Tsuyu Sauce Recipe: How to Make and Serve Tsuyu Sauce

Tsuyu, also called mentsuyu, is a multipurpose Japanese condiment that you can use as a dipping sauce or soup base for Japanese noodle soup. It’s most commonly an accompaniment to soba and udon noodle dishes as well as tempura dishes. Additionally, miso ramen noodle broth often contains tsuyu.

You can make tsuyu sauce, a staple in Japanese cooking, with soy sauce, mirin (rice wine), sake, kombu (dried kelp), and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Tsuyu has a savory, almost meaty, umami flavor on account of the soy sauce and bonito flakes.

Many quick tsuyu or mentsuyu recipes call for using pre-made dashi stock (a broth made from kelp and dried bonito) or dashi powder. However, making traditional tsuyu from scratch is fast and easy and enables you to control the flavor and sodium content.

Tsuyu sauce is a versatile component of Japanese dishes, as you can serve it hot or cold and at full strength or diluted alongside dipping foods, cold dishes, or soups. Here are a few common ways to serve tsuyu:

• As a soup base: Ladle up tsuyu as an udon noodle soup base. Dilute the soup base by mixing one part tsuyu with three to four parts hot water. Bring everything to a gentle boil. Add the hot soup broth to individual serving bowls and add the pre-cooked udon noodles.
• With cold soba noodles: Prepare tsuyu as a noodle dipping sauce for zaru soba (cold soba noodles) or somen noodles. Cold noodles are a great meal on a hot summer day. Dilute the tsuyu with two to three parts cool water and serve it in a small bowl alongside the cooked soba or somen noodles. Enjoy each bite of noodles by first dipping it in the tsuyu sauce.
• With hot tempura: Serve cool tsuyu sauce alongside hot tempura. Dilute the tsuyu before serving by combining one part tsuyu sauce with three to four parts water. Garnish the tsuyu with green onion or sesame seeds and serve it with pickled radish.

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