Try this easy gyoza dipping sauce recipe to perfectly complement your batch of hot potstickers. This gyoza dipping sauce has a traditional tare, a traditional Japanese sauce base that tastes savory, slightly sweet, and tangy with a touch of nutty sesame. And, of course, it’s topped off with a bit of spiciness with Japanese chili oil.
What are gyoza / potstickers?
Gyoza are Japanese potstickers filled with ground meat and or vegetables. These potstickers take influence from Chinese jiaozi. You’ll find gyoza in a crescent shape and folded on one side with a thin, glass-like wrapping.
Gyoza is served with a dipping sauce that’s made from tare, a traditional Japanese sauce base often found in other dishes like yakitori, teriyaki, and unagi sauce. It’s typically mixed with rice vinegar and Japanese chili oil. This gyoza dipping sauce also pairs well with wontons because of their light flavor.
While you can eat other types of dumplings with this sauce, I find that this dipping sauce pairs perfectly with gyoza’s more delicate wrappers and flavor because it’s not overpowering. More potent flavors from black vinegar or minced garlic are used in other dipping sauces for heavier dumplings, like Korean mandu.
Ingredients in this dipping sauce
This traditional, homemade gyoza sauce is a simple recipe that’s easy to make with only six ingredients.
- Soy sauce is the base, and we use the regular Japanese Kikkoman organic brand. This adds the right amount of saltiness to the tare.
- Mirin is a Japanese rice wine that adds sweetness, umami, and acidity to the sauce. We use Takara Mirin because it actually goes through a fermentation process and doesn’t taste overly sweet, unlike aji-mirin, which is an imitation product.
- Sake enhances the tare flavor with a light fruity taste. We use Gekkeikan Sake from our local Japanese grocery store because it’s affordable and not made with additives.
- Cane sugar adds sweetness to the tare and balances the savory flavor of the other sauce ingredients.
- Rice vinegar adds acidity and tanginess to the sauce to balance the dumplings’ rich, meaty flavor.
- La-yu (or ra-yu) is a Japanese chili oil made from red chili peppers and roasted sesame oil. Unlike chili oil from Chinese or Korean cuisines, this spicy condiment is milder and adds a lot of roasted sesame oil flavor to the dip.
Making ahead & storage
Making gyoza dipping sauce is super fast, so you don’t need to prep it beforehand. However, if you want to prep a batch early, you can make it one day ahead and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. When serving gyoza dipping sauce, use a clean spoon to transfer individual portions into sauce bowls to have the sauce last longer in the fridge.
Gyoza Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp regular soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- ¼ tsp Japanese chili oil la-yu or ra-yu, add more if you like spicy
Equipment Used
- measuring cups and spoons
- small saute pan
- spoon or spatula
- heat-safe bowl
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 2 tbsp regular soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sake, and 2 tsp granulated sugar.
- Stir and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 1-2 minutes. Do not let it come to a boil.
- Remove the pan from heat and place in a heat-safe bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- Add the 2 tbsp rice vinegar and ¼ tsp Japanese chili oil.
- Stir until combined. Pour into individual dipping bowls and serve.
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