Miso Sauce, Marinade and Glaze

This miso sauce recipe is a must-try. The umami-packed sauce is savoury yet sweet and super versatile. It’s the perfect condiment for noodle dishes, marinades, dipping sauces and salad dressing. 

And the best part? The all-purpose sauce requires only four pantry ingredients, it’s super easy to make, and it will keep in the fridge for up to two months. 

Keep reading for more about the Nobu den miso sauce, ingredient information, and how to use miso sauce. Or jump straight to the recipe for miso sauce if you’re ready to get cooking.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Whether you use miso sauce for vegetables, marinating meat, making a glaze or a simple salad dressing, this miso sauce recipe is what you need to add instant flavour to any meal.

You’ll love it for its:

• Simple recipe: Whisk together four pantry ingredients and simmer them over low heat. That’s it!
• Accessibility: The sauce is naturally dairy-free and plant-based. Look for gluten-free miso paste if you need it to be gluten-free too.
• Long shelf-life: Refrigerated in a clean airtight container, the sauce will keep up to 2 months.
• Umami-packed flavour: Best of all, the combination of miso paste, mirin, sake and sugar creates a flavour-packed miso sauce you’ll want to put on everything!

Ingredients and substitutes

This homemade miso paste is super easy to make and requires only four ingredients:

• Miso paste: It’s no surprise that this fermented paste is the key ingredient. I use white miso (shiro miso) for a mild flavour. But you can also use yellow miso or red miso for a more intense, savoury flavour – though you might want to add an extra tablespoon of sugar to balance the saltiness. Look for gluten-free miso if you need the sauce to be gluten-free. Or try a miso substitute if you’ve run out.
• Mirin: The sweet Japanese rice wine contributes sweetness and complexity. If you don’t have any, substitute the half cup of mirin with half a cup of sake and an extra tablespoon white sugar. I use hon mirin (aka real mirin). If your mirin contains corn syrup or sugar, it is not “real” brewed mirin and will most likely be significantly sweeter. But that’s OK, just use half the amount of sugar called for in the recipe.
• Sake: This Japanese rice wine is not sweet like mirin. So, if you don’t have sake, you can double up on the mirin. But you need to reduce the sugar roughly by a tablespoon. Or if you don’t have either, use sweet white wine. The resulting flavour is quite different, but it works in a pinch.
• Sugar: I use plain old white sugar, but you can use brown sugar or palm sugar for an instant caramel flavour.

How to make miso sauce

Homemade miso sauce could not be easier to make. Grab a small saucepan, whisk and your four ingredients. And let’s get started!

Step 1: Whisk together the cup of miso paste, half cup mirin and half cup sake in a small saucepan.

Step 2: Add a quarter cup of sugar for all-purpose miso sauce. Or add another quarter cup (half a cup in total) for a sweet miso glaze sauce (nobu den miso).

Step 3: Bring the miso mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring often. Turn the heat down to low and simmer until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens – about 15 minutes.

Step 4: Use the sauce straight away. Or allow it to cool down then decant it into a clean jar and refrigerate for up to 2 months.

Tip: I prefer having a jar of all-purpose miso sauce (without the extra sugar) in the fridge. It is thick enough to brush vegetables or meat with. But whenever I want a sweeter sauce, I add two teaspoons of maple syrup for every quarter cup of miso sauce to sweeten it into sweet-and-sticky miso glaze.

Serving suggestions

Miso sauce is a versatile condiment that adds flavour to many different dishes. Its usefulness extends well beyond noodles and stir-fries.

Soups and stews: Use miso sauce to season soup and stews. Add it to taste at the end of the cooking process and adjust the amount to taste.

Miso marinade: All-purpose miso sauce is a great marinade for chicken, fish or vegetables. Use it to marinate meat or fish overnight or as a quick marinade for roasted veggies.

Sweet miso glaze: Use for miso dengaku – sweet, umami-rich glazed tofu or vegetables. This Nobu-style den miso sauce works especially well for miso-glazed salmon or eggplant – use it in this miso-glazed eggplant recipe. Or use it as a miso BBQ sauce to baste meats on the grill towards the end of cooking – taking care not to burn the sweet sauce. 

Miso rice bowl: Create a base with white sushi rice (or brown rice if you prefer). Top it with shredded vegetables or leftover veggie stir-fry and a fried egg or sushi-grade salmon (like you’re making bibimbap or a poke bowl). Then top it with a generous drizzle of sweet miso sauce.

Miso dipping sauce: Miso sauce also makes a great dipping sauce. Mix four tablespoons of miso sauce with a teaspoon each of soy sauce, rice vinegar (or black vinegar) and sesame oil. Use chilli oil for a spicy miso sauce.

Miso dressing: Mix equal parts miso sauce, olive oil, apple cider vinegar (or lime juice) and half a part grated ginger (optional) for a quick and easy Asian salad dressing.