Wagamama Amai Sauce Recipe & Calories

Want that sweet, tangy sauce from the side of Wagamama's kids' katsu at home? That's amai sauce, a soy, tamarind and vinegar sauce that Wagamama publishes the recipe for, and a portion of it has just 69 calories.

It comes with the kids' katsu, yaki soba and cha han, and it's vegan. Below you'll find what goes into it, which dishes it's served with and Wagamama's own recipe for it.

Updated Jump to the recipe

Wagamama kids' chicken yaki soba: noodles tossed in sweet amai sauce with chicken, egg, mangetout, peppers and sweetcorn

What is amai sauce?

Amai is Japanese for sweet, and amai sauce is exactly that: a thin brown sauce that tastes sweet first and sour second. You'll also see it called sweet amai sauce on Wagamama's kids' menu, and the two names are one sauce. Wagamama's allergen and nutrition chart gives both names identical figures.

You'll mostly find it on the kids' menu, where it's one of two sauces that can come on the side of the kids' chicken katsu (£6.90) and the yasai katsu (£5.90), the other being katsu curry sauce. It's also what the kids' chicken yaki soba (£6.50), yasai yaki soba (£5.70) and the chicken and yasai cha han (£5.70 and £5.10) are made with, and one of the two sauce choices in the £7.90 build-your-own kids' bento. The only adult dish named with it is the saku saku duck soba, at £20.90, which is crispy duck on soba noodles with amai sauce.

The taste comes straight from the recipe. Six tablespoons of sugar go in against four of tamarind concentrate and four of vinegar, two malt and two rice wine, which is why the sauce leads with sweetness and finishes with a sour edge. Tomato ketchup, light and dark soy sauce and a pinch of salt make up the rest, and the soy sauces supply the savoury side. There's no chilli in it. Heat only arrives if you add it separately, as Wagamama does with a teaspoon of sriracha in the yaki soba recipe the sauce is published with.

Wagamama amai sauce recipe

Wagamama publishes this recipe on its own site, as the sauce for its yasai yaki soba, so the quantities below are Wagamama's own. The method is rewritten in our words.

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 6 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp malt vinegar
  • 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 4 tbsp tamarind concentrate
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • A pinch of salt

Method

  1. Dissolve the sugar. Put the sugar, rice wine vinegar and malt vinegar in a pan on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the ketchup and tamarind. Stir in the tomato ketchup and the tamarind concentrate until combined.
  3. Add the soy sauces. Stir in the light and dark soy sauces.
  4. Simmer. Keep the pan on a low heat and let the sauce simmer.

Tips

  • Tamarind: The recipe lists tamarind concentrate. If you only have tamarind paste, add it a little at a time and taste as you go.
  • The salt: Wagamama lists a pinch of salt but doesn't say when it goes in, so add it with the soy sauces and taste before adding more.
  • Heat: There is no chilli in the sauce. In the yaki soba it comes from, Wagamama adds sriracha separately for anyone who wants spice.
  • How much it makes: Wagamama gives no yield. The yaki soba needs only a spoonful, so expect more sauce than one meal uses.

Quantities from Wagamama's own recipe.

The method is a gentle one: the sugar dissolves into the vinegars first, the ketchup and tamarind go in next, and the soy sauces come last before the sauce simmers on a low heat. In the yaki soba it belongs to, the dish calls for a tablespoon of amai sauce, and the method adds some of the sauce to the noodles and vegetables, with sriracha for anyone who wants spice, and cooks it until hot.

Wagamama gives neither a yield nor a cooking time. Because the dish needs only a little sauce, the recipe makes more than one meal's worth, which suits a sauce that's mainly there for dipping. It asks for tamarind concentrate; if all you have is tamarind paste, add it a little at a time and taste as you go. Wagamama's katsu curry sauce has its own recipe on the katsu curry page.

Amai sauce calories and allergens

A portion is 69 kcal on Wagamama's allergen chart. That's 16.4g of carbohydrate, of which 14.8g is sugars, plus 0.8g of protein, no fat, 0.1g of fibre and 1.5g of salt. The sugar is the figure to notice: 14.8g is about three and a half teaspoons in a small pot of sauce.

  • Energy292 kJ / 69 kcal
  • Protein0.8g
  • Carbohydrate16.4g
  • of which sugars14.8g
  • Fat0g
  • of which saturates0g
  • Fibre0.1g
  • Salt1.5g

On allergens, the chart lists soya as the only allergen in the sauce and nothing under “may contain”. It marks amai sauce vegan and vegetarian, and it lists no nuts, which is a difference from the katsu curry sauce, where Wagamama carries a may-contain warning for peanuts and tree nuts.

We don't call it gluten free. The chart doesn't flag gluten for the sauce itself, but Wagamama's gluten-free menu offers the kids' yaki soba and cha han without the amai sauce, and the recipe uses soy sauce. If you avoid gluten, ask the restaurant for its allergen guide before you order, as you would with any dish. Our gluten-free menu and allergy menu pages show how Wagamama marks the rest of the menu, and the calories page puts every dish side by side.

Which Wagamama dishes come with amai sauce?

These are the dishes Wagamama makes with it, with their dine-in prices for England, Scotland and Wales and the calories Wagamama lists for each. All but the last are on the kids' menu.

  • Kids' yasai cha han

    Kids' yasai cha han vegetarian

    397 kcal

    Tofu, white rice, egg, carrots, mangetout and sweetcorn, with sweet amai sauce.

    £5.10
  • Kids' yasai yaki soba

    Kids' yasai yaki soba vegetarian

    404 kcal

    Tofu, noodles, sweet amai sauce, egg, mangetout, peppers and sweetcorn.

    £5.70
  • Kids' chicken cha han

    Kids' chicken cha han

    387 kcal

    Chicken, white rice, egg, carrots, mangetout and sweetcorn, with sweet amai sauce.

    £5.70

  • Kids' yasai katsu

    578 kcal

    Breaded sweet potato with rice, carrots, cucumber and sweetcorn, with katsu curry sauce or sweet amai sauce on the side.

    578 kcal with amai sauce, 600 with katsu curry sauce.

    £5.90
  • Kids' chicken yaki soba

    Kids' chicken yaki soba

    394 kcal

    Chicken, noodles, sweet amai sauce, egg, mangetout, peppers and sweetcorn.

    £6.50

  • Kids' chicken katsu

    397 kcal

    Breaded chicken with rice, carrots, cucumber and sweetcorn, with katsu curry sauce or sweet amai sauce on the side.

    397 kcal with amai sauce, 419 with katsu curry sauce.

    £6.90

  • Build-your-own kids' bento

    Pick a main, a sauce (katsu curry or sweet amai), rice or noodles, a vegetable and a gyoza, served with prawn crackers.

    £7.90
  • Saku Saku Duck Soba

    Saku Saku Duck Soba

    933 kcal

    Crispy duck on soba noodles with amai sauce, egg, beansprouts, leek, spring onion and chilli.

    £20.90

The kids menu page has the full children's list with photos, and the yaki soba page covers the adult noodle dishes.

Can you buy amai sauce?

Not from Wagamama's shop. Its online range is meal kits (katsu curry, yaki soba, pad thai and chicken ramen) and stir-fry sauces, and this sauce isn't among the products. In the restaurant it appears under extras on the allergen chart, but the printed October menu prices its other extras (tea-stained egg, chillies, katsu pickles, pickled ginger, kimchee and extra curry sauce) at £1.20 and doesn't list it at all, so ask your server whether you can order a pot and what it would cost. For home, the recipe above is the practical route.

Amai sauce or katsu curry sauce?

The kids' chicken katsu comes with either sauce, and the numbers are further apart than you'd expect. Amai takes about 22 calories and 4g of fat off the plate and puts about 6.5g of sugar back on, with a little more salt.

  • Calories397 with amai / 419 with katsu curry
  • Sugars10.8g / 4.3g
  • Fat9.9g / 14.1g
  • Salt0.9g / 0.6g

The allergens differ too: the amai version lists gluten, egg and soya, while the katsu curry version lists gluten, egg and mustard and carries a may-contain warning for peanuts and tree nuts. For a child with a nut allergy that matters more than the calories. If you'd like the same detail on the katsu sauce, its guide has the recipe, calories and allergens.

Amai sauce FAQs

Is sweet amai sauce the same as amai sauce?

Yes. Wagamama's kids' menu calls it sweet amai sauce, while its recipe page and allergen chart say amai sauce, and the chart's two entries carry identical nutrition: 69 kcal, 14.8g of sugars and 1.5g of salt. It is one sauce with two names.

Is amai sauce spicy?

No. Wagamama's recipe has no chilli, so the sauce is sweet and sour rather than hot. Heat is added separately, as with the sriracha in the yaki soba recipe the sauce is published with.

Does amai sauce contain alcohol?

Wagamama's recipe lists none. It uses rice wine vinegar, which is a vinegar, not a wine.

From Wagamama's October 2026 UK menu, allergen and nutrition guide and its published recipe, checked . Prices are dine-in. Browse all Wagamama food and its prices or the £14 weekday lunch deal.