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!
For more delicious homemade Japanese sauces be sure to try our Teriyaki Sauce, Ponzu Sauce and Eel Sauce!
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!
How to Use Yum Yum SauceÂ
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 that give it a far more interesting flavor. You could consider it fry sauce on flavor steroids! Here are a few ways to use yum yum sauce:
- As a dipping sauce for shrimp, crab cakes, and fish cakes
- Drizzled over fried rice and noodles
- With grilled chicken, meat and seafood
- Slathered on hamburgers and hot dogs
- With French fries, sweet potato fries, or baked potato wedges
- As a dipping sauce for potstickers and wontons
- As a vegetable dip
- On baked potatoes
- With sushi and rice balls
- In pasta /macaroni salad or potato salad
- As a salad dressing (just add a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it out)
Can This Be Made in Advance?
Absolutely, in fact it’s recommended for the best flavor. At minimum it should be made 2 hours in advance but a day in advance is better. Yum Yum Sauce will keep for up to a week in the fridge.
Yum Yum Sauce Ingredients
This popular sauce is fairly sweet 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, so feel free to experiment. 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). That said, if your preference is darker feel free to add more.
As with most condiments you can buy this sauce in the store but let me tell you, NOTHING beats the flavor of homemade!
Yum Yum Sauce Recipe
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.
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 and the result rivals your favorite hibachi restaurant yum yum sauce!
Enjoy!
Watch How to Make It
For more delicious homemade Asian sauces be sure to try our:
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Eel Sauce
- Black Bean Sauce
- Plum SauceÂ
- Kecap Manis
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Ponzu Sauce
- Char Siu Sauce
- Ginger Sauce
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
Miriam Sutters says
This was really delicious, just like at our favorite Japanese restaurant!
Trish says
This yum yum sauce is so yummy!! I know that’s cheesy but it’s true :)
Kimberly Killebrew says
Lol, thank you so much Trish!
Valerie Gill says
Terrific sauce! I had always wondered what that “hibachi sauce” was that we get at the restaurant and in doing on online search came across your recipe. It tastes EXACTLY like the restaurant stuff. So glad I found this, thank you!
Kimberly Killebrew says
That’s awesome, Valerie, thank you so much!
Teresa says
My husband and I enjoy visiting our local hibachi from time to time but also enjoy cooking together at home. I am so glad I found your recipe for yum yum sauce, I was wanting to recreate our favorite version here at home and this was it.
Kimberly Killebrew says
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it, Teresa, thank you!