Okonomiyaki Sauce substitute

Best substitute

Tonkatsu sauce plus a little sugar

4 tbsp tonkatsu sauce plus 1 tsp sugar or honey, whisked cold

Best for okonomiyaki

Close match

The closest substitute there is, because the two sauces are made from the same things. Both are Japanese Worcestershire-style brown sauces built on fruit and vegetable puree, vinegar, soy and spices. Okonomiyaki sauce is simply sweeter, thicker and slightly less sharp. Used straight from the bottle, tonkatsu sauce tastes marginally tangier and runs a little thinner on the pancake, and most people would not spot the swap at all. The teaspoon of sugar closes the gap almost exactly.

Other okonomiyaki sauce substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Ketchup, Worcestershire, oyster sauce and sugar
Close match
Makes about ½ cup: 3 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp sugar or honey, 1 tsp soy sauce
The standard pantry build, and it is genuinely very close rather than a compromise.
What changes
Each part does a specific job: ketchup supplies the tomato-fruit body, sweetness and thickness; Worcestershire supplies the tamarind, anchovy and spice funk that makes the sauce taste Japanese-brown rather than American-red; oyster sauce supplies deep savoury weight and the syrupy texture; the sugar takes it from tonkatsu-sweet to okonomi-sweet. Against the bottle it is a shade more tomato-forward and a shade less complex on the spice side, and that is the whole difference.
Best for
okonomiyaki and takoyaki, yakisoba noodles, drizzling over fried food, making a small batch for one meal
Whisk it cold and do not simmer it. Every one of these ingredients is already cooked, and heating drives off the vinegar that gives the sauce its lift, leaving something flat and jammy. Taste and adjust to your ketchup - sweeter supermarket ketchups need closer to 2 teaspoons of sugar than a full tablespoon. It keeps two weeks in a jar in the fridge.
3Ketchup, Worcestershire and sugar (no oyster sauce)
Different texture
3 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp soy sauce, pinch of mustard powder
The three-ingredient version for when there is no oyster sauce.
What changes
It still works, and it is the version most home cooks in the West end up making. What you lose with the oyster sauce is body and savoury depth, so the result is thinner, brighter and more tomato-forward, and it soaks into the pancake instead of sitting glossily on top. The soy sauce restores some of the salt and umami and the pinch of mustard powder adds back a little of the spice complexity.
Best for
okonomiyaki when the cupboard is bare, takoyaki, vegetarian versions if you use a vegan Worcestershire
If it is too thin to ribbon off a spoon, add another tablespoon of ketchup rather than cornstarch - starch makes the sauce cloudy and slightly gluey. Half a teaspoon of miso whisked in is an excellent optional addition here and covers most of what the oyster sauce would have done. A pinch of ground allspice or clove also pushes it closer.
4HP sauce or British brown sauce plus sugar
Different taste
¼ cup brown sauce plus 1 tsp sugar or honey and 1 tsp ketchup
Closer than most people expect, because HP sauce and okonomiyaki sauce are cousins - both are fruit-and-vinegar brown sauces descended from the same Worcestershire-sauce family.
What changes
What changes is the balance: brown sauce is noticeably sharper on the malt vinegar and carries a stronger tamarind and clove note, so it tastes more astringent and spicier and less sweet. The sugar and the teaspoon of ketchup soften the vinegar edge and round it out.
Best for
okonomiyaki and takoyaki, yakisoba, anyone in the UK with HP in the cupboard and no Japanese shop nearby
Taste before you sweeten, because brands differ a lot - some brown sauces are already fairly sweet and will need only half a teaspoon of sugar. A1 steak sauce works the same way but is more acidic still and more tomato-and-raisin forward, so use 2 teaspoons of sugar with it and a full teaspoon of soy sauce.
5Sweet barbecue sauce with rice vinegar and soy
Different taste
¼ cup sweet barbecue sauce, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp soy sauce
A reasonable emergency swap that gets the sweetness, thickness and gloss right immediately.
What changes
The problem is smoke: American barbecue sauce is smoky and often has a molasses depth, and okonomiyaki sauce has neither. The finished pancake tastes distinctly like a barbecue dish rather than a Japanese one, which some people happily eat and others find jarring. The rice vinegar and soy pull it back toward the right acidity and salt.
Best for
when barbecue sauce is the only sweet-savoury sauce in the house, takoyaki for children, a quick pancake glaze
A sweet, thick Kansas City style barbecue sauce is the only kind that works here. A vinegar-forward Carolina sauce is far too thin and sour, and a mustard-based South Carolina sauce tastes completely wrong. Choose the least smoky bottle you have and use less than you would of the real sauce, since barbecue sauce tends to dominate.
6Hoisin sauce thinned with vinegar
Different taste
2 tbsp hoisin, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp ketchup, 1 tsp water
The best match for the texture and gloss on this whole list and the worst match for the flavour, which is an honest trade worth understanding.
What changes
Hoisin is exactly the right thickness and shine and it is sweet and savoury in the right proportions, but its sweetness comes from fermented soybean and five-spice, so the pancake tastes unmistakably Chinese - anise, fennel and a deeper fermented note that okonomiyaki sauce does not have. If you accept that it is a different dish, it is a good one.
Best for
when texture matters more than authenticity, takoyaki, glazing anything fried
The vinegar is not optional here. Neat hoisin is cloying and heavy on a pancake that is already rich with mayonnaise and pork, and the acid is what makes it edible in that quantity. Do not add sugar - hoisin is already sweeter than okonomiyaki sauce.

What is Okonomiyaki Sauce?

Okonomiyaki Sauce is Okonomiyaki sauce, also labelled okonomi sauce and sold under the Otafuku and Bulldog brands, is a thick, dark, sweet and tangy Japanese brown sauce made from fruit and vegetable puree, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and spices, brushed over okonomiyaki and takoyaki.

Cooking tips

Understand the four jobs the sauce is doing and you can fix any substitute. It brings sweetness, fruity vinegar tang, salt and umami, and a thick glossy body that sits on the surface rather than soaking in. Okonomiyaki batter itself is barely seasoned - it is mostly flour, dashi, egg and cabbage - so the sauce is where nearly all the flavour and all the salt come from, which is why a weak substitute makes the whole pancake taste bland.
Do not cook any of these substitutes. They are all cold whisk-together sauces made from already-cooked ingredients, and simmering them drives off the vinegar and concentrates the sugar, leaving something flat, jammy and oddly sweet. Twenty seconds with a fork in a small bowl is the entire method.
Thickness matters as much as flavour. The sauce should ribbon slowly off a spoon rather than run. A thin substitute soaks straight into the cabbage and the pancake tastes watery and underseasoned even though you used the right amount. Thicken with more ketchup, a teaspoon of honey, or a little hoisin - not cornstarch, which turns it cloudy and gluey.
Adjust the sugar to your ketchup and your palate, and expect to go sweeter than feels natural. Japanese okonomi sauce is distinctly sweeter than most Western savoury sauces, which is the main thing that separates it from tonkatsu sauce. If your version tastes correct as a steak sauce, it is probably still a teaspoon of sugar short of okonomiyaki sauce.
The same sauce covers takoyaki, and a slightly thinner saltier version is yakisoba sauce, so one batch does a whole evening of Japanese street food. For yakisoba, take any recipe above and add a teaspoon of soy sauce and a tablespoon of water per half cup so it coats noodles without gumming them.
For a vegetarian or vegan version, swap the oyster sauce for a teaspoon of soy sauce plus half a teaspoon of mushroom powder or a splash of dried shiitake soaking liquid, and use a vegan Worcestershire, since standard Worcestershire contains anchovy. Use sugar rather than honey. The result is very close - dried mushroom is a good stand-in for the sea-savoury depth.

Frequently asked questions

Is okonomiyaki sauce the same as tonkatsu sauce?

Almost. They are both Japanese fruit-and-vegetable brown sauces from the same family, and the differences are that okonomiyaki sauce is sweeter and thicker while tonkatsu sauce is a little sharper and thinner. You can use tonkatsu sauce straight on okonomiyaki and most people will not notice; stirring a teaspoon of sugar into every 4 tablespoons makes it effectively identical. It works the other way too - okonomiyaki sauce on a pork cutlet is perfectly good, just sweeter than traditional.

Can I just leave the okonomiyaki sauce out?

You can, but the pancake will taste noticeably plain, and this is not a case of losing a garnish. Okonomiyaki batter is deliberately mild, so the sauce carries most of the salt, all of the sweetness and all of the tang. If you skip it you should replace it with something in the same role rather than nothing - even plain ketchup mixed with a splash of Worcestershire and soy sauce is a large improvement over dry pancake. A drizzle of Japanese mayonnaise alone gives richness but no acidity or sweetness.

Can I just use ketchup on okonomiyaki?

Ketchup alone is too sweet in the wrong way and much too tomato-forward, so the pancake ends up tasting like a savoury pizza. It is the right starting point, though, because ketchup already supplies the fruit body, sugar and vinegar that make up most of okonomiyaki sauce. Add Worcestershire sauce at about two parts ketchup to one part Worcestershire, plus a pinch of sugar and a few drops of soy, and you cross from wrong to right in about ten seconds.

What are Bulldog and Otafuku sauce?

They are the two brands you will most often see, and both make Japanese brown sauces in several strengths. Otafuku is the one most associated with okonomiyaki, particularly Hiroshima style. Bulldog makes a range including tonkatsu sauce, a vegetable and fruit sauce, and a chuno or medium-thick sauce; the Bulldog labelled tonkatsu or okonomi will both do the job. If a recipe names either brand, treat it as a generic call for okonomiyaki or tonkatsu sauce, not something you need to hunt down.

Do I need Japanese mayonnaise as well as the sauce?

It is traditional but it is a separate thing, not part of the sauce. Okonomiyaki is finished with the brown sauce first and then a zigzag of Japanese mayonnaise, which is richer and tangier than Western mayonnaise because it uses only egg yolks and rice vinegar. If you cannot find it, whisk half a teaspoon of rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar into 3 tablespoons of ordinary mayonnaise. The mayonnaise does not substitute for the brown sauce and the brown sauce does not substitute for it - they do different jobs, richness versus tang.

Is okonomiyaki sauce gluten-free or vegetarian?

Usually neither. Most commercial okonomiyaki sauce contains soy sauce made with wheat, and many brands list anchovy or bonito among the savoury ingredients. The same applies to the pantry substitutes: Worcestershire sauce contains anchovy, oyster sauce contains oyster extract, and both often contain wheat. For a gluten-free version use tamari in place of soy, check that your Worcestershire is gluten-free, and for a vegetarian one use a vegan Worcestershire plus mushroom powder in place of oyster sauce.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Okonomiyaki Sauce substitute

Other okonomiyaki sauce substitutes

2Ketchup, Worcestershire, oyster sauce and sugar

3Ketchup, Worcestershire and sugar (no oyster sauce)

4HP sauce or British brown sauce plus sugar

5Sweet barbecue sauce with rice vinegar and soy

6Hoisin sauce thinned with vinegar