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.
Fabulous recipe and the taste is terrific. If I wanted to add some sesame flavour to it, what could I add? A bit of oil? Will that affect the recipe?
Hi Lee! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe!
To add the sesame flavor, how about adding sesame seeds or grind sesame? Of course, you can add sesame oil too, but it is sometimes overwhelming the other taste. We hope this helps!
Hi Nami! Love having unagi. Was wondering, how does this sauce work with other fish?
Hi Raymond, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We are glad to hear you enjoy Unagi! This sauce will go well with other types of fish, white-meat fish, etc., as well.
Nami likes to use it for making Yakionigiri too. https://www.justonecookbook.com/yaki-onigiri-grilled-rice-ball/
We hope you will give it a try!
I’m this was VERY DELICIOUS!! Better than the store bought ones and without any artificial ingredients! Thank you for the recipe!! I poured this sauce over a shiitake mushroom sushi roll I made and it was divine!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Hi Elsie! Aww… We are glad to hear you enjoyed this Sause! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!🥰
Hello I can’t find I ago sauce so I am trying to make my own, can substitute sake for something else? Thank you so much wanting to make this for Christmas.
Hi DJC,
Thank you for trying this recipe!
Nami has a post that explains substitutes for Sake. Please check this link: https://www.justonecookbook.com/sake/
We hope this helps!
Hi! I love your sauce, and have some leftovers. Wondering if I could use it as a marinade for raw meats (like pork, chicken)? If so, do you know the approx. amount I need to use it as a marinade?
Hi Tiff! This is more of brushing/dipping/pouring type of sauce as it’s been reduced already. But I guess you can? I’ve never tried that before. You don’t need a lot, but coat the meat well and spoon over the top surface just to cover. No need to soak the meat completely. 🙂
Love your recipes, good instructions and for the most part simple ingredients. Thank you. Gail
Hi Gail! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! 🙂
This is a really great and simple recipe! Do you think adding sesame oil would be good for a little nuttiness?
Hi Mochi! It’s a bit strange to me. Sesame oil is typically added to Chinese influenced dishes in Japan, and we won’t be adding sesame oil to unagi sauce. 🙂
Hi, I’m going to try this recipe out using GF soy sauce 🙂
Could you please share where you got your saucepan from?
Thanks
Hi Mel! Sure, GF soy sauce works. 🙂 I got it in Japan, but I think Amazon sells it too. This type of pot is called Yukihira Nabe.
I made mine and it looks amazing and thickness is perfect but i have a slight bitter aftertaste anyway to fix it?
Hi Michael! Thanks for trying this recipe! Probably the soy sauce might have burnt on the edge/wall of the pot? It leaves some bitter taste from burning. 🙂
Can this be made without Marin
Hi Lorraine! Traditionally, it’s required… but soy sauce, sugar, and sake and it may work. Increase the amount of sugar and sake. 🙂
Beautiful. and informative site.
Hi Valerie! Thank you for your kind words!
Hi, thank you so much for your response. I’m definitely going to try. -Woodie
Hope you enjoy the recipe! xo
Hi Nami. Thank you so much for this site. I absolutely love it.
I’ve got a tough question: my daughter and I have celiac and cannot have shoyu. We have purchased (and now will make) our own gluten free unagi sauce, but I can’t find gluten free unagi. All the packaged, frozen unagi has been pre-barbecued with shoyu and so is not gluten free.
Are you aware of any gluten free brand of unagi? I just can’t find it.
Hi Woodie! It’s probably difficult to buy outside of Japan, but we do have unagi that is not covered with the sauce. And we call it Shira-yaki 白焼き. We can buy those in Japan.
https://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8E+%E7%99%BD%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D/
And guess what, I found it… but too many. This is probably for restaurants. 🙁
https://nymtc.com/latest-news/monthly-highlight/shirayaki-unagi/
Hi Woodie. I know this is 2 years later, but I buy my unagi at americanunagi.com. It’s quite expensive ($35/lb and you have to buy 3 pounds to get free shipping). I consider it a luxury food, like lobster or crab. The eel at americanunagi.com is plain frozen butterflied eel, and grown in the USA. I broil it with this sauce–pulling it out every minute or two and layering more sauce on it. We far prefer it to the preseasoned, almost always made in China, unagi.
Hi Natasha! Thank you very much for sharing the information!
Please do you have a recipe for pumpkin Katsu curry
Hi Jan! Does this mean pumpkin katsu (instead of meat) OR pumpkin curry…?
Hi would I be able to substitute the mirin for kikkoman mirin style sweet cooking seasoning?
Hi Bianca! Sure, you can use that. It’s considered a mirin-like condiment (not 100% mirin; less alcohol and additional seasoning included). 🙂
[…] I will share how to prepare Unadon with my homemade unagi sauce. You can buy premade Unagi Sauce from a Japanese (or Asian) market, but you can easily make it at […]