Sushi Sauce Recipes: Dynamite, Eel, Mango (2024)

These 3 Sushi Sauce Recipes are super easy to make, and taste fantastic. Have fun combining them with various sushi roll types!

Originally published April 7, 2017, Updated on 08/30/20

3 recipes posted in as many days! I'm on a roll - a sushi roll, in this case! (Sorry!)

In truth, the recipes I'm posting this week are all in lead-up to a big post I plan to make next week, which will be referring back to all of them. It'll be a fun one! Anyway, *this* post is all about Sushi Sauce Recipes.

We love making sushi at home. While we do tend to stick to a certain few items (Tuna and/or salmon, usually with avocados, cucumber, and/or mango), sometimes we like to branch out and have a bit more fun with it - especially if we're feeding more than just us.

These 3 Sushi Sauce Recipes are super quick and easy to make, and can make the spread a little more polished and impressive, when entertaining.

While each has a roll or two that they're traditionally served with, it can be fun to play around with, finding new roll combinations that taste amazing

The Dynamite and Mango sauces are gluten free by default, to make gluten-free eel sauce, just be sure to use a gluten-free soy sauce.

How to Use These 3 Sushi Sauce Recipes

There are two main ways that I’ll serve these sauces:

Squeeze Bottle

I like these squeeze bottles - not only are they good for serving the sauces - being able to easily squeeze a uniform drizzle over the sushi - they’re great for storing them in the fridge, as well!

Pastry Bag

If you have disposable pastry bags on hand - but not the squeeze bottles - this is a good way to be able to drizzle the sauces over sushi.

Just spoon your sauce into a pastry bag, cut the tip off the pastry bag, and drizzle your sauce over the sushi.

This method isn’t great for storage, so I tend to only spoon small amounts into the pastry bag, and just throw out the pastry bag when I’m done. The remaining sauce can be stored in a resealable container in the fridge.

Other Recipes You May Like

For sushi to use these sauces on, be sure to try my Tuna Avocado Mango Maki, and my Spicy Tuna Maki. If you're feeling ambitious and social, here's the info for our DIY Sushi Potluck parties!

Other than those, here are a few more sushi-adjacent recipes:

DIY Sushi Birthday Cake
Easy Sushi Casserole
Homemade Gyoza / Potstickers
How to Make Sushi Rice
Mango Salad
Matcha Green Tea Pavlova
Pepper Crusted Tuna with Wasabi Cream Sauce

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free monthly email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense.

Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

What is Eel Sauce?

Also known as Unagi sauce, this is probably the most popular sushi sauce in North America. Eel sauce is a dark, rich, thick, and sticky sauce. It’s sweet, but also heavy on the umami - savoury.

While Eel Sauce is traditionally used on eel rolls - or on grilled eel dishes - this one tends to get used on many different types of rolls. Whenever you’ve had a dark brown sauce on sushi... chances are good that it was an Eel Sauce.

In addition to sushi, you can use Eel Sauce on many different foods.

If you think of it like a Japanese BBQ sauce - it was, after all, intended for use on grilled eel! - you can see that it’ll be great on things like grilled veggies, fish (especially salmon!), chicken, and even beef.

What is Eel Sauce Made of?

Eel sauce doesn’t actually contain eel - though traditionally, it did. No, it’s actually a vegan friendly sauce, though you’d never guess as much, from the name alone!

Eel Sauce Ingredients

My Easy Eel sauce uses only 3 ingredients... and each one brings something important to the mix:

Mirin

Mirin is a Japanese sweet wine used in Japanese cooking. Some common uses are in teriyaki sauce, stir fries

In Eel Sauce, Mirin balances out the sugar by bringing some acidity to the mix. It also contributes a little to the umami flavour profile, but mostly just enhances flavour through the acid.

If you’re not able to find Mirin, you can substitute a dry sherry

Soy Sauce

Soy Sauce brings the umami flavour base to the eel sauce, as well as the saltiness.

Soy sauce is also what prevents this sauce from being inherently gluten-free, unlike the Dynamite Sauce and Mango Sauce.

If you need your Eel Sauce to be gluten-free, use a gluten-free soy sauce, tamari, or even coconut aminos instead of basic soy sauce.

Sugar

Sugar obviously contributes the bulk of the sweetness in Eel Sauce (with Mirin contributing a little as well), but it also serves to create the *body* of the sauce.

As your Eel sauce boils down, the sugar is forming a thick syrup. Without sugar, you would have a very runny sauce - not at all appetizing to drizzle over sushi rolls!

Eel Sauce Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

4.74 from 30 votes

Eel Sauce for Sushi

Eel sauce is the dark, sweet sauce used on grilled eel, as well as many types of sushi rolls

Prep Time2 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time22 minutes mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Sushi

Servings: 20 rolls - ¾ cup

Calories: 32kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

• Plastic Squeeze Bottles

Ingredients

• ½ cup Soy Sauce Gluten Free if needed
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar
• ½ cup Mirin Japanese sweet wine

Instructions

• Combine all three ingredients in a small saucepan, whisk well to combine.

• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat, and simmer gently until sauce volume has reduced to about ¾ cup. (If you boil it hard, you will end up with a caramel, not a sauce!)

• Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature.

• Once cooled, transfer to fridge and chill until you’re ready to use it.

• To serve, spoon sauce into a pastry bag or a sauce bottle (pictured). Cut the tip off the pastry bag (if applicable), squeeze sauce over prepared sushi, as desired.

Notes

Traditionally used for eel rolls, this sauce is great on any roll that has a robust or complex flavour. For big fans of eel sauce, it works on almost anything – but can overpower the flavour on rolls with more mild fish

Nutrition

Calories: 32kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 369mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg

What is Dynamite Sauce?

Dynamite Sauce is probably THE most common sauce used on sushi. It’s the light pink spicy sushi sauce you’ll see drizzled over all kinds of different rolls, usually Spicy Sushi Rolls.

It’s also commonly used *inside* rolls. If you order a “Spicy ____ Roll” and the inside is a bit creamy? That’s likely dynamite sauce!

How to Make Dynamite Sauce

Dynamite sauce is SUPER simple sauce to make - it’s only 2 ingredients, and is just stirred together. No cooking required!

Dynamite Sauce Ingredients

Mayonnaise

Not a whole lot to say on mayo as an ingredient, TBH.

When it comes to Dynamite Sauce, I find that the more basic the mayo, the better. I don’t bother with anything like Olive Oil or avocado specialty mayo, for instance.

Also, while I’m not anti-Miracle Whip in general, I prefer to use actual mayo for Dynamite Sauce.

Sriracha Sauce

Sriracha Sauce is a popular garlic-chili condiment, made from chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and salt. You’ve likely seen a bottle of it on tables at Vietnamese restaurants.

Sriracha is the standard sauce used to bring the flavour and heat to Dynamite sauce, but feel free to branch out a bit if you’d like - or If you don’t have sriracha on hand.

I’m a big fan of Jeow sauce, which also makes a great spicy mayo. In this case, you may want to consider the rolls you’ll be serving it on, as the flavour isn’t quite as “neutral” as sriracha. It’s got a lot more umami, some fish sauce, mushrooms, etc. Potent, too!

Sambal Oelek is another possible substitution. It’s basically the Indonesian analog to sriracha, so substitutes very cleanly - it has the same “neutrality” as Sriracha when it comes to pairing it with rolls.

Dynamite Sauce Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

4.83 from 17 votes

Dynamite Sauce for Sushi

Dynamite Sauce is a popular sauce to drizzle over sushi... and it's super easy to make!

Prep Time2 minutes mins

Total Time2 minutes mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Sushi

Servings: 6 rolls - ½ cup.

Calories: 127kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

• Plastic Squeeze Bottles

Ingredients

• ½ cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp+ Sriracha

Instructions

• Whisk together ingredients until well combined and uniform.

• Taste, add more Sriracha if you like.

• Chill until you’re ready to use it.

• To serve, spoon sauce into a pastry bag or a sauce bottle (pictured). Cut the tip off the pastry bag (if applicable), squeeze sauce over prepared sushi, as desired.

Notes

This is a very versatile sauce. It’s a great drizzle for “spicy” rolls (and can be used to mix in with fish to make spicy filling), but is also great to give a kick to any roll

Nutrition

Calories: 127kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 249mg | Potassium: 7mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 12IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Iron: 1mg

What is Mango Sauce?

Not every sushi restaurant uses a mango sauce, but when they do... it’s a thing of beauty!

This sauce is brightly flavoured - and coloured - and brings a burst of sweet fruit flavour to any roll it’s used on. We especially love this one on tuna rolls, tuna avocado rolls, most vegetable based rolls, and most crab based rolls.

Mango Sauce Ingredients

Mango

Use a fresh, ripe mango that’s in good shape. You want it good and juicy, but not bruised or browning yet.

Rice Vinegar

Rice vinegar brings the tartness to the sauce, and balances off against the sugar and mango.

Sugar

While mango is sweet on its own, it does need a bit of help from added sugar, for this sauce. This also forms a bit of the body of the sauce

Vegetable Oil

Vegetable oil is there to help form the body of the sauce - it’s there to help with the texture, and doesn’t really contribute to flavour at all.

Mango Sauce Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

4.90 from 19 votes

Mango Sauce for Sushi

Mango sauce is a sweet, a bit sour, and perfect on many types of sushi. We love it on tuna and avocado based rolls in particular!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Cooling time5 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Sushi

Servings: 12 rolls / 1 cup

Calories: 53kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

• Plastic Squeeze Bottles

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup Rice Vinegar
• ⅓ cup Granulated Sugar
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• 1 Large Ripe Mango
• 2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, whisk together vinegar, sugar, and salt.

• Bring just to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature.

• Peel and seed the mango. Chop mango flesh into chunks, place into a blender with cooled vinegar-sugar mixture and vegetable oil.

• Blitz until very smooth.

• Transfer sauce to serving container, cover and, chill until you’re ready to use it.

• To serve, spoon sauce into a pastry bag or a sauce bottle (pictured). Cut the tip off the pastry bag (if applicable), squeeze sauce over prepared sushi, as desired.

Video

Notes

We love this one over tuna based rolls and vegetable based rolls in particular

Nutrition

Calories: 53kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 187IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

More Sushi