to bottle and mass produce it. He had been serving it at his Casual Japanese restaurant and it become so popular that he jumped on the opportunity to bottle it and make it commercially available.
This Japanese-American is also known as white sauce, shrimp sauce, hibachi sauce and yummy sauce. But whichever name you know it by the consensus is that it is indeed YUMMY! No Japanese steakhouse meal is complete without it – whether drizzled on grilled chicken, fried rice and noodles, vegetables and as a dipping sauce for shrimp, potstickers and sushi, it’s simply delicious!
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How To Use Yum Yum Sauce
This sauce is extremely versatile and the flavors pair will a wide variety of foods. It’s similar to what’s known in the U.S. as “Fry Sauce” (mayonnaise and ketchup) but with additional ingredients. You could consider it fry sauce on flavor steroids! Here are a few ways to use it:
- As a dipping sauce for shrimp
- Drizzled over fried rice and noodles
- With grilled chicken, meat and seafood
- Slathered on hamburger and hot dog buns
- With French fries and sweet potato fries
- As a dipping sauce for potstickers and wontons
- As a vegetable dip
- With sushi and rice balls
- In pasta salads
- In potato salads
- As a salad dressing
- On baked potatoes
Yum Yum Sauce Recipe
This popular sauce is a sweet one with a slight bit of tang. The main ingredients for yum yum sauce are standard but every Japanese chef uses different own ratios and some include their own special touches. We recently had the BEST hibachi sauce ever at our local Japanese steakhouse. I asked the chef and he revealed his secret addition: Mirin. It adds flavor and complexity and we’re including it in our recipe.
Mirin is Japanese sweet rice wine used for cooking. It’s similar to sake but is sweeter and has a lower alcohol content. If you don’t have access to mirin you can substitute a dry sherry or white wine mixed with 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Our yum yum sauce ingredients include mayonnaise, sugar, butter, paprika, ketchup, rice vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and mirin. For a smokier version you can add a touch of smoked paprika. And if you like a little heat add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper. Go easy on the ketchup and the paprika as this sauce should be a very pale pink color (hint, it’s sometimes also called white sauce).
As with most condiments you can buy this sauce in the store but let me tell you, NOTHING beats the flavor of homemade!
Let’s get started!
Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl, stir to thoroughly combine, cover and chill for at least 2 hours before using. For best flavor results let it chill overnight to give the flavors more time to meld. Store in an airtight jar in the fridge and it will keep for up to a week.
Enjoy!
For more phenomenal Asian condiments be sure to try our:
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Black Bean Sauce
- Plum Sauce
- Kecap Manis
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Ponzu Sauce
- Char Siu Sauce
- Ginger Sauce
BEST Yum Yum Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup quality mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons water , or until desired consistency is reached
- optional: a few splashes of hot sauce or cayenne pepper for a touch of heat
- optional: a small pinch of smoked paprika for a hint of smokiness
Instructions
- Thoroughly combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Preferably overnight for best flavor results.Store in an airtight jar in the fridge where it will keep for up to a week.Makes 1 1/4 cups
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet June 19, 2020
Anizjah Sellers says
This was a great for what I wanted but was missing some things. I added sesame oil and a little chili oil and more garlic and onions powder and it was great.
Webb Newman says
I made this and I made it for 3 servings and mine tastes way to “oniony” is there a way to fix it? Or just next time cut back on the onion powder?
Terri says
I LOVE this recipe. Thank you so much. I used both paprika and smoky paprika. I did not have mirin so I substituted white cooking wine. I like a little more tang, so I added 1T. of lime juice. So quick and easy and better for you than the bottled stuff.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you so much for the feedback, Terri, I’m thrilled you enjoyed it!
barbara Beckage says
Best ever. Made last night. I put it in the ref. When my grandkids came i had them try it first. They said it is the best ever.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed it, Barbara, thank you!
Amy says
I tried several recipes and none were what I wanted. This recipe is so good, better than the bottled Yum Yum sauce or the restaurants. Wow!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad, Amy, thank you very much! :)
Jesse says
Instead of using the paprika and cayenne just use chipotle yuuummm
Mandy says
This is the closest recipe I’ve found to being what we love at the Japanese Steakhouse! I substituted part Sherry cooking wine and sugar for the mirin, and used apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar. It was delicious! Had to thin it a little extra with water after it set. So good!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Mandy, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Danielle says
What brand mayo did you use ? I feel like that could make or break how this turns out, but maybe I’m wrong.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Danielle, I personally try to avoid soybean/vegetable oil so I opt for either avocado oil based mayo or European mayo that I bring back with me when I travel over there (for flavor the European mayo is my favorite). But if soybean oil isn’t an issue for you, Hellman’s/Best Foods mayo will do the trick from a flavor standpoint.
Joe G. says
Avacado oil is the way to gohelthy and tasty!
Ben Lesley says
Dukes mayo is a good choice. I also add sour cream and Sriracha sauce for a little extra kick. You can literally put this on anything from tacos to Hibachi, burgers and omletes.
Beth says
This sauce sounds so delicious! I made shrimp and it was so delicious! I will be making this again!
Suzy says
We always order extra when dining out, love that it’s so easy to make at home! We can have it anytime we want!
Kevin says
Yum Yum Sauce is the perfect name for this! It really is yum yum!
Michael says
very yummy, served it with BBQ
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Michael, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Toni says
This is so good! A new staple sauce at my house!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad to hear that, Toni, thank you!
Kerri says
This is perfection. I use this on so much stuff!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much, Kerri!
Erin says
This Yum Yum Sauce sounds amazing! I want to dive into my screen!