Japanese Seasonings: Your Ultimate Flavor Guide

So you want to make Japanese food and you need it to have the irresistible savory flavor of authentic cuisine. The secret is Japanese seasoning! Understanding what seasonings to use and how much to use will elevate your cooking from beginner to expert in no time. Let’s get into our ultimate guide to authentic Japanese seasonings.

 Japanese Seasonings: More than Just Flavor

Japanese seasoning consists of salt, herbs, and spices that enhance the flavors of traditional Japanese food. You can use them on rice, vegetables, meats, soups, and seafood recipes from Japan and other Asian countries.

These ingredients enhance the taste of your dishes by adding unique flavors. It will be almost impossible to replicate the taste of authentic Japanese cooking without adding them.

There are dozens of different seasonings in Japanese cuisine. However, each of them follows a simple principle known as “sa, shi, su, se, so.” This principle uses Japanese hiragana or katakana alphabets to represent the 5 core components of Japanese seasoning:

1. sugar (sa)

2. salt (shi)

3. rice vinegar (su)

4. soy sauce (se)

5. miso (so)

The rest of this post will explore the most popular types of Japanese seasonings in the world. We’ll also reveal where to buy these ingredients and how to use them effectively in your cooking.

Exploring Furikake: The Quintessential Japanese Rice Seasoning

Furikake is the most popular rice seasoning in Japan and has been around since the 12th century. It’s a crunchy and umami-rich powdered condiment that consists of vegetables and dried seafood or meat. You can easily make it at home by cooking all of the ingredients in a pan until they become dry and sparse. The modern version of furikake has a nutty, crunchy, and salty taste.

Common ingredients used to make furikake are dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), roasted or toasted sesame seeds, nori seaweed, sugar, salt, mirin, and soy sauce. Together, the ingredients combine to produce a highly nutritious, umami-rich, crunchy, and versatile seasoning that’s perfect for Asian meals.

To add savory flavors to their food, people in Japan sprinkle furikake on cooked dishes, especially rice. But don’t limit yourself to using the seasoning on rice alone. You can also add it to avocado toast, pasta, eggs, potatoes, and many other foods. 

There are several varieties of furikake, based on the ingredients they contain. Knowing what type of furikake seasoning to add to your meal will help you get the best taste. For example, salmon furikake is an ideal addition to onigiri and wasabi furikake is perfect for foods that taste better when spicy. To learn more about how to use different kinds of furikake, read our guide to Japanese rice seasoning.

Shichimi Togarashi: A Classic Japanese Spice Blend

Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese phrase that literally translates to “seven-flavor chili pepper.” It’s Japan’s favorite spice mixture. Shichimi is a blend of dried chili peppers and several other ingredients ground into a special powdered mixture. It’s called Japanese seven spice because it contains 7 different ingredients in total. These ingredients may include the following:

1. Red chili pepper

2. Black or white sesame seeds

3. Hemp seed

4. Sansho pepper

5. Nori seaweed

6. Yuzu peel

7. Roasted orange peel

Other common ingredients that can make up the shichimi are ginger, aonori seaweed, shiso leaves, and poppy seeds.

Typical shichimi tastes nutty, spicy, and savory, with undertones of citrus. The spice mix is one of the most versatile seasonings in Japan. You can sprinkle some on soup, rice, noodles, stews, and even popcorn. You can also use it in marinades for seafood and vegetables or as an ingredient in salad dressings. Shichimi is also a wonderful addition to tempura batter.

Traditional Japanese recipes that become elevated with the addition of shichimi are teba shio (salted chicken wings), agemochi, gyudon, and roasted kabocha squash.

Shichimi togarashi has many regional varieties in places like Asakusa, Kiyomizu, and Zenkoji. Some people mistake ichimi togarashi for a type of shichimi. Although both are made from red chili pepper, ichimi doesn’t contain any other ingredient, while shichimi contains six additional ingredients (7 in total)

Wasabi: Japan’s Fiery Condiment

If you’ve ever eaten sushi or sashimi at a Japanese restaurant, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten wasabi, or at least what people call “wasabi.” True wasabi is extremely rare and the kind served at most overseas restaurants is fake. This fake version can still taste fantastic, but it’s not the real deal.

Real wasabi is rare and expensive because of the scarcity of Wasabia japonica, its original source plant. This plant needs partial submersion in moving water to grow successfully. Also, the smallest changes in environmental temperature and humidity could destroy the crops.

True wasabi, also called Japanese horseradish, is grown in local regions such as Shizuoka, Nagano, Shimane, and Iwate prefectures. Shizuoka produces about 70% of the wasabi in the country.

It’s been available in the country since the 8th century. Western countries only started eating the Japanese condiment in the 1980s, when sushi became popular in the region. Today, most of the wasabi in Western countries is fake.

Generally, wasabi is a spicy and pungent green paste. You tend to experience the spiciness more in your nose than your tongue, especially if the wasabi is real. Besides its ability to elevate Japanese food with its pungent flavors, real wasabi also provides several health benefits. It will help to boost your immune system, improve your gut health, and prevent many diseases.

Feel free to check out our article on how to spice up your cooking with wasabi. We shared insights on how to determine if a wasabi paste is real or fake.

Mirin: Sweet Cooking Sake Essential

Mirin is one of the more subtle seasonings in Japanese cuisine. It's, however, an essential part of making traditional Japanese food. In fact, leaving mirin out of dipping sauces for noodles and tempura is a bad idea, unless you don’t require an authentic taste.

Mirin is a Japanese sweet rice wine that’s similar to sake. Both condiments are made from rice but mirin contains less alcohol and more sugar. Steamed glutinous rice, rice koji, and distilled rice liquor (shochu) are combined to make mirin. The mixture then ferments for 40 to 60 days.

Please note that mirin is not the same as cultured rice vinegar, despite their similar appearances. The rice vinegar does not contain shochu; hence, it tastes more sour and acidic.

Mirin is often used to add depth and sweetness to a variety of sauces, including teriyaki sauce and soy sauce. It’s also an excellent addition to stir-fries and marinades. Some of our favorite dishes to combine with mirin are steamed seafood, steaks, udon, and sukiyaki.

The following are the three main types of mirin used in Japanese cooking:

1. Hon mirin is an alcoholic beverage with an alcoholic content of 14%.

2. Shin mirin is an artificial mirin-like seasoning with only 1% alcohol.

3. Shio mirin is a fermented seasoning with a salt concentration of 2%.

If you can't get your hands on any of the mirin variants above, you can still enjoy substitutes with similar flavor profiles. Read our mirin guide to see our extensive list of mirin substitutes.

Miso Paste: A Versatile Fermented Seasoning

Miso is one of the essential Japanese seasoning components that can function as its own flavorful condiment. Also known as fermented soy bean paste, it brings a special savory flavor to any kind of Japanese cooking.

The most popular way to use miso paste is to combine it with dashi broth, seaweed, tofu, and other vegetables to make miso soup. Beyond that, you can use it as a marinade for chicken, as a salad dressing, or as a sandwich spread. Most importantly, miso paste can be added to stir-fry dishes to enhance their flavors.

Miso originated in China but was introduced to Japan in the 7th century. Since then, it has become a globally-recognized Japanese ingredient. Modern miso is made up of three ingredients: koji, soybeans, and salt. These components are mixed and fermented for months or even years.

A longer fermentation period will produce miso with a more intense umami flavor and a darker color. The koji fungus used for miso may be cultivated from rice, barley, or other grains. The higher the proportion of koji, the sweeter the miso tastes.

The type of koji and ingredient proportion used to make miso determines what type of miso you have in your pantry. The two most popular types of miso paste are shiro or white miso (higher rice koji to soybean ratio) and aka or red miso (lower koji to soybean ratio).

Soy Sauce: Beyond the Basics

At this point, we have to admit that soy sauce is a global seasoning. Cultures all over the world have their own versions of the condiment. But for our purposes, we’ll focus on Japanese soy sauce.

Soy sauce from Japan tends to contain a lot of wheat along with the primary ingredient, soybean. Hence, it tastes slightly sweeter than most Asian soy sauces, including those from China. Alcohol is another common ingredient in Japanese soy sauces.

One vital characteristic of Japanese soy sauces is that they offer a wide variety of unique flavors, many of which are not interchangeable. That means that every recipe may require a different type of soy sauce. If you plan to use soy sauce as a seasoning for your next recipe, check out the following list of the common types of soy sauce (shoyu) and their specific applications:

1. Koikuchi: This is the most common type of soy sauce in Japan. It’s savory, sweet, slightly acidic, and pungent. You can use it for cooking and seasoning a wide variety of everyday dishes.

2. Tamari: This is a thick and sweet-smelling sauce full of umami flavors. It’s an ideal condiment for pairing with sushi and sashimi. It’s also useful when paired with wasabi and karashi (Japanese mustard) to make a dipping sauce. 

3. Usukuchi: This sauce contains a higher salt concentration than most soy sauces. Its light color makes it an ideal condiment for Japanese dishes that require you to preserve color and fragrance. 

4. Shiro: This type of sauce is lighter than usukuchi. It doesn’t have much going on in terms of flavor. However, it’s very sweet and has a great fragrance. Shiro shoyu is perfect for Asian soups, egg custard, rice crackers, and others.

With hundreds of soy sauce products on the market, you can save yourself headaches by choosing from our list of the best soy sauces of 2024.

Using Katsuobushi and Nori as Seasonings

Katsuobushi and nori are two ingredients that often appear in recipes involving dishes with strong umami flavors. Although these two ingredients are not technically seasonings, you can use them for that purpose if you know exactly what to do.

Katsuobushi, also known as dried bonito flakes, is a popular ingredient in Japanese cooking that is used for topping or garnishing a variety of traditional dishes. It consists of bonito (skipjack tuna), a common saltwater fish. The bonito is cooked, smoked, or fermented to make salty and fishy flakes. You can sprinkle katsuobushi directly on noodles, rice, or eggs to season the dish with umami.

Nori is the most popular type of edible seaweed in Japanese cuisine. Sheets of nori can be eaten as a fiber rich treat or added to other meals as a topping or garnish. Their most common usage is as wrappers for sushi. The best way to use nori as a solo seasoning is to pulverize or crush it into flakes and sprinkle it on bland foods like rice or noodles.

You can also combine nori and katsuobushi with soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, and other ingredients to make homemade furikake seasoning.

Yuzu Kosho: A Citrusy Spice for a Zesty Kick

Made from fresh chiles, yuzu peel, and salt, the yuzu kosho is one of the most exciting condiments in Japanese cuisine. In case you don’t know, yuzu is a tart citrus fruit that grows in East Asian regions like Japan. As you may have guessed, the addition of yuzu juice to the chili peppers creates a citrusy spice that adds a zesty kick to any dish it graces.

All three ingredients are fermented to create yuzu kosho paste, which can be used as a spice and seasoning for Japanese meals. The color of the paste depends on the type of chili peppers it contains. Green and red peppers will create green and red yuzu kosho, respectively.

Yuzu kosho adds bold heat, umami, and a citrusy taste to noodles, soups, hot pots, dipping sauces with sesame oil, and sashimi.

Japanese Seasoning in Modern Cuisine

Chefs all over the world have been taking advantage of the flavor depth that Japanese seasonings bring to the kitchen table. They create fusion cuisine by blending Japanese seasoning with foreign ingredients and cooking techniques.

The following are examples of Japanese seasoning in contemporary dishes:

1. Japanese pizza toast: toasted milk bread topped with soy sauce and other seasonings.

2. Chicken fried steak: American cutlet dish with beef steak seasoned with mirin.

3. Japanese hamburger steak: juicy dish stuffed with grilled meat and served with Tonkatsu sauce, which contains soy sauce.

Where to Buy Authentic Japanese Seasonings

You’ll find authentic Japanese seasoning in Asian stores and supermarkets near you. They also sell other spices and condiments from Japan. Be sure to check the labels carefully to ensure you’re buying a Japanese product and not an item from another Asian country.

The most convenient way to buy Japanese condiments, seasonings, and spices is to shop on an online platform like Bokksu Market.

Expanding Your Culinary Palette with Japanese Seasonings

Now that you know the basics of Japanese seasonings, it’s time to start experimenting with the different options. These diverse and flavorful condiments will bring an authentic Japanese taste to everyday dishes. Elevate home-cooked meals and introduce a new spectrum of flavors to your cooking!