Japanese Sesame Sauce (Goma Dare)

Name: Japanese Sesame Sauce (Goma Dare)
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1/2 cup (70g) white sesame seeds (not toasted); 4 tablespoons Japanese mayonnaise; 3 tablespoons sugar; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 4 teaspoons white miso paste; 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice wine vinegar; 2 teaspoons sesame oil (not toasted); 2 teaspoons sake

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You are going to love this incredibly versatile Japanese sesame sauce, known as goma dare (胡麻だれ). This sesame sauce is creamy with a nutty and slightly sweet flavour. It's delicious on almost everything. And it's so easy to make it fresh at home in just minutes.

A close up image of Japanese sesame sauce goma dare in a bowl.

This sauce makes a delicious salad dressing, the perfect dipping sauce for dumplings and skewers, an amazing sauce for meats, fish, or vegetables, and it's great on noodles, too!

If you love sesame flavour, I also highly recommend that you try Japanese persimmon tofu salad for a beautiful autumn dish.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
How do you use it
Storage
Top Tip
FAQ
📖 Recipe

A bowl of Japanese sesame sauce goma dare on a marble countertop.

Ingredients

White sesame seeds (not toasted)
Japanese mayonnaise - Unlike American mayonnaise, which uses whole eggs, this mayonnaise uses only egg yolks to give it a delightful rich and custardy mouth feel. It also uses a beautiful blend of vinegars (such as rice, apple cider, red wine, and distilled) rather than just white vinegar.
Soy sauce
White miso paste
Sugar
Unseasoned rice wine vinegar - Also known as rice vinegar, it is made from fermented rice and has a flavour that is sweet and acidic.
Sesame oil (not toasted)
Sake - An inexpensive drinking sake is better to use than cooking sake, because cooking sake contains additional salt.

See the recipe card below for quantities.

Instructions

Use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to grind up the sesame seeds.

Then whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.

It's that easy!

A whisk in a bowl of Japanese sesame sauce.

Substitutions

Sake - The sake in this recipe can be substituted for an equal amount of dry sherry. If you prefer to avoid alcohol, you can use a mixture of one part rice wine vinegar to three parts water.
Rice wine vinegar - Substitute with an equal amount of white wine vinegar plus ¼ tsp of sugar.

Variations

Extra creamy - Add more Japanese mayonnaise if you would like to make this sauce extra thick and creamy. I don't recommend to do this if you are using the sauce as a salad dressing.
Ginger or Garlic - Try adding in a tiny bit of freshly grated ginger or garlic for an extra flavour kick.
Toasted - You can swap the sesame oil in this recipe for toasted sesame oil if you prefer.
Smooth - Grind the sesame seeds down into a powder if you want your sauce to be smooth with no visible sesame pieces.

A bowl of sesame sauce beside a bowl of green salad on a countertop.

Equipment

You will need either a mortar and pestle or a food processor to grind the sesame seeds. You will also need a whisk to blend the sauce.

mortar and pestle

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How do you use it

There are so many uses for sesame sauce! Here are some of them:

Salad dressing
Dipping sauce for dumplings, grilled skewers, and shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot)
Dressing for proteins: chicken, pork, beef, seafood, tofu
Dressing for cooked vegetables: green beans, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, asparagus
Dip for raw vegetables
Dip for sashimi
Dressing for warm or chilled noodles: udon, soba, ramen
Dressing for poke bowls
Spread for burgers or sandwiches

Storage

Store leftover Japanese sesame sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Give it a good stir before using.

Japanese sesame sauce used as a dressing in a bowl of green salad.

Top Tip

Don't buy pre-ground sesame seeds - you won't get the same fresh flavour.

FAQ

Is goma dare sesame sauce gluten free?

This sauce can be made gluten free. Just make sure to use gluten free versions of white miso paste and soy sauce.

📖 Recipe