This Asian-inspired sauce is a replica of that famous Ginger Sauce Benihana copycat recipe you love so much. Goes great with steak, veggies, rice or fish!
Original post: March 2016 | Updated: January 2021
Why This Recipe Works
If you’ve ever eaten at Benihana or a similar Hibachi-style restaurant, you have likely begun salivating when you dunk a succulent piece of steak into their famous Ginger Sauce. Every time we go to Benihana, I end up dousing my steak, shrimp, veggies AND rice with that stuff.
It is unbelievably addicting. Benihana Ginger Sauce always pops into my head when I try to come up with with perfect dressing for any salad. And I don’t need to pay a visit to Benihana to get my hands on it. I can make it in my own kitchen easily!
Recipe Ingredients
Ginger – When at all possible, use fresh ginger. Substitute ground ginger only if needed.
White vinegar – This can be replaced with another variety of vinegar, if needed.
Soy sauce – To make this a gluten-free sauce, use a GF variety of soy sauce or replace entirely with coconut aminos.
Where To Buy Benihana Ginger Sauce
According to their site, Benihana prides themselves in preparing the sauce they serve fresh and making it daily. But that’s why we decided to concoct a recipe ourselves and share it with YOU!
Since they don’t share their recipe, we took what we know to be some very flavorful ingredients and tested it until it was the perfect combination of flavors to mimic their sauce.
How To Make This Benihana Ginger Sauce Copycat Recipe
Step 1
Start with your food processor. It’s handy and easy to clean and it’s a tool I use often. Toss in the onions, fresh ginger and liquids so you can come up with a uniform chunky sauce that will be perfect as your condiment for many recipes!
Recipe Notes
- This sauce can be enjoyed immediately but will taste even better after a day of marinating!
- If you don’t own a food processor, you can easily grate the onion and ginger by hand.
- Store in a sealed container in the fridge. Best when used within 5 days of preparing it.
18 Homemade Sauces to Use Now or Freeze for Later
Making homemade sauces is a great way to know exactly what ingredients are going into them, they are more affordable than store-bought and they’re just tastier! Homemade all the way!
Fresh vs Ground Ginger
When making this inspired sauce, when at all possible you want to use fresh ginger. Buying a small stalk of the root is very affordable and provides so much more pungency (in the best way) to the sauce.
Substitute ground ginger when needed, but ground ginger is more commonly used in baked goods or drinks.
Uses For Ginger Sauce
- Everything! Seriously!
- It is a great condiment for seafood, steak, pork chops and chicken.
- Use as a dipping sauce for Asian appetizers such as egg rolls, wontons or potstickers.
- Use as a dressing for any salad.
- Enjoy it tossed in a stir fry meal or over pasta.
- Use it as a topping on your next juicy burger.
- Add to a side dish of quinoa or rice.
- Consider using it as a dipping sauce for Meatballs, Steak Bites or Slow Cooker Veggies!
- Any food you enjoy dipping in soy sauce will likely taste good with ginger sauce, too. It’s so versatile!
More Homemade Sauces
I’m obsessed with making savory homemade sauces! Down with store bought! Here are a handful of my favorites that you are sure to fall in love with. These all make for great gifts, too!
- Homemade Enchilada Sauce is more delicious than anything you can buy at the store and it is super easy to make. It only requires a handful of ingredients and is done in 15 minutes.
- Alfredo Sauce is super easy to make, done in under 10 minutes.
- A copycat recipe of the famous Arby’s Sauce that makes sandwiches sing! This zingy flavorful BBQ style sauce is so delicious.
- This homemade Pizza Sauce takes less than 25 minutes to make!
- Asian Chili Paste is great to have on hand for homemade Asian recipes. Healthy, super affordable and PACKED with flavor.
- Make your own Taco Sauce to use in a variety of Mexican dishes, such as tacos, burritos and taco salads. Ditch the store-bought version so you know EXACTLY what goes inside!
- Five ingredients and five minutes of your time and you will have a chocolatey, dreamy Hot Fudge Sauce on your hands! It’s a thick, smooth and rich treat.
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Ginger Sauce Benihana Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger grated
- 1/4 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse/puree until a chunky consistency is achieved. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
- Serve with a salad, vegetables, steak, shrimp or pour over rice/grains.
Notes
- This sauce can be enjoyed immediately but will taste even better after a day of marinating!
- If you don’t own a food processor, you can easily grate the onion and ginger by hand.
- If at all possible you will want to use fresh ginger. Substitute ground ginger only if needed.
Seems like 1/2 cup of white vinegar is to much for my taste buds. Wow.. may 2 Tsp
Great! You can easily tweak that and enjoy it too. That’s what I love about cooking. Finding your individual tastes to make things.
Great! I think you should try a couple of teaspoons. We all have different preferences but that’s the beauty of cooking – I share what I tested and liked and then you can tweak it for your preferences. Enjoy!
Spot on! Great base sauce. I don’t understand how people can complain about it. Simple and real easy to adjust for preference. Well done.
I’m glad you enjoyed it too. I love having this on hand. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been wanting this sauce for a loong time and never thought I’d find the exact recipe. Until Google sent me here and I’m so glad it did! Your instructions are very clear and the flavor is the same I remember and loved. I’ve been using it as a dressing for my salad and even on fried rice and beef. Thank you!! I’ll keep this recipe forever!
Yay! That’s great to hear. Glad you enjoyed it.
Very delicious, Megan! I used a large onion, so a quarter cup of lemon juice is the perfect amount. Otherwise, the onion would overpower the sauce. Your ingredients are spot on. I wish people wouldn’t give low ratings just because they don’t know how to adjust amounts to their liking.
Thank you for your feedback Kim. I think its helpful to others to hear what worked! I enjoy this recipe to and find it easy to adjust to my preferences. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome! I make this regularly. Definitely recommend letting it sit in the fridge at least overnight – 2 nights if possible!
Yes, the flavors marinate so well if you can wait that long! Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful! Absolutely Wonderful,
I didn’t enjoy this sauce. I felt something was missing and it had too much lemon.
That’s an easy fix to reduce the amount of lemon but I’m sorry you didn’t love it like I did! Thanks for trying it.
Try it straight from Behinana: https://youtu.be/ILkcRDO3IAo
Do all other ingredients then soy sauce. Taste, then slowly add lemon zest, if more needed add juice. Lemons can be unpredictable, make sure they’re fresh. Smaller can be bitter. Try large meyer lemons for milder flavor.
I didn’t enjoy this sauce. I left something was missing and it had too much lemon.
Delicious! Thank you for sharing. I reduced the lemon juice and it is YUMMY!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! It really is a personal preference and I’m glad you found the sauce the way you enjoyed it – cooking is so personal. Thank you for sharing your tweak to it!
This recipe is just about perfect! I made it yesterday and both the wife and I agree it’s a little too much lemon. Could have been too small of an onion but I feel like the lemon overpowers just a bit. But this is pretty damn close. Thanks for the recipe!
That’s an easy tweak to change – glad you gave it a shot and hopefully make again with the perfect lemon amount! Thanks for sharing!
DELICIOUS! My fav sauce!
It’s so fun to be able to have it any time you want! Thanks for sharing.
Ingredients seem the same but measuremnets are clearly a complete guess!
I enjoyed this recipe but the beauty of cooking at home is making it the way you’d like it. Let me know what combination you come up with that works for you! Enjoy!
The recipe is on their website now. Everything is the same except they add lemon zest also
This looks great! How long does it last?
It is so delicious! Store it in the fridge for no longer than 2 weeks or so. Enjoy!
Megan
If you want it to taste good, DON’T use white vinegar. Use RICE wine vinegar. That’s what all hibachi joints use in theirs.
Thank you for the tip.
Wow… this is great. I am sure it is a very good dressing or dipping sauce for a steamed chicken. Of course, it will be really nice for steamed fish too. 🙂
This would be GREAT with chicken or fish! Yum!!
Megan