Mentsuyu substitute

Best substitute

Homemade Mentsuyu from Dashi, Soy Sauce and Mirin

For dipping: 4 parts dashi, 1 part soy sauce, 1 part mirin. For hot noodle broth: 8 parts dashi, 1 part soy sauce, 1 part mirin

Best for cold soba and somen

Close match

This is genuinely the answer, not a compromise, and it takes about five minutes. Combine, bring just to a simmer for two minutes to cook off the alcohol in the mirin, then cool for cold soba or use hot for kake udon. It tastes cleaner and less sweet than most bottled versions, which lean sugary. The same mixture at the dipping ratio is what tempura shops serve as tentsuyu, usually with grated daikon and ginger stirred in.

Other mentsuyu substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Instant Dashi Powder as the Dashi
Close match
Use 1 cup dashi, then build as above for every 1 tsp instant dashi powder + 1 cup hot water
The shortcut that makes this a genuinely weeknight job.
What changes
Hondashi and similar granules give you the smoky bonito depth almost immediately. They do contain added salt and MSG, so the finished mentsuyu comes out saltier and a little more insistently savoury than one made with real kombu and bonito, and slightly less delicate. Cut the soy sauce by about a teaspoon per cup to compensate.
Best for
weeknight noodles, hot soba and udon broth, tempura dipping sauce, simmered dishes
Different brands vary a lot in salt. Make the dashi, taste it alone first, then decide how much soy sauce to add.
3Kombu and Dried Shiitake Dashi (vegan)
Different taste
Substitute for the dashi 1:1, then build as above
Soak a 4 inch piece of kombu and two dried shiitake in 2 cups of cold water for 30 minutes or overnight, then heat to just below a simmer and remove the kombu before it boils.
What changes
The result is a clean, gently sweet, distinctly vegetal broth. Compared with bonito dashi it is noticeably less smoky and less animal, so the finished mentsuyu tastes rounder and slightly sweeter. Excellent, and the standard vegan approach.
Best for
vegan noodle broth, cold soba, vegetarian tempura sauce, hot pot dipping
Save the soaked shiitake and slice them into the noodles. If the kombu boils, the broth turns slimy and faintly bitter and cannot be fixed.
4Bottled Ponzu, Diluted
Different taste
Dilute like a concentrate: 1 part ponzu to 2 parts water for dipping, 1 to 6 for hot broth
Ponzu is essentially mentsuyu's citrus cousin, made with yuzu or lemon juice alongside soy and dashi.
What changes
Diluted it works, but the difference is unmissable: it is sharp, bright and acidic where mentsuyu is smooth and gently sweet. That makes it very good on cold soba on a hot day and wrong in a hot noodle soup, where the acidity tastes out of place and can turn a broth thin and sour.
Best for
cold soba, chilled somen, cold noodle salads, dipping sashimi-style
Add half a teaspoon of sugar or a teaspoon of mirin per cup to soften the acidity toward mentsuyu.
5Soy Sauce, Sugar and Water (the least-bad option)
Different taste
Use For dipping: 3 tbsp soy sauce + 6 tbsp water + 1 ½ tsp sugar + a pinch of MSG. For hot broth: 1 tbsp soy sauce for every cup of water + ½ tsp sugar
Worth being straight about: this is salty seasoned water and it tastes like it.
What changes
You get the soy salinity and the sweetness, but none of the smoky, rounded dashi backbone that is the whole reason mentsuyu tastes the way it does, so the sauce reads flat and one-note. A pinch of MSG or a quarter teaspoon of fish sauce genuinely helps. It will get dinner on the table; it will not taste like a soba shop.
Best for
emergency substitution, hot udon broth, quick dipping sauce
If you have any dried mushroom, a piece of nori, or a few dried shrimp, steep one in the hot water for ten minutes first. Even that much makes a large difference.
6Bottled Mentsuyu Concentrate, Correctly Diluted
Close match
Follow the bottle, but typically 1 part concentrate to 2 or 3 parts water for dipping, and 1 part to 7 or 8 parts for hot noodle soup
If you do have a bottle, the real risk is using it neat.
What changes
Most bottled tsuyu is sold as a 3x or 4x concentrate, and undiluted it is punishingly salty. Straight tsuyu, labelled hon-tsuyu or straight type, is ready to use for dipping and only needs thinning for soup. Getting the dilution right is the difference between a balanced sauce and an inedible one, so check the label rather than guessing.
Best for
soba and udon, tempura, donburi, simmered vegetables
As a rule, dipping sauce should taste slightly too strong when you sip it alone, because the noodles carry water. Soup broth should taste correct on its own.

What is Mentsuyu?

Mentsuyu is the Japanese noodle sauce made from dashi, soy sauce and mirin with a little sugar, often sold in bottles as simply tsuyu or noodle soup base. Diluted with hot water it becomes the broth for soba and udon; used at close to full strength it is the cold dipping sauce for chilled noodles and tempura, so it is carrying salt, sweetness and umami all at once.

Cooking tips

Dipping sauce and soup broth are the same mixture at different strengths, which is the single most useful thing to understand here. Cold dipping tsuyu runs about 4 parts dashi to 1 soy to 1 mirin. Hot noodle broth, kake-tsuyu, runs about 8 parts dashi to 1 soy to 1 mirin. Tentsuyu for tempura sits at the dipping strength but is served warm.
Always simmer homemade mentsuyu for a minute or two rather than just stirring it together. Mirin and sake contain alcohol, and unsimmered sauce has a raw boozy sharpness that dominates cold noodles.
Made without instant powder it keeps beautifully. Cool it and refrigerate in a jar for up to two weeks, or make a strong concentrate and dilute per serving. If you used instant dashi, use it within a few days.
Cold dipping sauce should taste a bit too strong straight from the jar. The noodles arrive wet from their rinse and dilute it in the bowl, so a sauce that tastes perfectly balanced on a spoon will taste watery once you actually eat with it.
Grated daikon, grated ginger, sliced scallion and a little wasabi stirred into the cup are not garnishes but part of how the sauce is meant to taste, and they cover a lot of ground if your substitute is a little flat.

Frequently asked questions

What is mentsuyu made of?

Dashi, soy sauce and mirin, with a little sugar, and that is the whole list. Because it is only three or four ingredients, making it is almost always better than hunting for a bottle. Dashi is the savoury base, usually kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes; soy sauce brings salt and aroma; mirin brings sweetness and gloss.

Is mentsuyu the same as tsuyu, tentsuyu or noodle soup base?

Broadly yes. Mentsuyu literally means noodle sauce and is what bottles usually call tsuyu or noodle soup base. Tentsuyu is the same sauce served warm as a tempura dip, generally at the stronger dipping dilution with grated daikon and ginger. Hon-tsuyu or straight tsuyu means it is already diluted and ready to use, as opposed to a 3x or 4x concentrate.

Can I use just soy sauce instead of mentsuyu?

Only diluted, and it will taste flat. Use 3 tablespoons of soy sauce with 6 tablespoons of water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar for a dipping sauce, or 1 tablespoon of soy sauce per cup of water for a hot broth. What you are missing is the dashi, which supplies the smoky savoury roundness. A pinch of MSG, a piece of nori steeped in the hot water, or a quarter teaspoon of fish sauce all help noticeably.

Can I just leave mentsuyu out?

No, because in a soba or udon dish it is not a seasoning but the entire sauce or broth. There is nothing else in the bowl to carry flavour. You need some version of it, even if that version is only soy sauce, sugar and water. The one exception is a recipe that adds a tablespoon of mentsuyu to a stir-fry or a dressing for depth, where soy sauce with a pinch of sugar covers it.

What can I use instead of mirin in homemade mentsuyu?

Use 1 tablespoon of sake plus 1 teaspoon of sugar for each tablespoon of mirin, and simmer it to cook off the alcohol. Without sake, 1 tablespoon of water plus 1 teaspoon of sugar works and simply gives a slightly less complex, less glossy sauce. Avoid rice vinegar here, which is acidic rather than sweet and pushes the sauce toward ponzu.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Mentsuyu substitute

Other mentsuyu substitutes

2Instant Dashi Powder as the Dashi

3Kombu and Dried Shiitake Dashi (vegan)

4Bottled Ponzu, Diluted

5Soy Sauce, Sugar and Water (the least-bad option)

6Bottled Mentsuyu Concentrate, Correctly Diluted