This Yum Yum Sauce recipe is simple to make in 10 minutes or less. It’s perfect for all your Japanese steakhouse-inspired dinners without any additivess. It’s naturally gluten-free, with simple dairy-free options as well. Pair it with my Hibachi Dinner at Home, (coming soon). It lights up the flavors of hibachi chicken and veggies as well as the fried rice.
Yum Yum sauce is just as its name implies: it’s super tasty! It’s served at Japanese steakhouses and usually paired with hibachi dinner.
It’s a mayonnaise-based sauce with simple, flavorful ingredients and a touch of melted butter that adds a nice, rich depth to the sauce.
You can buy bottled Yum Yum sauce at the store, but there’s nothing like homemade, and it only takes a few minutes! Plus, your at-home version of a hibachi restaurant tastes way better.
Below, you’ll find my recipe with avocado oil mayonnaise made from scratch in your blender. From there you can add the remaining gradients or you can use your favorite high-quality mayonnaise instead.
Once you get the hang of avocado oil mayonnaise, you won’t look back! It’s so tasty and you can whip up a batch in about 90 seconds.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Mayonnaise – I like to use avocado oil mayo and there are instructions in the recipe card notes on how to make your own. The best store-bought mayo I’ve ever had is Kewpie mayonnaise which is more traditional. We don’t personally use it because it’s usually made with soybean oil.
- Ketchup – I use sugar-free ketchup from Primal Kitchen. You can also use tomato paste and thin the sauce with a bit of water until the sauce is your desired consistency.
- Sriracha – hot sauce is traditionally added to yum yum sauce and we prefer the flavor of sriracha.
- Butter – a little bit of cooled melted butter is whisked into the yum yum sauce and adds a nice depth of flavor.
- Rice vinegar – adds a little acidity and there isn’t a good substitute for it. I would use white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar if you can’t find it.
- Smoked paprika – regular paprika is the usual spice, but I love a little smokey flavor from smoked paprika.
- Garlic Powder – or granulated garlic adds depth of flavor. If you have granulated onion, sometimes called onion powder add that as well. It’s listed as optional in the recipe.
How to make this recipe step by step
Step 1: Start by adding the ingredients listed to a bowl. Or you can begin by making your own avocado oil mayonnaise the directions for this are listed in the recipe notes.
Step 2: Whisk together the ingredients until the Yum Yum sauce is emulsified.
Transfer it to a container and refrigerate until you are ready to serve it with hibachi dinner at home.
Ways to serve this
- Serve this as a dipping sauce with my hibachi chicken dinner at home, (recipe coming soon).
- The sauce is also great drizzled over my Instant Pot Egg Roll Bowl, Korean Ground Beef Bowls, Pot Sticker Stir Fry, or Shrimp Sushi Bowls.
- I’ve also used the leftovers of this sauce over my Banh Mi Burger Bowls with some freshly steamed rice added to the recipe. It’s very similar to the Sriracha Mayo I normally use and the flavors work well.
FAQ’s
Yum Yum Sauce is a famous Japanese steakhouse sauce with a mayo base. It’s served at Japanese Hibachi restaurants. It’s also perfect with steak, seafood, vegetables. Or you can serve it with something a little different as a dip for French fries, crab cakes, or anything listed above in ways to serve this.
No, yum yum sauce has a slightly different flavor than srirach mayo. There are a couple of differences, firstly yum yum sauce should contain a bit of melted butter as well as paprika. Sirracha mayo doesn’t have butter and usually doesn’t contain paprika but can sometimes. However that being said, I substitute one for the other if that’s what I have in the fridge!
Yes, yum yum sauce is really tasty on a burger, or try it in my Burger Bowls!
Storing leftovers
- To store – place any leftovers into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to five days. If you start by making your own avocado oil and mayonnaise, refrigerate any leftovers for up to 2 to 3 days.
- Make ahead – this sauce is best made ahead and refrigerated for at least two hours or overnight before serving. This allows the flavors of the garlic powder and smoked paprika to permeate the sauce better.
Tips & Tricks
- It’s important for the mayonnaise to be close to room temperature and the melted butter to be cooled before you mix the two ingredients together.
- If the butter is too hot, it can melt the mayonnaise. If the butter is cooled but the mayonnaise is cold, it can congeal into hard bits in your sauce instead of being silky smooth.
- I start by melting the butter and setting it aside. Then, I make mayonnaise from scratch, which means it’s already at room temperature. It’s the simplest way to make Yum Yum sauce that is ultra smooth every time.
Dietary Options & Substitutions
- Dairy-free: – If you’re dairy-free, try using dairy-free butter. You can also omit the butter. It adds a wonderful depth of flavor but isn’t completely necessary.
- Paleo – for Paleo, try using melted ghee instead of butter.
More Sauce Recipe Inspiration
I really hope you enjoy this homemade Yum Yum Sauce recipe! If you get a chance to make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Yum Yum Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup avocado oil mayonnaise - at room temperature, see notes
- 1/4 cup ketchup - I use sugar-free from Primal Kitchen
- 2 tbsp sriracha - or to taste
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic - or garlic powder + 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika - or regular
- 1 tsp rice vinegar - add more to taste if desired
- 1 tbsp salted butter - melted and cooled
- water to thin if necessary
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Refrigerate until you're ready to serve the yum yum sauce, or up to 1 week. If you use homemade mayonnaise, the sauce keeps up to 3 days.
- This sauce tastes best if refrigerated for 1-4 hours before serving so the flavors can develop.