Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (2024)

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Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe – AKA Japanese Shrimp Sauce, this simple and delicious dipping sauce requires only 5 ingredients! It’s perfect for enjoying with your favorite seafood or veggies.

Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (1)

Yum Yum Sauce AKA Shrimp Sauce

Yum Yum Sauce is a game-changer.

Even the most health-conscious people I know throw caution to the wind, and drown their food in this decadently creamy and rich sauce, when Yum Yum Sauce is present.

You can buy premade Yum Yum Sauce at the grocery store. However, I find the bottled variations are cloyingly sweet from the use of high fructose corn syrup. Our (slightly healthier) recipe requires only 5-ingredients and takes less than 5 minutes to make. No corn syrup necessary!

Our Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe requires only 5-ingredients and takes less than 5 minutes to make. No corn syrup necessary!

Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (2)

5 Ingredient Homemade Yum Yum Sauce

You won’t believe how incredibly simple this flavorful sauce is. But it’s true, there are only 5 ingredients in this recipe!

Here’s what you need:

  • Mayonnaise – Either store-bought or homemade. You can use light/low fat mayo to help lighten up this recipe if you wish.
  • Sugar – Granulated sugar works best.
  • Ketchup – The “secret” ingredient that adds extra flavor.
  • Rice Vinegar – While rice vinegar is definitely the preferred vinegar to make Yum Yum sauce, in a pinch, you can substitute white wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar.
  • Lawry’s Seasoned Salt – I like using classic Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to cut down on ingredients, because it contains all the spices needed for shrimp sauce.

It’s fun to make this sauce your own by easily adjusting the seasoning and sweetness to taste.

Want some heat in your sauce? Trying adding a dash of Sriracha to the mix.

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Our Easy Yum Yum Sauce Recipe

Not only does this sauce include just 5 ingredients, it takes mere minutes to actually make. Just two simple steps and you’ve got creamy and tangy homemade hibachi-inspired shrimp sauce ready to go in the fridge.

Here’s how to make the BEST Yum Yum Sauce:

  1. Mix all of your ingredients together in a glass container.
  2. Whisk in approximately 3 tablespoons of water, and add more seasoning salt to taste.
  3. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

You can portion out what you need from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature before serving; or, enjoy it cold fresh from the fridge as the perfect contrast to a piping hot dinner.

When the weather is warm, you’ll certainly want to keep a large stock of this addictive sauce on hand to enjoy with refreshing veggies and snacks!

Get the Complete (Printable) Yum Yum Sauce Recipe Below. Enjoy!

Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (4)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Yum Yum Sauce?

Yum Yum Sauce is a tangy and creamy dipping sauce most often found in Japanese Hibachi restaurants. It’s sometimes called Shrimp Sauce or White Sauce, although it’s slightly salmon-pink from the addition of tomato and spice.

How Long Does This Sauce Keep Well?

If kept sealed in an airtight container, in the fridge, homemade Yum Yum Sauce will stay good for at least a couple of weeks. Just give it a good stir before serving!

What can you eat with Yum Yum Sauce?

You can serve this Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe as a drizzle with stir fry hibachi-style dishes. Or use it as an all-purpose dipping sauce for seafood, vegetables, chips, and pretty much any other hand-held food you can dunk.

We love to drizzle a little Homemade Yum Yum Sauce over Hawaiian Ahi Poke and Crispy Fish Tacos as well! Make a batch and keep it in the fridge for fish fries, veggie trays, and all your Asian-inspired dishes!

Is Yum Yum Sauce Paleo and/or Keto-Friendly?

Because of the sugar used (and the sugar content in most ketchup brands) this yum yum sauce recipe is not necessarily paleo or keto-friendly.

However, you could definitely swap ingredients with coconut sugar or stevia (or another powdered sugar alternative), sugar-free ketchup, and diet-friendly mayonnaise.

Be sure to double-check the ratio you are using with any sugar substitutes, as they are not all automatically 1:1 swaps.

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Print Recipe

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Homemade Yum Yum Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes minutes

Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - AKA Japanese Shrimp Sauce, this simple and delicious dipping sauce requires only 5 ingredients! Perfect for enjoying with your favorite seafood or veggies.

Servings: 8 servings (1 cup)

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together. Whisk in 3 tablespoon water to thin out the sauce. Taste and add more seasoning salt if desired.

  • Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Video

Notes

Kept in an airtight container in the fridge this sauce will stay good for several weeks.

Nutrition

Serving: 2TB, Calories: 162kcal, Carbohydrates: 5g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 296mg, Potassium: 6mg, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 23IU, Calcium: 2mg, Iron: 1mg

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Japanese

Author: Sommer Collier

Making this recipe?Follow us on Instagram and tag @ASpicyPerspective so we can share what you’re cooking!

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Homemade Yum Yum Sauce Recipe - A Spicy Perspective (2024)

FAQs

Is Yum Yum sauce supposed to be spicy? ›

It's creamy and tangy with just a hint of spiciness, so I'm bringing the recipe to you, my chilihead friends. We're talking Homemade Yum Yum Sauce, and it's so much better than store bought hibachi sauce.

What is the yum yum sauce made of? ›

Yum Yum Sauce is made of mayonnaise, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, sugar, paprika and water to thin the sauce out. That's it! It's really just a matter of the right ratios of ingredients to get the flavor you want!

What is the difference between Yum Yum sauce and spicy mayo? ›

Both spicy mayo and yum yum sauce have a mayonnaise base, but spicy mayo packs a lot more heat than yum yum sauce. Most spicy mayo is made with just two ingredients like the one I share here. Yum yum sauce is sweeter and less spicy as it uses ketchup or tomato paste, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and a little hot sauce.

What is Terry Ho's Yum Yum sauce? ›

The Japanese Hibachi sauce that you'll love to have for every meal. Terry Ho's special recipe. A tasty, mayonnaise-based dipping sauce similar to the ones you find at Japanese steakhouses!

What is the spice Yum Yum? ›

Yum Yum seasoning typically contains a blend of spices, including garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and sometimes sugar or other sweeteners. Some variations may also include salt, pepper, and other savory herbs and spices. How is Yum Yum seasoning used in cooking?

What does spicy yum yum sauce taste like? ›

The best yum yum sauce is more than just spicy mayo. It's nuanced. It's a delightfully creamy blend that balances the sweet with the salty and the spice.

What is yum yum sauce similar to? ›

sauce actually has a lot in common with a famous. salad dressing: Thousand Island dressing.

What country invented yum yum sauce? ›

Also known as white sauce or shrimp sauce, yum yum is an entirely American invention—a pinkish, mayonnaise-based condiment devised to accompany the theater and steak/chicken/shrimp line-up served in teppanyaki restaurants.

Does yum yum sauce go bad? ›

For best results, we encourage immediate refrigeration and that you finish your Yumm! Sauce before the “Enjoy By” date. After the “Enjoy By” date, we encourage you to dispose of the contents and recycle or reuse the container.

Why do they call it yum yum sauce? ›

Japanese steakhouses often serve a creamy orange-pink sauce alongside a steaming meal. The popularity and intrigue around the sauce led one teppanyaki restaurant owner, Terry Ho, to start bottling it in bulk under the name Yum Yum Sauce. The scene is a familiar one.

Why is Yum called Yum? ›

“YUM” is an acronym that stands for “Yellowdog Updater, Modified”. This name harkens back to YUM's origins as a rewrite of Yellowdog UPdater (also known as “YUP”), a software updater for Yellow Dog Linux, a now-defunct Linux distribution.

Why is it called a Yum Yum? ›

The 'fried cakes' were brought to Scotland where they were greeted enthusiastically and named 'Yum Yums' as a result.

What is the original name of yum yum sauce? ›

Yum Yum Sauce (also known as White Sauce, Sakura Sauce, or Japanese Steakhouse Shrimp Sauce) has been commonly found in Japanese steakhouses for years. More recently, people have started to notice this sauce appearing in sushi restaurants as well.

Is yum yum sauce just sriracha mayo? ›

So, is yum yum sauce spicy mayo? Kind of. It is a mayo-based sauce but spicy mayo is usually just mayo and sriracha. Yum yum sauce includes more spices and flavorings.

Is yum yum sauce Japanese or American? ›

WHERE DID YUM YUM SAUCE ORIGINATE? The fan-favorite sauce is an American original started by US-based hibachi restaurants. It is not an authentic Japanese condiment. If you were dining in Japan, you simply wouldn't find yum yum sauce on any menus.

Which Chinese sauce is spicy? ›

Szechuan sauce (or Sichuan sauce, after the Sichuan province in China), is a flavorful and complex condiment from the Sichuan province of southwest China, known for its sweet and spicy combination.

Are Yum Yum peppers hot? ›

They were developed as hybrid pods that lack capsaicin, which is the chemical compound that triggers the brain to feel the sensation of spice or heat. They keep their crunchy texture & have a sweet flavour. These peppers may be seedless or contain a few small, round, and flat, cream-colored seeds.

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