How to Make Yum Yum Sauce
By Mia Hartwell
Yum yum sauce is the pale orange, faintly sweet, deeply moreish sauce that arrives in a little dish at a hibachi restaurant and disappears long before the food does. People put it on the fried rice, then the chicken, then the vegetables, then quietly ask for more. It is not complicated, and there is no reason to keep buying small expensive bottles of it.
The recipe is mayonnaise plus a few things you almost certainly have. What separates a good homemade version from a flat one is not a secret ingredient, it is two small decisions most recipes get wrong: they reach for ketchup instead of tomato paste, and they skip the butter entirely. Fix those and it tastes like the restaurant.
There is also one step you cannot rush, and it is the reason so many people report that their homemade batch tasted like seasoned mayonnaise. This guide covers the ratio, both of those fixes, and exactly how long it needs to sit before it becomes what you were expecting.
What Yum Yum Sauce Actually Is
Worth clearing up first: it is not a Japanese sauce. It was created for Japanese steakhouses in the United States, and in Japan it is neither traditional nor widely known. That is not a mark against it, it just explains why there is no soy sauce, no rice vinegar, and nothing recognisably Japanese in the ingredient list.
You will see the same sauce under several names depending on the restaurant: white sauce, shrimp sauce, sakura sauce, or hibachi sauce. They all describe a mayonnaise base tinted with tomato, enriched with butter, and seasoned with dry spices.
The Ratio
Everything is scaled to 1 cup of mayonnaise, which makes about a cup and a quarter of finished sauce.
| Ingredient | Amount | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Mayonnaise | 1 cup | The base, sets the whole texture |
| Tomato paste | 1 tbsp | Colour and depth without extra sweetness |
| Melted butter | 1 tbsp | The restaurant richness most recipes skip |
| Sugar | 1 tsp | Balances the tang of the mayonnaise |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | Savoury backbone, disperses evenly |
| Paprika | 1 tsp | Warmth and the orange tint |
| Onion powder | 1/2 tsp | Rounds out the garlic |
| Water | 2 to 4 tbsp | Thins it to a drizzle |
A pinch of cayenne is a common optional addition, and some restaurant versions include a little mirin or rice vinegar for brightness. Neither is essential.
Choosing Your Mayonnaise
The mayonnaise is roughly 80 percent of this sauce, so it is the one ingredient genuinely worth thinking about. Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise is the best choice if you can find it. It is made with egg yolks only rather than whole eggs, and seasoned with rice vinegar and MSG, which makes it richer, silkier, and considerably more savoury. It gets you closer to the restaurant version than any other single change.
Failing that, a good full fat mayonnaise is perfectly fine. What matters far more is what you avoid: light, low fat, and reduced calorie mayonnaise all swap fat for water and thickeners, which gives you a thin, sharply tangy sauce that never develops the silky texture that makes this cling to rice.
How to Make It
Five minutes of work, then a few hours of waiting.
Melt the butter and let it cool
Melt a tablespoon of butter and give it a minute to cool. This is the ingredient most recipes leave out, and it is what supplies the rounded savoury richness of the restaurant version. Do not add it piping hot, since that can thin the mayonnaise and split the emulsion.
Whisk the base together
Whisk the mayonnaise, tomato paste, and cooled butter until the colour is completely even. Keep going until there are no orange streaks left, because tomato paste is thick and stubborn and tends to sit in pockets if you stop early.
Add the dry seasonings
Whisk in the sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder. Use the powders rather than fresh garlic or onion. In an uncooked sauce, fresh alliums stay harsh and only get more aggressive as the sauce sits, while the powders hydrate and mellow.
Thin it, slowly
Add water one tablespoon at a time, whisking fully between each, until it drizzles off a spoon in a steady ribbon rather than dropping in blobs. Two to four tablespoons is usually right. Going too far is not fixable without doubling the batch, so go gradually.
Rest it in the fridge, and do not skip this
Cover it and refrigerate for at least 2 to 4 hours, ideally overnight. This is the whole difference between a good copy and a disappointing one. The powders need time to hydrate and the paprika and tomato need to bloom into the fat. Straight from the bowl it tastes like seasoned mayonnaise, and the next morning it tastes like yum yum sauce.
Taste and adjust
Taste it after resting, not before. It will have thickened slightly, so add a splash more water if needed, and adjust with a pinch more sugar or paprika. Serve it cold, and a squeeze bottle makes it far easier to drizzle properly.
Variations
- Spicy. Add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne, or a tablespoon of sriracha, which also deepens the colour.
- Smoky. Swap in smoked paprika, but use half as much since it is far more assertive.
- Extra garlic. Take the garlic powder up to 2 teaspoons. It is the flavour most people want more of.
- Brighter. Add a teaspoon of rice vinegar or mirin for a cleaner finish that cuts through fried food.
- Ginger. Half a teaspoon of ground ginger nudges it towards the ginger sauce also served at teppanyaki grills.
How to Store It
Keep it in a sealed container or squeeze bottle in the fridge for one to two weeks. The real limit is the date on your mayonnaise jar, so check that rather than counting from the day you mixed it. The flavour actually peaks around day two or three, once everything has fully melded, so making it ahead is an advantage rather than a compromise.
Do not freeze it. Mayonnaise is an emulsion, and freezing breaks it permanently. What thaws is oily and curdled, and unlike some split sauces there is no whisking it back together.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Yum yum sauce is five minutes of whisking, so nearly every disappointing batch comes down to one of these rather than to technique.
Serving it straight after mixing
This is the reason most homemade versions disappoint. Garlic powder and onion powder need time to hydrate and release their flavour, and the paprika and tomato paste need to bloom into the fat around them. Mixed and served immediately, all you can taste is mayonnaise with dusty spices sitting on top of it, and people conclude the recipe is wrong.
Do this instead: Refrigerate it for at least 2 to 4 hours before serving, and overnight if you can. Make it the day before you need it and it is a genuinely different sauce.
Using ketchup instead of tomato paste
Ketchup is roughly a quarter sugar and carries a strong vinegar note, so using enough of it to get the right colour also drags in a lot of sweetness and acidity. The sauce ends up tasting like a burger sauce or thousand island dressing rather than the savoury, subtly rich hibachi sauce you were aiming for.
Do this instead: Use 1 tablespoon of tomato paste for colour and concentrated tomato flavour. If you only have ketchup, use 2 tablespoons and drop the added sugar entirely.
Leaving out the butter
Most online recipes omit it, and it is the single biggest reason a homemade batch tastes close but not quite right. Restaurant versions are made beside a griddle where butter is constantly in play, and that extra fat gives the sauce a rounded, savoury richness that mayonnaise alone cannot deliver.
Do this instead: Whisk in 1 tablespoon of melted, slightly cooled butter. Let it cool for a minute first, since hot butter can thin the mayonnaise and split the sauce.
Using light or low fat mayonnaise
Yum yum sauce is essentially a fat delivery system, and light mayonnaise replaces much of that fat with water and thickeners. The result is thin, noticeably more tangy, and it never develops the silky coating texture that makes the sauce cling to fried rice. Thinning it further with water then makes it watery.
Do this instead: Use full fat mayonnaise. Japanese Kewpie is best, since it is made from egg yolks only and is richer and more savoury, but any good full fat mayonnaise works.
Adding all the water at once
The gap between too thick and too thin is only a couple of tablespoons, and once the sauce is watery there is no way back without adding more mayonnaise and doubling the batch. Because it also thickens slightly as it chills, a sauce that looks right in a warm kitchen can be stiff the next morning, which tempts people to overcorrect.
Do this instead: Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking fully between each. Stop when it drizzles off a spoon in a ribbon, and adjust again after resting.
Using fresh garlic instead of garlic powder
Fresh garlic seems like the upgrade and it is the wrong call here. Raw garlic in an uncooked sauce stays sharp and hot, and rather than melding it becomes more aggressive over the days the sauce sits. It also introduces moisture and shortens how long the batch keeps in good condition.
Do this instead: Stick with garlic powder, which dissolves evenly and mellows as it hydrates. If you want more garlic flavour, add another half teaspoon rather than a clove.
Being heavy handed with the paprika
Paprika is doing colour work as much as flavour work, and it is easy to keep adding it chasing a deeper orange. Past about a teaspoon per cup it starts tasting chalky and faintly bitter, and no amount of sugar or mayonnaise will cover a dusty, over-paprika sauce.
Do this instead: Keep it to 1 teaspoon per cup and get your colour from the tomato paste instead. Smoked paprika is a nice variation, but use even less of it.
Freezing leftovers
Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil and egg held in suspension, and freezing forces those two apart permanently. What thaws is a curdled, oily liquid with solids floating in it, and unlike some split sauces it cannot be whisked back together. People freeze it assuming it behaves like other sauces.
Do this instead: Keep it in the fridge and use it within 1 to 2 weeks. Make a smaller batch if you will not get through it, since it takes five minutes to make more.
What to Serve It With
Fried rice is the classic and probably the best use, so it is worth having a batch ready when you make shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice, or a simple egg fried rice. A drizzle over the top just before serving is exactly how it arrives at the restaurant.
It is equally good on anything from a hot pan or an air fryer. Try it with air fryer garlic shrimp, a chicken teriyaki rice bowl, or a plain vegetable stir fry, where it turns a light dinner into something far more satisfying. As a dip it is excellent with homemade chicken nuggets, and it makes a very good burger sauce.
If you like keeping your own condiments on hand, our guides on homemade mustard and hot honey cover two more worth making.
The short version
Whisk 1 cup full fat mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon tomato paste and 1 tablespoon melted cooled butter. Add 1 teaspoon each of sugar, garlic powder, and paprika, plus 1/2 teaspoon onion powder. Thin with water a tablespoon at a time until it drizzles. Then refrigerate at least 2 to 4 hours, ideally overnight, before tasting. Keeps 1 to 2 weeks, never freeze it.
Make it the night before you plan to use it and the difference is obvious. It is one of the few sauces that genuinely rewards being forgotten about in the fridge for a day.
For dinners to put it on, browse our seafood recipes and air fryer recipes, or see the rest of our kitchen guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is yum yum sauce made of?+
Mayonnaise, tomato paste, melted butter, sugar, and a handful of dry seasonings, thinned with a little water. The mayonnaise is the base and everything else adjusts colour, richness, and flavour around it. Despite the name it contains no soy sauce, no rice vinegar, and nothing distinctly Japanese, which surprises most people the first time they make it.
Why does yum yum sauce need to rest?+
Because freshly mixed, it tastes like seasoned mayonnaise rather than the sauce you remember. The garlic and onion powders need time to hydrate and disperse, and the paprika and tomato paste need to bloom into the fat. Two to four hours in the fridge makes a real difference and overnight is better. This single step is the difference between a good copy and a disappointing one.
Is yum yum sauce Japanese?+
Not really. It was created for Japanese steakhouses in the United States rather than in Japan, where it is not a traditional condiment and is largely unknown. You will also see it called white sauce, shrimp sauce, sakura sauce, or hibachi sauce, all describing the same mayonnaise based sauce served at teppanyaki grills.
How long does homemade yum yum sauce last?+
About one to two weeks in a sealed container in the fridge, though it is worth checking the date on your mayonnaise jar, since that is what actually sets the limit. The flavour peaks around day two or three once everything has melded. Do not freeze it, because mayonnaise splits when thawed and the sauce separates into an oily mess that will not come back together.
Should I use ketchup or tomato paste?+
Tomato paste gives better results. It provides the pale orange colour with concentrated tomato flavour and nothing else, whereas ketchup brings its own sugar and vinegar and pushes the sauce towards tasting like a sweet burger sauce. If you only have ketchup, use about 2 tablespoons in place of 1 tablespoon of paste and cut the added sugar.
What is the best mayonnaise for yum yum sauce?+
Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, if you can find it. It is made with egg yolks only rather than whole eggs and seasoned with rice vinegar and MSG, so it is richer, silkier, and more savoury than American mayonnaise. Full fat Hellmann’s or Duke’s works well as a substitute. Avoid light or low fat mayonnaise entirely, since it makes a thin, tangy sauce.