Use my versatile All-Purpose Miso Sauce to make glazes, marinades, dressings, and dipping sauces. This sweet and savory sauce is the secret to many of your favorite Japanese dishes. Add it to any protein or vegetable for a boost of authentic umami flavor. This vegan-friendly sauce is super easy to put together with just four ingredients.
It’s always good to have homemade sauces around in your kitchen so you don’t end up with the store-bought stuff. Not only you have complete control over the ingredients, but a homemade sauce always tastes so much better. Today I’m sharing my secret magic sauce: the brilliant All-Purpose Miso Sauce.
Whether it is to add a little depth or complexity, this miso sauce never fails to jazz up a dish whenever something is amiss. Just like a reliable friend you can count on anytime!
The Best Miso Sauce
5 reasons to love this sauce:
- It’s full of authentic Japanese flavor. The sauce is the guarded secret to many of your favorite Japanese dishes.
- Super easy to put together & only 4 simple ingredients needed!
- Long shelf life. Make once and store well in the fridge for up to 2 months.
- Its ability to transform. You can get a whole variety of homemade sauce with varying flavors by using different miso. Mild, sweet or pungent – you decide.
- Unlike bottled seasoning sauces, this homemade sauce is free of processed ingredients and MSG (monosodium glutamate).
3 Things to Know When Making All-Purpose Miso Sauce
1. Saltiness varies based on the miso brand/type
If you’re using a different brand or type of miso, keep in mind that the saltiness level may differ from my recipe. So adjust accordingly.
2. Different types of miso yield different flavors
Miso can be made of rice, barley, soybean, or koji, and each one has different strengths and depth. Just like saltiness, if you’re using a different type of miso, your homemade miso sauce may not taste exactly like mine. It also means you can literally make a variety of this sauce by using different types of miso.
3. Miso burns easily
Miso itself burns easily while cooking, but it gets even more susceptible when you include mirin and/or sugar. Be sure to keep a close eye of the pot. Stay around to scrape the bottom of the pot and keep stirring.
Recipe Ideas with All-Purpose Miso Sauce
- Marinade: Use different proteins including fish, chicken, pork, beef, and tofu. Cook in the foil, oven or pan fry.
- Stir Fry: Add just a tablespoon or two of the miso sauce to the stir-fry dishes.
- Simmered Dishes (Nimono): Simmer root vegetables and protein with miso sauce.
- Dipping Sauce: for your steamed vegetables, hot pot, or simply, fresh cucumber.
- Dressing: Coat with all kinds of vegetables and add them to the salad dressing base.
Sweet, savory, versatile, and full of umami, that’s what makes this All-Purpose Miso Sauce so brilliant. I know you’d have fun integrating the sauce into more of your cooking.
Recipe Ideas:
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All-Purpose Miso Sauce
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Add 1 cup miso, 1 cup mirin, ½ cup sake, and 2 Tbsp sugar to a small saucepan.
- Whisk it all together. Set the pot on the stove and bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat.
- Once bubbling, reduce the heat to low. Keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent the sauce from burning. Simmer for 20–30 minutes until thickened. Your miso sauce is now ready to use.
To Serve
- Enjoy this All-Purpose Miso Sauce as a marinade for protein like chicken thighs in my Miso Chicken recipe. You can also use it to make my delicious Tahini Miso Dressing to serve with all kinds of vegetables and salads like my Roasted Cauliflower Kale Salad.
To Store
- Transfer the sauce to an airtight container and let it cool completely. Close the lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
Hi Nami,
I have a bunch of this sitting in the back of the fridge. Do you think I could use it as the miso sauce glaze for miso dengaku with tofu? Thank you!
Okay having actually made this now, it does work. It doesn’t char as nicely as the miso dengaku sauce because it has less sugar, but it works well if you prefer something with less sweetness and/or have a jar of the all purpose miso sauce premade.
Hello, Rachel. Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
Yes, the sugar would need to create a lovely char, but we’re glad it worked out for you! Thank you for your feedback.🫶🏻
I’m very new to Japanese cooking. I made this recipe & it’s delicious. I’ve been gathering ingredients for Japanese cooking & first bought drinking sake, but then found that the recipe I planned to make called for cooking sake. I googled & found that they are not the same. Should I assume that if a recipe just states sake, it means drinking sake? I did use drinking sake here.
Hello, Rose. Thank you for trying Nam’s recipe.
Yes. Nami uses drinking sake in her recipes instead of cooking sake because it contains salt.
You can learn more about Sake at https://www.justonecookbook.com/sake/.
My mom used to serve us with a miso sauce to dip the thin slice octopus. is this the same sauce i can use?
Hi, Gordon! Thank you for reading Nami’s post.
Did your mom’s sauce taste a little vinegary?
It may be similar to this instead.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/asparagus-with-miso-dressing/
Hi Nami, if I use miso that is close to its best buy date, would this sauce still be good for 2 months?
Hi Renae, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
The best-by date is the recommended best flavor or taste date. So it should be alright, but we encourage you to use it as soon as possible to get the best of the best.😉
Hi Nami, I went to a Japanese restaurant in Singapore many years ago and they serve cold cabbage with a miso paste, saw this recipe and thought maybe it’s the same thing? Can I use white miso instead?
Thanks a lot
Hi Alice! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes, you may use white Miso for this recipe and adjust the sugar quantity to your preference. We hope this was helpful!
How many tablespoons / what is the weight of 1 cup of miso. I’m looking for UK measurements
Hi Zoe, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
1 US cup = 16 US tablespoons
1 US cup Miso is 288g
For Metric measurements, please click the “Metric” box in the ingredient list, and it will convert it for you. 🙂
We hope this helps!
Hello, I was wondering if I could replace the sake for water in this recipe
Hi Pat! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes, water can be used in place of Sake, but the umami flavor of Sake will be missed. In addition, we recommend using the sauce within a week.
We hope this helps!
Hi, Namiko, what portion of the sauce are you using to determine the nutritional value of sodium of 34mg? Obviously, that’s not the amount of sodium for the full recipe since just 1 TBSP of the miso I want to use is more the 840mg.
For myself, it really doesn’t matter but I have to cook for an individual who has to watch her sodium intake and that’s why I’m asking.
BTW, for Japanese recipes, your website is one of the few GO-TO sites. Being from Okinawa, I really appreciate the fact that you also have some Okinawan recipes, too! 😀
Hi Masao! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear our website is one of your go-to sites. 🥰 It makes us extremely happy.
As shown in the chart, the nutritional value of this recipe is 1 ml. For reference: 1 Tablespoon = about 15 ml
We hope this helps!
Why on earth would you BOIL miso?! It ruins the flavours.
Hi Lily! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes. Miso flavor is the best if it doesn’t get to boil, and we don’t recommend bringing it to the boiling point when making Miso soup. However, to make a sauce, baking dishes, etc., it will reach a higher temperature sometime, but the flavor is mixed with other condiments, and taste and flavor would be more than Miso.
We hope this helps!
I’m curious: might this recipe be used as a miso tare for ramen? What do you think?
Hi, A Kat! This sauce is on the sweet side. For Ramen, you might want to adjust the flavor with other ingredients. But it’s totally up to your preference!😉
Let us know how it goes!