Yum Yum Sauce Recipe (Hibachi White Sauce)

This Homemade Yum Yum Sauce recipe is creamy, tangy, and just a little sweet, just like the sauce served at your favorite Japanese steakhouse. It's perfect for drizzling over hibachi fried rice, dipping shrimp, or spreading on sandwiches and burgers.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here's everything you'll need to make this recipe.

1. Mayonnaise. This is the whole foundation, so it matters more than anything else here. Use full-fat, light mayo thins out and won't hold the texture. Japanese mayo like Kewpie will get you closest to the restaurant flavor because it's made with egg yolks only and has a rounder, slightly sweeter taste. If you use Kewpie, cut back on the sugar
2. Ketchup. Small amount, big job. It brings sweetness, a little acidity, and most of the color. Tomato paste works if you're out, though you'll want to add a touch more sugar to make up for it.
3. Rice vinegar. This is the tang, and rice vinegar specifically is what makes it taste like the restaurant version rather than like fry sauce. Distilled white or apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch, but both are sharper, so start with less.
4. Sriracha. Just enough for a background warmth, not real heat. Scale it up if you want the sauce to actually bite.
5. Sugar. Balances the vinegar and the sriracha. Without it the sauce tastes sour rather than sweet-tangy.
6. Garlic powder and ground ginger. Powder, not fresh. Fresh garlic is too sharp and fresh ginger is too fibrous for a smooth sauce. The ginger is subtle but you'd notice if it were gone.
7. Dry mustard. The quiet one. It sharpens everything else without reading as mustard.
8. Smoked paprika. Color and that faint griddle-smoke note that makes people say "wait, this actually tastes like the restaurant."
9. Salt and black pepper. White pepper if you have it, it disappears into the sauce visually.

👉🏾 See the recipe card below for exact quantities and full instructions.

How to Make Yum Yum Sauce

Step 1: Whisk the wet ingredients first

Start with the mayonnaise, water, ketchup, rice vinegar, and sriracha, and whisk those together before anything else goes in. Getting the liquids fully combined first means the spices disperse evenly instead of clumping into little pockets you'll find later. The water is what takes it from thick and spreadable to that pourable, drizzle-able consistency.

Step 2: Add the dry ingredients

Now stir in the sugar, garlic powder, ground ginger, dry mustard, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Keep whisking until you don't see any streaks of paprika. The color will look a little pale and uneven at first. That's normal, and it evens out as it sits.

Step 3: Taste and adjust

This is the step most people skip and it's the one that matters. Every brand of mayo and ketchup is a little different, so taste before you commit. Too sharp? A pinch more sugar. Too flat? A few more drops of vinegar. Want heat? More sriracha, added in small increments, it's much easier to add than to fix.

Step 4: Chill before serving

Cover it and get it into the fridge. Straight out of the bowl it tastes like a list of ingredients; after an hour it tastes like one sauce. Overnight is better still.

LaKita's Expert Tips

Here are my best tips for making this recipe turn out perfectly every time.

• Bring your mayo to room temperature first. Cold mayo straight from the fridge resists whisking and you'll fight lumps the whole way through.
• Add water last, not first. If the sauce ends up thinner than you want, there's no fixing it without throwing off every other ratio. Start with less and work up.
• Use a whisk, not a spoon. A spoon stirs, a whisk emulsifies. The texture difference is noticeable.
• Make it in a jar you'll store it in. Fewer dishes, and it lets you shake rather than re-whisk before serving.
• If it looks too orange, you've overdone the paprika. Fix it with a little more mayo rather than trying to counteract with something else.
• Double it. This sauce disappears faster than you expect, and it takes the exact same five minutes to make twice as much.
• Let it come up slightly from fridge-cold before serving. About 10 minutes on the counter. Very cold mutes the sweetness. Don't leave it out longer than that, it's mayonnaise-based.

Variations & Substitutions

This recipe is flexible, here are some easy ways to make it your own.

• Whiter sauce: Cut the smoked paprika and reduce the ketchup. Most of the pink comes from those two.
• Pinker sauce: Go the other way, a little more ketchup, or swap in a small spoon of tomato paste.
• Spicier: More sriracha, or add cayenne. Cayenne brings cleaner heat without the extra sweetness sriracha carries.
• Richer: Some restaurant versions include a small amount of melted butter, which adds a silky quality.
• Kewpie version: Swap in Japanese mayo and reduce the sugar. Closest to the restaurant flavor.
• Extra savory: A pinch of onion powder or a single drop of Worcestershire adds depth without changing the character.