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Sauce recipe

Yum Yum Sauce

The pale pink steakhouse sauce from the hibachi grill. Creamy, a little sweet, gone in a minute.

Yum Yum Sauce
The ratio
  • 8 partsKewpie mayonnaise
  • 1 partTomato paste
  • 1 partMelted butter
What you need
  • 1/2 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste (or 1 1/2 tbsp tomato sauce)
  • 1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1-2 tbsp water, to loosen
Makes
About 150ml, enough for 4
Ready in
5
Keeps
1 week in the fridge
How to make it
  1. Melt the butter and let it cool for a minute so it doesn't split the mayo.
  2. Whisk the Kewpie, tomato paste, butter, sugar, rice vinegar, garlic powder and paprika together until smooth and evenly pink.
  3. Add water a teaspoon at a time until it falls off a spoon in a thick ribbon.
  4. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Taste and add a pinch more sugar or paprika if you like.
About this sauce

Yum yum sauce is the pink mayo that comes out with the fried rice and prawns at Japanese-American hibachi steakhouses. It is not something you will find in Japan, but it is built on a Japanese jar: Kewpie mayonnaise, which is richer and tangier than the regular kind because it uses egg yolks and rice vinegar.

Tomato paste gives it colour and body, a little melted butter makes it taste like the grill, and paprika and garlic powder do the rest. Mix it, then give it half an hour in the fridge so the flavours settle.

What to put it on

Hibachi chicken and fried rice, tempura prawns, karaage, grilled steak, chips and burgers.

Try it with hibachi chicken, chahan fried rice or prawn tempura. New to Kewpie? Read what makes Kewpie different.

Uses this sauce

Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.

Pairs well with

Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.