Mentsuyu is a Japanese seasoning sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, and sake, combined with the dashi drawn from katsuobushi and kombu. The name means noodle broth (men: noodles, tsuyu: broth). As the name suggests, it is diluted to serve with somen, soba, and udon, though in Japanese households it also seasons everyday dishes directly.
With one bottle in the refrigerator, there is no dashi to prepare and no individual seasonings to measure out. The dishes below are ones from our recipe collection that can be made with it.
For how to make the mentsuyu itself, see the recipe below.
Japanese Noodle Soup Base (Mentsuyu)
Table of Contents
Zaru Soba Dipping Sauce
Chilled soba noodles served with a dipping sauce, a classic of Japanese noodle cooking.
Soba is tightened in cold water, then dipped briefly into a strong sauce before eating. The toasted flavor of the buckwheat meets the depth of soy sauce, with the aroma of katsuobushi and the umami of kombu layered behind it. A little wasabi adds a clean, sharp note.
The sauce is mentsuyu diluted with water. Since the soba is dipped rather than steeped, the sauce is made stronger than a pouring broth. (Using our homemade mentsuyu, a rough guide is 25 ml mentsuyu to 75 ml water.)
Making the sauce before boiling the soba and chilling it in the refrigerator brings it to the right temperature by the time the noodles are ready. Chopped green onion, nori, and wasabi can be added to taste.
Kake Udon Broth
Udon noodles served in a warm broth, a bowl found throughout Japan.
Chewy udon sits in a generous amount of warm broth. The aroma of katsuobushi and soy sauce rises with the steam, and the rounded umami of kombu comes through as it is drunk.
Water and mentsuyu are combined in a pot and warmed to just short of boiling. Since the broth is drunk along with the noodles, it is diluted further than a dipping sauce. (Using our homemade mentsuyu, a rough guide is 30 ml mentsuyu to 300 ml water per serving.)
Add the boiled udon and warm it through, then ladle into bowls and add toppings such as green onion, wakame, tenkasu, kamaboko, or a soft-poached egg.
The same mentsuyu becomes a dipping sauce for soba or a pouring broth for udon, with only the amount of water changing.
Fried Japanese Eggplant in Dashi Broth (Agebitashi)
Fried eggplant steeped in a dashi broth, a dish of Japanese home cooking.
Eggplant is fried in oil, then warm broth is poured over it. There is no dashi to prepare, as the broth comes together by warming mentsuyu with water. Grated daikon, ginger, myoga, and shiso lift the richness of the fried eggplant. Chilled overnight, the flavor works its way through.
Fried Japanese Eggplant in Dashi Broth (Agebitashi)
Teriyaki Chicken
Chicken cooked in a sweet-savory glaze, a staple of Japanese home cooking.
A teriyaki sauce is built from soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. These four can be replaced with mentsuyu and water. The katsuobushi and kombu give it a fuller, more layered umami than a standard teriyaki sauce.
Agedashi Tofu (Japanese Crispy Fried Tofu)
Agedashi tofu is a traditional Japanese dish beloved in both home cooking and restaurants.
The broth for agedashi tofu is dashi combined with soy sauce and mirin. Without preparing dashi, mentsuyu diluted with water and warmed serves the same purpose.
Agedashi Tofu (Japanese Crispy Fried Tofu)
Katsudon (Japanese Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl)
Tonkatsu simmered in broth, finished with egg, and served over rice.
The broth for katsudon can be made with mentsuyu and water alone. Simmering the onion, adding the tonkatsu, and finishing with egg all stay the same.
Katsudon (Japanese Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl)
Teritama Hambagu (Teriyaki Sauce with Egg)
A hamburg steak variation topped with a sweet-savory sauce and a fried egg.
Mentsuyu sauce is spooned over the hamburg steak and a soft-yolked fried egg is set on top. The sauce comes from adding mentsuyu to the same pan the patties were cooked in, reducing it briefly, and stirring in butter.
Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambagu)
Smashed Cucumber Shoyu-zuke (Japanese Soy Sauce Pickle)
Smashed cucumber steeped in a seasoned liquid, an easy Japanese pickle.
The pickling liquid for smashed cucumber is made with dashi and soy sauce. Replacing these with mentsuyu leaves only vinegar and garlic to combine.
