Make your own homemade Yum Yum Sauce when you're cooking up a stir fry or yummy fried rice at home. This is it, folks! THE famous Japanese steakhouse sauce that they serve at hibachi restaurants! Your fried rice, chicken, hibachi vegetables, and shrimp will never be the same! With over 250 5-star reviews, this sauce is the real deal.
As an added bonus, here is my tried and true Hibachi-style fried rice recipe to go with this yum yum sauce!
Every time we go to our favorite Japanese hibachi steak house I take notes on how they fry up the rice, meat, veggies, etc. They keep the pan HOT, use only soy sauce to season, and cook everything quickly to sear the outside and keep the inside tender. None of that is relevant if you don't have the delicious sauce that they serve with each meal. Also called Japanese white sauce, yum yum sauce is served in a small bowl like ranch salad dressing and is the perfect sauce for dipping or drizzling.
I stumbled across this easy yum yum sauce recipe over a decade ago, and IT. IS. SPOT. ON. And while we miss the show of our chef dicing veggies at a ridiculous speed, stacking onions and lighting them on fire, and the other fun elements of the table show, it is nice to have a more affordable option to enjoy at home.
🥢Why I Like This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: Chances are, you already have everything needed to make your own copycat Genji or Benihana yum yum sauce recipe at home. It's a mayonnaise-based sauce with delicious flavor add-ins like garlic, butter, paprika, and tomato paste.
- Versatile: Also called Japanese white sauce, this simple yum yum sauce is served in a small bowl like ranch salad dressing. You can use it on your salad, you can dip seafood and sushi into it, and you can also pour it over fried rice and hibachi chicken. That’s our favorite way to enjoy it. In fact, we can’t even eat fried rice without this yummy sauce. It’s addictive, you’ve been warned.
- Easy to Store: Yum yum sauce stores well, so you can make a batch and keep it in the refrigerator for at least a week.
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What Others Are Saying
I made this last night to go with shrimp fried rice. It was delicious! I halved the recipe and added a couple of shakes of ground mustard. My husband declared it was "freaking amazing" and something that needed to be made every time we have shrimp or fried rice. ---Amy
My taste buds thank you, and my waistline does not, cause you nailed it!
Yum!!! ---Kari
Thank you Thank you Thank you for making this recipe!!! This sauce is goal in my family! Anytime we have hibachi this is our sauce on everything. This tastes just like in the restaurant. ---Lisa
Tips and Tricks
- Use mayonnaise, not Miracle Whip. For authentic sauce, make sure to use full-fat mayonnaise, which is distinctly different than Miracle Whip. I have made this with reduced-fat mayonnaise, and it works well, but regular mayonnaise is my first choice.
- Allow the sauce to rest. While you can use the yum yum sauce right after making it, allowing it a few hours (preferably 6-8 hours) brings out the full flavor of the spices. You won't regret it. This is the same with homemade restaurant ranch dressing and most chip dips. They are better after the flavors have had a chance to meld.
- Experiment with the spices. If you like heat, add a pinch of cayenne pepper! If you want a boost of garlic, add a bit more. I recommend trying it AS IS the first time and then making adjustments the second time you make it.
🥣 Recipe Ingredients
- Mayonnaise: Full-fat mayonnaise is preferred over low-fat.
- Water: just a small amount allows you to thin the sauce to the perfect consistency for drizzling.
- Tomato paste: if you don't have tomato paste on hand you can use ketchup in its place.
- Melted butter: don't leave this out. It's a small amount of butter, but adds rich flavor to the sauce.
- Garlic powder, sugar, and paprika: a delicious trifecta of spices and flavoring. For a spicy kick, add a drop of sriracha sauce or a dash of cayenne pepper.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
👩🍳How To Make Yum Yum Sauce
Step 1: Mix ingredients together and refrigerate overnight (at least 6-8 hours).
Step 2: Thin with a tiny bit of water if desired before serving to achieve the desired consistency.
Homemade Yum Yum Sauce FAQs
Sometimes called pink sauce, Japanese shrimp sauce, Benihana Yum Yum sauce, or hibachi shrimp sauce, this is the authentic yum yum sauce you’ve been looking for ever since enjoying it at your local Japanese steak houses or hibachi grills! Quite possibly one of the best condiments out there.
You can, but it won't taste as good. We've had it both ways and it is definitely better with regular mayonnaise (mayo).
6 hours or overnight. The flavors need time to really meld before use. The longer you chill it the better.
It will stay fresh in the fridge for at least 7 days in an airtight container. Store-bought yum yum sauce lasts longer because of the added preservatives, but tastes nothing like the real deal.
Dipping shrimp, drizzled over salad or noodles, as a dipping sauce for French fries and sweet potato. It would be delicious on burgers too!
Simple Pairings
MADE THIS RECIPE AND LOVED IT? 💛 Please leave a STAR rating and COMMENT below! Post it to Facebook or Pinterest to easily share with friends!
Homemade Yum Yum Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon ketchup or tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. melted butter
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Mix ingredients together in a bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.
- Drizzle over chicken, shrimp or fried rice.
Yo says
Why does it only last 5 days in fridge???
Brandy says
I've only had it last that long before we've used it up. It started to separate, but I gave it a good stir and it was still delicious. I can't vouch for longer than that since we always use it faster.
Yo says
Thanks!
Nicole says
I've had some in the fridfe for a little over a month before it really started to separate. Didn't "go bad" but the texture really changes (very liquidy) and it kinds of goes flat flavor-wise. Best to make smaller batches more often
Amy says
Fantastic!!!!
I add a little more garlic and paprika.
I also add about a TBS or to taste of sriracha sauce. It really makes a difference!!!!!!!!!
Thank you!!!
Brandy says
Sriracha sauce is GENIUS! That little kick of heat would be perfect!
Temika says
I will be trying this recipe tonight! My daughter and I love hibachi chicken 🙂
EMILY says
My family and I love this stuff! We make it all the time. Beats the store bought stuff hands down.
Brandy says
It totally does!
Chris says
Yum bloody yum. DELISH.....
M says
Hi Brandy,
Is there a particular reason why you say not to use light mayo for this recipe? I have a bunch that I need to use up, so I figured this sauce would be a good way to do it.
-M
P.S. Any other good ideas to use up a lot of light mayo? (Besides the obvious potato/macaroni salad options)
Brandy says
Hi -M!
We used light mayo once (because it seemed like a better idea!) and it affected the flavor. It was still good, but did not taste like the yum yum sauce from Genji (our favorite Japanese steak house). It seemed like a watered down version. If you need to use it up anyway, go ahead and try it! It doesn't take a lot of ingredients so if you don't care for it as much you aren't wasting much. We just both agreed (my husband and I) that the truly copycat version needed regular mayo. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hillbilly says
Calories per serving??
Michele Schiegner says
I love Chinese, but I have never had any luck cooking it. Your recipes really sound great.
Brandy says
Thanks Michele, I hope you have better luck with these if you decide to try one!
Haleama says
This was amazing thank you for the yum yum sauce!!! Recipe was right on point
Brandy says
Great! We love it too. Fried rice isn't the same without it 🙂 Take care!
Brandy
CCKline says
It's got a pretty strong mayo after taste. I may try using less mayo next time.
Kayla Jordan says
Do you have a recipe for the brown sauce that is served at most Japanese steakhouses. I love it.
ajillofalltrades says
I have actually perfected this recipe with a couple of adjustments:
I use only 1/8 c. of water and 2.5 tspns. of ketchup instead of tomato paste as it is readily available. I think it helped to lighten up the taste a little (I agreed with Mabani).
Mabani says
This is definitely an American or stateside version because I had never heard of it nor had it until recently. No where near as good as the Asian ones which are definitely more authentic & better tasting. This is too heavy for real hibachi.
Christina says
This was very good.. I added horseradish to mine to give it extra kick.