Homemade Ponzu Sauce is a classic Japanese condiment that is both refreshing and versatile. Make this all-purpose, citrus-based ponzu sauce recipe at home to use in dipping sauces and salad dressings.
A classic Japanese condiment, Ponzu Sauce is a citrus-based sauce with a tart-tangy flavor similar to a vinaigrette. It contains a mix of ponzu (citrus juice of sudachi, yuzu, and kabosu and vinegar), soy sauce, sugar or mirin, and dashi.
Because of its versatility & refreshing flavor, you can use the sauce in many different ways. Enjoy ponzu as a dipping sauce for shabu-shabu or seafood, as a marinade for grilled meats and vegetables, or as dressing for salads or cold noodles.
How to Make Homemade Ponzu Sauce
To make a ‘quick’ version of ponzu at home, you just need to combine equal parts of soy sauce and fresh lemon juice as well as a bit of sweetness from mirin.
If you have more time, I highly recommend adding a strip of kombu and a handful of bonito flakes. You can add more katsuobushi for rich, smokey, umami-rich ponzu sauce. Umami from kombu and katsuobushi really make this homemade ponzu to the next level. You will get a more balanced and richer taste. Umami is hard to describe, but you know it’s there when you taste it.
This homemade ponzu can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. I love this homemade ponzu sauce that I don’t buy bottled ponzu anymore.
Got Yuzu? Make Yuzu Ponzu!
If you’re lucky enough to get yuzu, definitely make Yuzu Ponzu (柚子ポン酢) or yuzu pon (柚子ポン)!
Delicious Recipes to Enjoy with Homemade Ponzu Sauce
- Tofu Salad with Sesame Ponzu Dressing
- Tuna Tataki
- Eggplant with Sesame Ponzu Sauce
- Pork Spring Rolls with Ponzu
- Grilled Oyster with Ponzu Sauce
- Shabu Shabu
I’ll be sharing more recipes using my homemade ponzu!
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Homemade Ponzu Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup citrus juice (a mixture of lemon, orange, and/or grapefruit juices)
- zest from one lemon
- 2 Tbsp mirin (or substitute 2 tsp sugar + 2 Tbsp sake or water)
- ½ cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (packed; for vegan/vegetarian, omit or substitute 1–2 dried shiitake mushrooms)
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (2 x 3 inches, 5 x 7.6 cm, 6 g per piece)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Please note that this recipe requires a steeping time of at least overnight, and for the best flavor, up to one week.
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a sterilized mason jar, combine all the ingredients: ½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup citrus juice, zest from one lemon, 2 Tbsp mirin, ½ cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), and 1 piece kombu (dried kelp). Mix well. Tip: Use a combination of citrus juices that you like. I used 6 Tbsp lemon juice and 2 Tbsp orange juice for single batch.
- Steep in the refrigerator overnight (minimum), for several days, or for up to a week. Some restaurants steep it for a month, especially if they make a big batch.
- After steeping, drain the mixture in a sieve to strain out the katsuobushi and kombu. You can use leftover the kombu and katsuobushi to make Homemade Furikake (Japanese rice seasoning). Transfer the Ponzu to a jar with a tight-fitting lid. It‘s now ready to use.
To Serve
- Ponzu is one of the classic dipping sauces for Shabu Shabu hot pot. You can also use ponzu to make refreshing sauces for dishes like Tuna Tataki, Pork Spring Rolls, Pan-Fried Eggplant, or Grilled Oysters. It‘s delicious on salads as well, like my Tofu Salad with Sesame Ponzu Dressing.
To Store
- You can keep the homemade ponzu in the mason jar for up to 1 month (to be safe); however, if you substitute the mirin with water and sugar, please use it within a week. When you use the ponzu, make sure to use clean utensils to avoid cross-contamination. The sauce will keep 6 to 12 months if you sanitize and keep everything clean while making the ponzu.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The original post was published on May 26, 2013. The post has been updated with the new pictures and video and the recipe has been updated in October 2017.
I love the little feature of being able to switch from Imperial to Metric, very clever!
Hi Jennifer, We are glad to hear you notice it! We are currently installing many features, and we hope everyone enjoys this website more than ever. Thank you for your kind feedback.
Love your recipes and videos!😊
Hi Lisa,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!💕
Hi Nami, here you put 1/2 cup of citrus juice or 6 tbsp lemon juice + 2 Tbsp orange juice.
I followed the mixture of 6 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice + 2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice , and put them in a measuring cup. But with all that amount of juice is only 1/4 cup. Isn’t it supposed to be 1/2 cup citrus juice? What do I miss here? Please enlighten me..
Hi Lia,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
1 Tbsp is about 15 ml, and if you add it all together, 8 Tbsp will be 120 ml = 1/2 cup.
Hum… 1/4 cup is only 60 ml.🤔
4 Tbsp = 1/4 C. So 8 Tbsp = 1/2 C.
Possible you accidentally used tsp instead of Tbsp when preparing, Lia?
Where do you source your Kombu? I’ve read that some can contain a fair amount of heavy metals and other contaminants. Is it tested. Just looking for healthy source or brand.
Hi JP,
Nami usually purchases good quality Kombu in Japan and brings it back home.
However, if she has to purchase it here in the US, she purchases a good Kombu from Hokkaido Japan at Nijiya market (Japanese market). We are not worried about the CA label (you can research it online) too much since we don’t consume enough to be worried.
We hope this helps.
Hello, am your new fans.. have been cooked several of your recipe now.. many thanks to the detail instruction..xoxo..I
would like to try make this sauce.. but cant find bonito and kelp in the local store nearby.. can I replace them with dashi stock? If yes, please let me know how much should I mix in.. Arigato 🙂
Hi Margiee,
Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback!
In that case, can you find dried Shiitake mushrooms? You may add 1~2 dried Shiitake as a substitute.
We hope this helps!😉
love this recipe. I didn’t have bonito flakes or kombu but it was still fantastic. I added a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil and boy oh boy…so good.
Hi Marsha! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for your kind feedback!!
Did i read it wrong? I did not see you put rice vinegar in the recipe. I used lemon juice + soy sauce + katsuoboshi + konbu only. Is that okay? So i should keep the ponzu sauce in the fridge for a week before removing the katsuodashi and the konbu? Can i remove it after just one day?
Hi Chypa! I do not use rice vinegar for my ponzu sauce but only citrus juice (lemon and oranges). It’s up to you how long you want to steep; whether you do overnight or 3 days or up to a week. Then strain. Up to your preference in taste. 🙂
Hi Nami San,
I’d like to ask how much lemon zest do you normally grate to make Ponzu Sauce? Is it lemon zest from whole 1 lemon? or only quarter/ half of 1 lemon? Thank you…
Hi Michelle! Zest from whole one lemon. 🙂
Hi Nami, I love making homemade sauces and when I saw your recipe for ponzu I got very excited (using the leftover konbu and katsuo for furikake is also brilliant!). I tried following your recipe exactly and I love the flavor, but I find the acidity is really strong that it actually irritates my stomach. I’d prefer not to dilute out the nice citrus flavor with more soy sauce, so is there some way I can make it less acidic but still keep the nice balance of flavor?
Hi Ray! Thank you for trying this recipe! How about increasing the orange flavor more and decrease the lemon juice? The acidity in these fruits is different – and also you can use other fruits if you prefer. Don’t add more soy sauce (it becomes very soy sauce flavor), instead of decrease the citrus juice amount in this recipe to keep the other ingredient ratios. Hope this will help! 🙂
Question- on lockdown so I don’t plan on shopping today, but want to make tuna tataki tonight! I do not have kombu, or bonito flakes but I do have Hondashi bonito soup stock powder. I also have dried sardine powder (sozairyoku dashi). How can I use either of these to substitute the kombu/bonito in your ponzu sauce recipe?
Hi Plumeria! I apologize for my late response. Katsuobushi and kombu are umami factor in the ponzu sauce, so you can use a little bit of hondashi if you like. 🙂
I don’t understand why you think adding water would make it spoil faster, is squeezed citrus, or soy sauce for that mater, not mostly water??
Hi Chad! Maybe you can check on English websites? In Japan, it’s commonly known not to include water if you plan to keep the sauce for a long time.
I’m allergic to shellfish, anything in this that’s considered shellfish, or fish sauce ingredients?
Hi Louise! No shellfish. Kombu is kelp / seaweed. Katsuobushi is dried and smoked bonito that’s shaved into flakes. No shellfish included. 🙂
We enjoy your recipes, but we are getting a bit fussy. (LOL) Found a recipe for a dish Tofu (I will use Chicken) & Vegetable Medley. Since we do not have Ponzu I had to look on your site for the recipe. Of course, I found it.
I am sure you are aware of the book ‘Japanese Foods That Heal’ by John & Jan Belleme. An American attempt to convince people to simplify their cooking & what they eat. They also have simple meal recipes.
I would guess you are feeling the pressure of a full-time business by this time. We like your realistic meals.
Tom & Nancy
Hi Tom and Nancy! I’m glad you found my favorite homemade ponzu recipe! I really like it and hope you do too!
Actually… I do not know this cookbook (I just googled, but never seen it before). If I see it at the bookstore, I will check it out. Tuttle Publishing usually send me Asian cookbooks (including Japanese cookbooks) for reviews – I sometimes hot giveaways for them – but I haven’t received this one yet.
We enjoy what we do! 😀 I just need to slow down… when it’s your own business, you end up working all day all the time. There are so many things I want to do, yet so little time! Hope all is well with you two!
It’s always frustrating to find a recipe you want to follow and author has simply made a YouTube video. That means stopping the video and riding down ingredients and doing the same with the directions. Please just take a moment and write out the recipe so that we can print it.
Hi Millie! My recipe cards are always in the post. Right after the title of each post, there is a “Jump to Recipe” link where you are taken straight to the recipe card. Or you can simply scroll down if you want to read the post. And the “Print” button is inside the recipe card. Hope this helps.
Recipe looks good, except for 1 thing. Zu is Japanese for vinegar. Any ____zu sauce should have some vinegar in it, for ponzu it should be unseasoned rice vinegar if you can’t find ponzu vinegar.
I tried using different citric fruits, mandarin, clementine, lime etc. I also added dried chilli for some heat. Thank to Nami, I can my own version of ponzu sauce now!
Hi Jane! I’m SUPER happy to hear you are making your own ponzu! It’s so delicious and much healthier. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback!