Japanese Ingredients to Create a Japanese Pantry

Learn about the 12 essential Japanese ingredients you need to get started cooking amazing traditional Japanese cuisine as well as Japanese inspired dishes.

There is a litany of Japanese ingredients you can use in your cooking, but I'm going to go through just the essentials needed to make a Japanese meal.

Japanese food is good stuff guys. Packed full of delicious umami flavors, braised meats and vegetables, this is one of my absolute favorite cuisines and I can't wait to share these recipes with you.

Favorite Japanese cooking recipes

Before we jump into ingredients, I want to share a few of my all-time favorite Japanese dishes:

The 12 essential Japanese ingredients

Below are the 12 most used ingredients in Japanese recipes. Of course there are hundreds of Japanese ingredients, but these are some of the most common, and the most often used in the Japanese traditional food recipes on this site!

Rice vinegar

There are both seasoned and unseasoned versions of rice vinegar. Most recipes on the site call for unseasoned vinegar, however, seasoned rice vinegar is used in recipes like this instant pot sushi rice. Seasoned vinegar has more flavor due to the additional of salt, sugar and MSG.

Rice vinegar has a mildly sweet flavor, and is much less acidic than most other Western vinegars (think apple cider). This stuff is so good it's almost just drinkable and has an amazing aroma! It is often used to pickle vegetables and meats as well.

Mirin

Mirin is a rice wine that is similar to sake, but has a much higher sugar content. This is one of my favorite sweetening agents in much my cooking, not just Japanese.

It's a great way to add a touch of sweet to dishes like this maguro zuke-done or this delicious spam and eggs.

Sake

Sake is a rice wine made by fermenting rice. There are a million different kinds of sake. I recommend using a cheaper version for cooking and save the good stuff for drinking! Sake can typically be found at your local grocery store, or Asian market of course.

We use sake in a ton of Japanese cooking, like these ajitsuke tamago (marinated ramen eggs) or this chicken karaage don.

Miso paste

Miso paste is basically fermented soybeans and one of the best umami seasonings with it's salty goodness. It's used a lot in soups, like classic miso soup, but also salad dressings and sauce like the sauce used to make this sous vide sea bass or this pork belly sandwich.

If you can only buy one miso paste, I recommend buying white miso paste as it will be more versatile. Don't get me wrong, red miso is quite tasty (we use it in our spicy miso ramen), but if we're talking basic pantry items here, go with the white as it tends to be more versatile.

Soy sauce

Another ingredient made from fermented soybeans, soy sauce has become a staple in many American households. I put it on everything I can. Seriously, I actually used to put it on frozen burritos....yes, I occasionally eat frozen burritos.

There are many different kinds of soy sauce; I keep a dark mushroom soy sauce and a light soy sauce that tends to be just a bit saltier. And there is this soy sauce for seafood that is absolutely incredible.

But for just basic cooking, your good old Kikkoman (or whatever your favorite brand is) soy sauce will work just fine. And if you have issues with gluten, you can try tamari which is often used as a substitute.

Ponzu sauce

Ponzu sauce is a tangy soy-based sauce. Typically made with citrus, ponzu sauce has a wonderfully tart flavor. You can buy it or make it from scratch; Nami from Just One Cookbook has a great recipe for Ponzu Sauce.

We love using ponzu sauce as a dipping sauce for air fryer potstickers or harumaki spring rolls if you like fried foods.

Shiitake mushrooms

I love shiitake mushrooms both for their hearty, delicious flavor, but also because they come dried and can be stored in your cabinets for months. When I buy fresh mushrooms, they start going bad in a day or so. These are ultra convenient and ultra delicious!

Panko bread crumbs

Light, flaky breadcrumbs, typically made out of white bread. Because of the light, airy quality, panko bread crumbs crisp easier when cooking. I use panko breadcrumbs in place of regular breadcrumbs for most of my cooking for a crunchy breading.

We use panko bread crumbs in these breaded panko crusted pork chops or our favorite air fryer crab cakes (not Japanese, but still so so good). They also make a good crunchy topping when fried with some butter and garlic.

Wasabi

Wasabi is like Japanese horseradish. This wasabi paste works great for any recipe. It's often used as a condiment for sushi and sashimi and is very fragrant.

Most restaurants outside of Japan actually serve fake wasabi, so chances are you haven't had real wasabi. Real wasabi is much more expensive because it is challenging to grow and only grows in certain areas. Real wasabi has a smoother, milder flavor than the fake wasabi - however, both are tasty in my opinion.

We use wasabi (fake wasabi) in this sous vide tuna with wasabi cream sauce that is so good!

Dashi powder

Another favorite ingredient of mine. Dashi is a soup stock typically made with dried bonito flakes, kelp, and/or small dried sardines. Used as a base in many Japanese soups (like kombu that is also used often with dashi), dashi broth packs a pretty amazing umami flavor.

We love using dashi powder to make dashi cured salmon roe and also this Japanese tan tan ramen.

Togarashi

Basically ground chili peppers that can be found at any Japanese grocery store. It also typically includes black pepper, seaweed flakes, sesame seeds and dried orange peels for a slightly citrusy taste. Great as a condiment served on soups, noodles dishes, and yakitori.

Sesame oil

Sesame oil is actually what it sounds like: oil made from roasted sesame seeds. A small amount goes a long way when dealing with sesame oil, but the flavor is delicious.

It makes a great condiment to finish a dish as it has a very low smoke point so is not great for frying. It's adds an amazing nutty flavor to dishes like this spicy tuna or these slow cooker teriyaki chicken thighs.

And there you have it. You're ready to start cooking with these 12 essential ingredients for Japanese cooking! Love making Japanese food? I'd love to hear about your favorite dishes to make in the comments!