Lightly smoky and full of umami, Mentsuyu is a Japanese soup base used in a multitude of noodle dishes. You can easily make it at home with sake, mirin, soy sauce, and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes).
Mentsuyu (めんつゆ), or sometimes called Tsuyu (つゆ), is a Japanese soup base commonly used in soba and udon noodle dishes. Made from sake, mirin, soy sauce, kombu, and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), the flavor is delicate yet intensely savory.
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What is Mentsuyu (Tsuyu) for?
In Japan, we use Mentsuyu as a basic sauce or broth to flavor everything from noodle dishes, rice bowls, and hot pots to the tempura dipping sauce.
The multipurpose sauce gets a real depth of flavor and smokiness from the use of kombu and bonito flakes. As it happens, these two ingredients are the elementary components to make dashi—the Japanese soup stock that characterize the distinct flavor of Japanese food.
In this recipe, soy sauce contributes to the savory tones, and mirin imparts sweetness that ties everything together.
Making Mentsuyu at home is as easy as combining all the ingredients in a pot and letting it simmer down to a concentrated sauce. You can store it in a mason jar and keep it in the refrigerator for up to a month. The sauce will come in handy when you need it to season your favorite noodle dishes.
When ready to use, you just need to thin it out with water! The ratios of Mentsuyu to water will differ depending on the recipes.
Use Mentsuyu for Hot Noodle Soup
To use Mentsuyu in a hot noodle soup, dilute it with water, heat it up, then pour over boiled noodles. This hot noodle soup broth is called Kaketsuyu (かけつゆ).
Use Mentsuyu for Cold Noodle Dipping Sauce
The Mentsuyu is diluted with water (sometimes no need to dilute), then serve with chilled noodles. This dipping sauce is called Tsuketsuyu (つけつゆ).
Convenient Store-Bought Mentsuyu Bottles
For convenience, you can purchase pre-made Mentsuyu from Japanese (or Asian) grocery stores or online.
Each brand has different instructions for diluting the Metsuyu. Find the usage guide on the bottle that looks like this. You can learn more about the Ratio of Tsuyu to Water on this page.
Use Mentsuyu in These Recipes!
- Cold Tanuki Udon
- Tsukemen
- Zaru Soba
- Yaki Udon
- Mushroom and Tuna Japanese Style Pasta
- Hiyayakko (Japanese Cold Tofu)
- Kitsune Udon
- Negitoro & Avocado Donburi
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Homemade Mentsuyu (Japanese Noodle Soup Base)
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup sake
- 1⅛ cup mirin
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (5 g; 2 x 2 inches or 5 x 5 cm per piece)
- 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (packed; omit for vegetarian/vegan or substitute 2 dried shiitake mushrooms)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a saucepan, add ½ cup sake, 1⅛ cup mirin, and 1 cup soy sauce.
- Add 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) and 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes).
- Slowly bring it to a boil over medium-low heat.
- Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it cool.
- Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Tip: Reserve the kombu and katsuobushi for another use (see below).
To Serve
- This Mentsuyu is concentrated. In general, the mentsuyu-to-water ratio should be 1:2 for a dipping sauce for cold Zaru Soba or Tanuki Udon and 1:4 for Udon Noodle Soup or Soba Noodle Soup. Please adjust the taste of your dipping sauce or soup broth by adding more mentsuyu or water.
To Store
- You can store the Mentsuyu in a mason jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.
To Repurpose the Spent Katsuobushi and Kombu
- Save the spent kombu and katsuobushi in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.
- Repurpose the spent katsuobushi and kombu to make Homemade Furikake (Rice Seasoning).
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 16, 2013. It’s been republished on May 5, 2022, with updated step-by-step and final images.
I have just made this and my lord, its fab! Thank you, I am looking forward to my soba ramen later..
Hello Nikki! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe!
Thank you for trying her recipe and for your kind feedback!
This is really useful to know, thank you! But please could you tell me what the difference is between mentsuyu and hontsuyu? Thank you 🙂
Hello there! Thank you for reading Nami’s post.
Hontsuyu is Kikkoman’s Mentsuyu, which is slightly thicker than Mentsuyu and can be diluted for use in various dishes. It has basically the same flavor.🤗
We used this as the base for kawarasoba–it was so good! I forgot to buy bonito flakes, so we used mushrooms, and it was very good. My piece of Kombu was more like 4×4, but it didn’t seem to matter to us! We loved it. Now I will have to try to make Shabu-Shabu, also!
I had some recipes from when we lived in Japan that I tried to write down from a fabulous cook and friend–but sometimes things would get lost in translation. This fills in some very old gaps and takes the guess work out of my old recipes! Thanks so much.
Hello, Donna. We’re happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe!
We hope you will return to check out many more recipes here. Happy cooking!