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This Yum Yum sauce recipe is a flavor-packed savory sweet sauce using 7 pantry ingredients and one bowl. Stir it together in 5 minutes and put it on shrimp, fried rice, veggies, and more!
There’s nothing like a great sauce recipe to spice up a taco or a bowl meal, and here’s one that’s become a favorite or mine over time: this Yum Yum sauce! It’s a tasty way to amp up flavor and a little goes a very long way.
I originally created this Yum Yum Sauce recipe to go on my popular Crispy Cauliflower Tacos, but it’s so delicious that I love using it for dipping many other things. It’s great with sauteed shrimp or roasted broccoli!
5 Star Reader Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Make this all the time, it is SO GOOD. We use Veganaise. We discovered it with your cauliflower tacos, but also delicious on salads, burgers, and eggs!” -Laura
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “So great; used it on salad. Added sweet pickle relish and 1 more tablespoon of tomato paste. Awesome — closest thing to good homemade thousand island yet!” -Katie
What Is Yum Yum Sauce?
Yum Yum sauce is a condiment used at Japanese steakhouses, typically used on seafood. It’s a mayo-based sauce, typically made with tomato paste, a little butter, a hint of sugar, and a few other seasonings.
And before we go any further: this stuff is delicious. Creamy, savory, and a little sweet, the uses for Yum Yum sauce are endless. Try it on tacos, eggs, roasted or raw vegetables, as a dip for fries, with shrimp, over salmon, steak: anything you like!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Mayonnaise: Use a good full-fat mayonnaise you like the taste of: it makes the creamy body of the sauce. I always use an olive oil mayonnaise (by the brand Graza, which is easy to find at many grocery stores).
- Melted butter: I experimented with removing the butter in this one, but it tasted very strongly of mayo. Adding the butter helps to smooth out the sauce, so I would not suggest omitting it. You can also use coconut oil or vegan butter for vegan.
- Tomato paste: This adds color and a savory depth; you can also use ketchup as a substitute.
- Maple syrup or honey: Most versions call for white sugar, but you can also use a natural sweetener like maple or honey.
- Garlic powder and paprika: These round out the flavor.
How To Make Yum Yum Sauce
I wish I could share some deep secrets about how to make Yum Yum sauce. But it’s so simple I can’t even say anything except: throw the ingredients in a bowl and stir! Yes, it’s that easy. Scroll down to the recipe card below!
Pro tip: Make it a few hours ahead if you can. The flavor is noticeably rounder after the flavors meld.
Tips For Adjusting The Flavor
Here are a few ways to adjust the flavor of this sauce to your liking:
- Start at the low end of sweetness. One reader felt that this sauce was too sweet. Start with ½ teaspoon and add more only if it needs it.
- Add acid. A ½ to 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar can sharpen the flavors; it’s what most hibachi versions use. One reader Molly landed on red wine vinegar and said it made it taste like what she was expecting!
- Go smoky. Swapping in smoked paprika for sweet paprika adds a savory undertone.
- Add heat. A squeeze of sriracha adds a nice touch of heat.
Ways To Use Yum Yum Sauce
If you’re not sure how to use this delicious condiment, here are a few recipes we think would pair well with Yum Yum sauce:
- Drizzled over easy vegetable fried rice
- With grilled shrimp skewers, seared tuna, or crab cakes as a dipping sauce
- Spooned over easy baked salmon or a salmon poke bowl
- As a dip for baked sweet potato fries
- Inside my cauliflower tacos with yum yum sauce, which is how many readers find this recipe
- On a chicken burger, on eggs, or on a rice bowl
Storage and Leftovers
Store leftover Yum Yum sauce in an airtight container or squeeze bottle in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Don’t let it out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
I don’t recommend freezing this sauce, because mayo can separate after freezing.
Dietary Notes
This Yum Yum sauce recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based and dairy-free, use vegan mayo and coconut oil (see below).
Frequently Asked Questions
Close, but the butter, garlic powder, paprika, and a touch of sweetener are what make it taste like the restaurant version rather than fry sauce.
They’re related but not the same. Thousand Island includes pickle relish and more vinegar, giving it a chunkier texture and sharper tang. Yum yum sauce is smoother, sweeter, and best for drizzling.
No, spicy mayo is mayonnaise plus sriracha or chili paste, with heat as the whole point. Yum yum sauce isn’t spicy.
No one really knows. The name appears to have come from American hibachi restaurants.
Not really, but you can use vegan mayonnaise as a plant-based substitute.
Best Yum Yum Sauce
This Yum Yum sauce recipe is an addicting drizzle that’s both savory and sweet, perfect for veggies or shrimp. Here’s how to make Yum Yum Sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: about 1 ¼ cup 1x
- Category: Essential Recipes
- Method: Stirred
- Cuisine: Japanese Inspired
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise (vegan if desired)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (use coconut oil for vegan)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar, maple syrup, or honey
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, starting with ½ teaspoon sweetener and adding more to taste. Store refrigerated for several months.
First recipe I’ve ever tried from a CoupleCooks that I didn’t like/love. Thought this was awful – too sweet
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
So great; used it on salad. Added sweet pickle relish and 1 more tablespoon of tomato paste.
Awesome- closet thing to good homemade thousand island yet!
Make this all the time, it is SO GOOD. We use Veganaise. We discovered it with your cauliflower tacos, but also delicious on salads, burgers, and eggs!
The recipe is good. It seemed to need a little something else. Finally I added some red wine vinegar. That enhanced it for me. Thank you.
What other oils could I use besides coconut?
Butter.
Been using this as a healthier, vegan (I use vegan mayo) Thousand Islands salad dressing replacement.
Made this yum yum we love it on everything!
this sauce was AMAZING!!!!! I had it with a mixed greens salad with salmon, cucumber, avocado, sweet potato, edamame,nori, and sesame seeds! Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed it!
We are a recently plant based family and LOVE tacos. I LOVED the cauliflower tacos after spending a childhood tortured by steamed cauliflower :o) The only vegan mayo I found seemed to have a lot of extra ingredients, so I tried making this sauce with plain hummus instead (like some of the other vegan “aioli’s” out there, but I couldn’t get the taste quite right. Are you allowed to tell us what kind of vegan mayo you use? I can’t wait to try all your other sauces!
Hi! So glad you enjoyed. Sir Kensington’s Vegan Mayo is great and doesn’t have too many ingredients.
This was great with the cauliflower tacos, I added some jalapeño hot sauce to it and extra garlic powder, thank you!
What do you consider “several months”?, did make this with the cauliflower, it was pretty good
I think the longest we’ve kept ours has been two months and it was fine!
We made this last night to go with the Crispy Baked Cauliflower recipe as suggested – where has this sauce been all my life?? It was delicious and I shall be trying out on smoked salmon ASAP!
Loved this sauce
This really keeps for several months??? I have never made it with melted butter so this is intriguing. I will say that with the “healthier” mayo ( like the Primal Kitchen one) the flavor is very off compared to a basic commercial mayo like Dukes with olive oil which is what I have been buying for years to make sauce since I am not a huge mayo fan and only use it for sauces.
We use Best Foods/Helmans vegan mayo and it works really well.