Use this All-Purpose Miso Sauce to make simple glazes, marinades, dressings, or dipping sauces. Add it to protein, vegetables, and pretty much everything!
It’s always good to have homemade sauces around in your kitchen so you don’t end up with the store-bought stuff. Not only you have complete control over the ingredients, but a homemade sauce always tastes so much better. Today I’m sharing my secret magic sauce: the brilliant All-Purpose Miso Sauce.
Whether it is to add a little depth or complexity, this miso sauce never fails to jazz up a dish whenever something is amiss. Just like a reliable friend you can count on anytime!
The Best Miso Sauce
5 reasons to love this sauce:
- It’s full of authentic Japanese flavor. The sauce is the guarded secret to many of your favorite Japanese dishes.
- Super easy to put together & only 4 simple ingredients needed!
- Long shelf life. Make once and store well in the fridge for up to 2 months.
- Its ability to transform. You can get a whole variety of homemade sauce with varying flavors by using different miso. Mild, sweet or pungent – you decide.
- Unlike bottled seasoning sauces, this homemade sauce is free of processed ingredients and MSG (monosodium glutamate).
I enjoy using different organic miso from Hikari Miso® .
3 Things to Know When Making All-Purpose Miso Sauce
1. Saltiness varies based on the miso brand/type
If you’re using a different brand or type of miso, keep in mind that the saltiness level may differ from my recipe. So adjust accordingly.
2. Different types of miso yield different flavors
Miso can be made of rice, barley, soybean, or koji, and each one has different strength and depth. Just like saltiness, if you’re using a different type of miso, your homemade miso sauce may not taste exactly like mine. It also means you can literally make a variety of this sauce by using different types of miso.
3. Miso burns easily
Miso itself burns easily while cooking, but it gets even more susceptible when you include mirin and/or sugar. Be sure to keep a close eye of the pot. Stay around to scrape the bottom of the pot and keep stirring.
Recipe Ideas with All Purpose Miso Sauce
- Marinade: Use different protein including fish, chicken, pork, beef, and tofu. Cook in the foil, oven or pan fry.
- Stir Fry: Add just a tablespoon or two of the miso sauce to the stir-fry dishes.
- Simmered Dishes (Nimono): Simmer root vegetables and protein with miso sauce.
- Dipping Sauce: for your steamed vegetables, hot pot, or simply, fresh cucumber.
- Dressing: Coat with all kinds of vegetables and add it to the salad dressing base.
Sweet, savory, versatile and full of umami, that’s what makes this All Purpose Miso Sauce so brilliant. I know you’d have fun integrating the sauce into more of your cooking.
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All-Purpose Miso Sauce
Use this All-Purpose Miso Sauce to make simple glazes, marinades, dressings, or dipping sauces. Add it to protein, vegetables, and pretty much everything!
- 1 cup miso ((I used Hikari Miso® Organic Red Miso) (300-320 g))
- 1 cup mirin ((240 ml))
- ½ cup sake ((120 ml))
- 2 Tbsp sugar ((30 g))
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Add all the ingredients in a small saucepan.
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Whisk all together and bring the sauce to boil over medium heat.
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Once bubbling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until thickened.
- Keep in the airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
