Sweet, savory, and full of flavor, this delicious Homemade Eel Sauce recipe is the dream sauce for Japanese broiled eel fillets and BBQ dishes. You only need four ingredients!
Eel sauce, or unagi no tare (うなぎのたれ), is a thick and sweetened soy sauce. Traditionally, it is used on grilled eel or dishes that feature grilled eel, such as unagi don or unagi sushi, and doesn’t contain eel.
Table of Contents
What Is Eel Sauce
What is that caramelized brown sauce with a syrup-like consistency that goes with unagi? Well, the irresistible glossy sauce is Eel Sauce or Unagi Sauce.
Although many commercial sauce brands are available, the best eel sauce is the homemade version.
What Does It Taste Like
It tastes savory-sweet from the sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Since the ingredients are the same as teriyaki sauce, you might wonder if eel sauce is the same. Yes, both sauces are similar, but you’ll notice the slight differences in the richness and sweetness.
If you want authentic Japanese teriyaki sauce, get my recipe here.
How to Make Eel Sauce
Making homemade unagi sauce is as simple. You only need four ingredients to create a rich, umami-packed sauce.
The Ingredients You’ll Need
- Sake (Japanese Rice Wine) – Adds umami to the sauce (the alcohol will burn off during cooking, so it’s suitable for all ages).
- Mirin (Sweet Rice Wine) – Adds a mild sweetness and luster to the sauce.
- Soy sauce – Use Japanese soy sauce as it tastes different from Chinese, Korean, or Thai. Use Gluten-Free Soy Sauce or Tamari to make a gluten-free sauce.
- Sugar – Besides sweetness, sugar is a thickener, so it’s easy to pour.
Sake, mirin, and soy sauce are essential staples for Japanese cooking, so it’s worth stocking up if you’re thinking of cooking your favorite Japanese recipes.
Note: Authentic unagi sauce does not use rice vinegar as it adds an acidic tang and does not contribute to the integrity of the sauce. Also, don’t add garlic, ginger, or cornstarch to the sauce. It wouldn’t be unagi sauce with all these additions or it’ll overwhelm the unagi.
The Cooking Step
- Combine the mixture in a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat until the sauce caramelizes and thickens to your desired richness.
The great thing about making the sauce instead of buying the bottled variety is you can decide on the balance of sweet and salty. Plus, there are no additives or preservatives.
How To Use Eel Sauce
Aside from unagi dishes, unagi sauce is finger-licking delicious on BBQ. Think grilled fish, pan-fried chicken, tofu, mushrooms, and onigiri rice balls. All you need is a light brush or a drizzle of this sweet-savory sauce to heighten the flavor. In addition, you can use it as a marinade for meats or as a dressing for noodles.
Recipes for Eel Sauce
Unadon (Grilled Eel Rice Bowl)
Yaki Onigiri (Grilled Rice Balls)
Where To Buy Eel Sauce
You can purchase the bottled variety in the condiment section of Japanese grocery stores and well-stocked Asian supermarkets. If that’s not an option, find it on Amazon.
How To Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container or jar in the fridge or freezer for 2-3 months.
More Authentic Japanese Sauces to Make at Home
- Teriyaki Sauce – the way we make it in Japan!
- Tonkatsu Sauce
- Ponzu Sauce
- How to Make Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Homemade Eel Sauce (Unagi Sauce)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. To make a larger batch of Unagi Sauce, see Notes below for the ingredients list.
- In a small saucepan, add ¼ cup mirin, 1½ Tbsp sake, and 2½ Tbsp sugar. Turn on the heat to medium and whisk all the ingredients together.
- Then, add ¼ cup soy sauce and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Toward the end of cooking, you will see more bubbles.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool. The sauce will thicken as it cools. It‘s now ready to use.
To Use
- Use this Homemade Eel Sauce when you broil or grill freshwater eel fillets in recipes like Unadon (Grilled Eel Rice Bowl), Eggplant Unagi Donburi, and Unagi Chazuke. You can also use this versatile sauce to make Yaki Onigiri (Grilled Rice Ball) and Dragon Rolls.
To Store
- You can store the sauce in an airtight jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 months.
Notes
For the full amount Unagi Sauce (extra will keep for 3 months)
- ¾ cup (180 ml) soy sauce
- ¾ cup (180 ml) mirin
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- ¼ cup (60 ml) sake
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post is originally published on May 6, 2013. The new images have been added to the post in May 2019.
Namiko-san, thank you for the recipe. I notice that most of the tare recipes include the same basic ingredients, shoyu, mirin, sake and sugar but in different ratios with some sauces including other ingredients like ginger or garlic. I would like to suggest that you post a sauce page (printable) that lists all of these similar sauces in one place. I always end up having to look up the sauces every time I try one. Would be great to have a page printed out I can have handy in the kitchen.
ありがとうございます。Randy
Hi Randy! It’s correct – the different ratio for pretty much everything – nikujaga (simmered dish), teriyaki-style grilled dish… etc, making different taste with dashi etc.
As for the sauces, I understand your frustration and I’m sorry all the sauces can’t be on one page. For SEO (search engine optimization), that’s not the right way to share any recipes. Each post needs one recipe plugin that is optimized for one recipe. Otherwise, no one will find the page on google (or more like Google won’t rank you high). I have to follow what Google like us to do. 🙁
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I have a condiment and sauce tag: https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/condiment-sauce/. If you go to Recipe Index, click “Dish Type” and select “condiment and sauce”. I try my best to keep my recipes organized as much as possible. Hope this helps!
[…] you know it’s super easy to make Homemade Unagi Sauce? It’s one of the condiments that I like to make when I have time in the kitchen and keep in […]
[…] with soy sauce or miso, I actually love using leftover homemade Unagi Sauce for yaki onigiri. The unagi sauce is a sweet caramelized soy sauce and the savory aroma of the sauce blends perfectly with white […]
I had just tried making this recipe and found it to be extremely salty. I used Kikkoman’s All-Purpose soy sauce. I had even added an extra tablespoon of sugar and it still ended up very salty. What could’ve gone wrong?
Hi Annabelle! I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. I make this recipe all the time and many people gave positive feedback for this recipe. So I think either your soy sauce is saltier than mine (each brand/kind has different taste/saltiness) or we just have different taste.
Adding sugar after adding soy sauce doesn’t sweeten the flavor. In Japanese cooking, we always start with sweet ingredients first (sake, mirin, sugar) before adding soy sauce and miso. So we control by the amount of soy sauce or miso as we can’t undo by adding sugar (like how you tried).
When you have to cook/simmer the food for a longer time, we add soy sauce/miso gradually (2-3 additions), which keeps the food not too salty. We use this technique to make some of my recipes on the blog.
Sorry I got digressed. In your case, maybe use less soy sauce next time. 🙂
I made this tonight and it came out perfectly. Just as good as my local sushi place! As the ingredients first went in I wasn’t sure it was going to come out right as it smelled mostly like soy sauce. I kept at it though and will admit I added about a tablespoon more sugar (as I like it more sweet) but oh my goodness this was divine! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this recipe! I no longer have to suffer when I forget to order extra eel sauce with my sushi!
Hi Mrs. Nadeau! I’m really glad to hear you liked this recipe and thank you for your kind words! 🙂 Enjoy sushi at home! xo
You have been my go to for Sushi making. Would you kindly explain the difference between mirin and rice vinegar? Can you you substitute rice vinegar for mirin? Thank You.
Hi Soone! For short, you can’t substitute because the flavor profile is COMPLETELY different. Rice vinegar is basically vinegar, and mirin is sweet syrup. Hope this post is helpful (Read “Can I Substitute Sake & Mirin with Rice Vinegar?”):
https://www.justonecookbook.com/sake-mirin/
Thank you! You always save my oriental dishes!!
Hi Stefano! Hope you enjoy(ed) this recipe! 🙂
Hello, I was wondering if there are any other substitutes for mirin?
Hi Serena! Mirin can be substitute with water and sugar. More details here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/sake-mirin/ 🙂
Can I use Swerve in the place of sugar?
Hi Sheila! I’ve never used Swerve before, so I’m not sure how the outcome will be… please let me know how it goes!
Just came across this recipe and I am absolutely thrilled. It’s simmering now and the smell is amazing! We’ll be having yaki onigiri with shrimp yaki udon tonight and thia sauce is just what I needed. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I had to make one switch, unfortunately. I’m all out of regular sugar so I substituted brown sugar. I’m hoping it will be just as good.
Hi Courtney! You r dinner sounds wonderful. Hope you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
How long can you store unagi sauce in the fridge?
Hi Cheryllani! You can store the sauce in an airtight jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Simmer for 20 minutes?! It already butned about 2 minutes in.
Hi ML! Yes, simmer is very low heat, and you will need at least 15-20 mins to reduce to a thick unagi sauce. 2 minutes is still liquid, not syrupy yet.
is sake necessary? it is because we don’t drink alcohol, is there any substitution?
Hi Chelsea! I have never made it without sake. I don’t drink alcohol either, but sake made of fermented sake gives umami when alcohol is evaporated, so it’s not the alcohol that’s important. I think you can use water instead but water doesn’t have any umami or sweetness… 🙂
I made this for sushi – was really easy but a really tasty addition
Glad to hear that. Thank you for your kind feedback, Gabrielle! xo
Hi I love your blog. Question: the ingredients in this are the same ones I use for teriyaki sauce, other than the lack of fresh garlic and ginger. How would you compare this to teriyaki sauce and/or tempura dipping sauce?
Thanks!
Hi Jeff! You sound like Mr. JOC when he first saw me cooking. 🙂 In Japanese cooking, all the seasoning is consisted of soy sauce, sake, mirin, (and sugar or sake). Whatever the dishes are…. same condiments! So I know why you’re confused. It’s all about different ratios. 🙂
Hi, Can I freeze this if I have leftover? How long can I freeze it? Thanks!
Hi Michelle! I usually keep 2-3 months in my fridge. You can probably freeze it for a longer time, like half year to one year… I think.