Tempura Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu)

Name: Tempura Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu)
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 3/4 cup water; 4 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce; 1/4 cup mirin; 1 tbsp. hondashi (instant dashi powder); 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Author: Francine Lizotte

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Posted on Nov 18th, 2025

by Francine Lizotte

I love Asian cuisine but one of them I got pretty hooked on 🥰 back in the mid-eighties was Japanese! I couldn’t get enough! When a man was asking me out for dinner, Japanese was my first choice. Date or no date, I was eating its foods at least 4 times a month.

Each visit, I was trying a new dish. This is when I discovered Miso Soup, Edamame, Yakitori, Ramen, Sushi 🍣, Takoyaki, Udon, Jiaozi, Soba noodles, and others. One that I really enjoyed till this day is Tempura but it won’t be the same without Tempura Dipping Sauce also known as Tentsuyu!

This fabulous condiment can be duplicated from your favorite Japanese restaurant. It’s super quick to make 👩‍🍳👨‍🍳 and requires only 4 ingredients – okay 5 if water is included. Although typically served with Tempura, this sauce can be used as a flavorful base for stir fries, noodles, rice bowls, etc.

All the ingredients are easy to find at your Asian supermarket however, depending on where you live, finding hondashi can be a challenge. Thanks to online shopping 💻, this item is available unless you decide to make dashi stock from scratch which is pretty simple as long as you can find dried bonito flakes aka katsuobushi.

First, let’s demystify hondashi…
This food item is sold in a small jar. It’s made from dried bonito extract, salt 🧂, flavor enhancers, and other seasoning. It’s basically the Japanese version of our instant stock powder, either chicken or beef. Like ours, this instant dashi powder is convenient and dissolves well in hot water.

Now, let’s talk about dashi…
It’s like making chicken broth from scratch. Instead, this stock is made with water, kelp and dried bonito flakes which are paper-thin shavings of dried, smoked, and fermented skipjack tuna 🐡. This is an item that is sold at any Asian grocery store as it’s an important staple in Japanese cuisine

To make this Tempura Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu), all the ingredients are combined together in a small saucepan and brought to a gentle simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. It takes 5 minutes ⏳ and it’s done. It’s allowed to cool before serving or storing in the fridge.

My take on this condiment is slightly more concentrated. I use ¾ cup water instead of other recipes that call for 1 cup. If using dashi stock, substitute it for the water 💧. If you prefer a “lighter” dipping sauce, increase to 1 cup but if using for stir fries, leave it at ¾ cup.

When serving the sauce with my Shrimp 🍤 & Vegetable Tempura, I don’t use all the sauce therefore, after it’s at room temperature, I either serve it right away or store it in a glass jar before transferring to the fridge for a couple days.

On the other hand, if I know I won’t use it all or make a bigger batch, I portion the cooled sauce into an ice cube tray and freeze it. Once frozen, I put the cubes into a re-sealable freezer bag and transfer to the freezer for up to 4 months 📆.

This delicious Tempura Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu) is insanely quick and easy to make! It’s as flavorful 😋 as any Japanese restaurants and, by making it from scratch, you can always enhance the flavor by increasing the ingredients’ amounts.
Bon Appétit!🍽

Note: Some like adding grated daikon radish to the sauce. I don’t but if you do, it keeps for only a day in the refrigerator. Don’t freeze sauce and radish together. Separate the daikon from the sauce and freeze them separately…

Check out these other delicious Asian recipes… 😀
– Easy Egg Rolls in a Bowl
– Hunan Chicken
– Teriyaki Beef Noodles
– Glass Noodle Salad
– Sambal Green Beans
– Hot & Sour Soup
– Sweet Chili Chicken Bites
– General Tso’s Chicken
– Spicy Pork Gyoza
and for even more international recipes 🌏, click on this link… Recipe Category • International

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