Yum Yum Sauce is the star dipping sauce for everything from veggies to fish and beef. It turns any dish from “ok” to mmmm-azing!
Yum Yum Sauce is a super simple dipping sauce to make and the creamy and savory addition to veggies and seafood that is almost impossible to resist. Using pantry staples like mayonnaise, tomato paste, and butter, and seasoned with spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika, this Yum Yum Sauce whips up in less than 10 minutes for an addicting side!
Having a Hibachi Night
My family and I love theatrical hibachi! The flames, the food flipping, and the chef’s jokes, it’s all just a really fun evening. While the food is certainly the main reason to go, I have to confess that I am an absolute sucker for the Yum Yum Sauce that they serve with shrimp and veggies. I will drizzle it over everything and dip anything I can into this sauce, it’s that amazing. I probably make this sauce a little too often in my house, but I can’t help it! Besides being addictive, it’s also so simple to make- all I need to do is whip together some mayo, butter, tomato paste, and spices and then I can make Bang Bang Shrimp or stir fry a meal to have with it. Since I’m making this homemade, I can also add some hot sauce or chili flakes for a mouthwatering, spicy Yum Yum Sauce. Shake up your weeknight meals with this easy Yum Yum Sauce and find out for yourself how addictive it is!
Other Recipes to Serve with Yum Yum Sauce
- Shrimp Fried Rice is a perfectly easy weeknight meal that would be dynamite with Yum Yum Sauce! Drizzle it over top or dip your shrimp, you can’t go wrong with how you eat it!
- Take a chance and try Yum Yum Sauce with a batch of Homemade Onion Rings and you’ll fall in love with this sauce and with making your own onion rings!
Ingredients
Condiments: Mayonnaise gives the sauce a deep, creamy base, so you will need your favorite regular mayo for this recipe.
Refrigerated: You will need melted butter.
Pantry Items: You will need tomato paste and sugar. Read the tips section if you don’t have tomato paste.
Seasoning: Garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika are all you need to season this sauce.
Extras: You will need a small amount of water to thin the sauce a little. Also, if you’d like your Yum Yum Sauce with a little kick, you will need either hot sauce, cayenne, or chili flakes.
How to Make Yum Yum Sauce
STEP ONE: You can make this sauce in a medium bowl and whisk it by hand or use an immersion blender. Another way to make this sauce is by adding all of the ingredients to a food processor. Once you’ve decided on the prep method, add all of your ingredients together in a bowl.
STEP TWO: Stir or blend the ingredients until everything is well mixed. Taste a bit of the sauce to determine if you want to add more hot sauce or other spices to turn up the heat.
STEP THREE: If you have time, give the Yum Yum Sauce some time in the fridge to let all of the flavors really come together for a truly outstanding sauce!
Tips for Success
- If you don’t have tomato paste or would just rather use ketchup, don’t add the sugar until you’ve tasted the dip. Ketchup has a lot of sugar already and you don’t want your Yum Yum Sauce to be too sweet. If after tasting the dip you’d like to add a bit more sugar, add 1/4 teaspoon, mix and then taste again and keep repeating until you have the flavor you like.
- Since you are making this at home you can make this as thick or thin as you like. Some people really like a dip that coats and sticks and add just enough water to make it creamy and others like a looser Yum Yum Sauce and add more water. The choice is yours, just mix small amounts of water until you get the consistency you like.
- Don’t forget that you can always kick up the heat on this dip by adding your favorite hot sauce, red chili flakes, or cayenne powder!
Why is it called Yum Yum Sauce?
The answer is in the name! This easy-to-make sauce is a Japanese Steak House staple in America and is wildly popular because of its savory, tangy flavor and the fact that it is the perfect side to veggies and fish. Thanks to Terry Ho, who decided to bottle and brand Yum Yum Sauce, we can purchase Yum Yum Sauce at most grocery stores to enjoy at home, but I promise, this homemade version is spectacular.
Does Yum Yum Sauce need to be refrigerated?
Yum Yum Sauce is mayonnaise-based so this sauce does need to be refrigerated. If kept in an airtight container it will stay good for two weeks.
Need some delicious ideas for what to dip into Yum Yum Sauce?
- Quick Shrimp Stir Fry
- Air Fryer Blooming Onion
- Coconut Shrimp
- Super Simple Grilled Summer Veggies
- Air Fryer Green Beans
*This post was originally posted on 10/22/2017.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar less if you use ketchup
- Hot sauce (optional)
- Cayenne pepper (optional)
- Red chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a medium bowl or a small food processor. Stir or blend to combine.
- Check the seasoning. If you want the sauce spicier add in some hot sauce, cayenne pepper, or chili flakes to taste. For a slightly sweeter sauce add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. Mix the sauce once more.
- Pour the yum yum sauce in an airtight container and allow it to sit overnight for best results.
Vickie Hutchinson says
I have been using this recipe for a couple of years and enjoy it immensely. It tastes as good if not better than what you get at the Japanese restaurants. Its not as watered down.
Micah says
This is not even close to what Japanese style take outs or dine in restaurants use. Look at the finished product-you can see all this smoked paprika spice. And that’s all you taste also. Sure, it gets better if you let it marinate. But this doesnt taste or look like the sauce I’ve had at numerous Japanese restaurants across the country (even with slightly different recipes).
Mack says
Awesome recipe. I made a one serving portion. I could not find my cayenne pepper so I used a touch of Berbere. Came out excellent.
Gabrielle Adams says
I cut the recipe in half and then used 1 tbs of ketchup and 1 tbs of sugar… so delicious! I will never buy store bought again.
April D. says
This was very tasty. It is a good base recipe. I did a tiny batch so I could adjust it for my personal tastes. I used miracle whip instead of mayo and it still tasted just fine. The sauce went great with my hibachi dinner. For me, it did taste similar to what my local hibachi grill makes.