This easy homemade poke sauce recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and savory flavors you would want in a poke sauce. It is dairy free and can easily be made gluten free as well. This recipe takes less than 5 minutes to make, consists of only six simple ingredients and is perfect for all of your tuna poke bowls and salmon poke bowls. Poke sauce can add a flavorful twist to many recipes and works great as a substitute to soy sauce.
Why This Recipe Works
- Easy: It is super easy to mix up some homemade poke sauce and toss your tuna or salmon and poke bowls!
- Fast: Considering it’s just mixing it up, tossing the fish, and serving, it take almost no time to make this recipe.
- Customizable: This recipe is an easy on to fine tune to your preference. You can tweak it and make it you own easily.
- Versatile: Homemade poke sauce is a great substitute for soy sauce and can be used in a variety of scenarios and since you can tweak the recipe easily it is extremely versatile, and it’s great in a spicy salmon bowl!
What is Poke Sauce?
Poke sauce is a recipe from Hawaii that is named from the poke bowls that it is generally made for and found in. There are many different recipes for poke sauce as there are endless ways to fine tune the recipe that works best for you or the bowl.
Traditionally, poke sauce has a soy sauce base with a variety of ingredients to give it a variety to savory and sweet flavors with varying levels of spice.
Other Sauce Recipes to Try:
- Homemade Special Sauce
- Dairy Free (Vegan) Alfredo Sauce
- Homemade Tartar Sauce
- Mango Pico de Gallo
- Homemade Ranch
Homemade Poke Sauce Ingredients
To make your simple homemade poke sauce you only need a quarter cup of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, lime juice, and grated ginger. This recipe is easy to tweak or fine tune to your taste. Here are a few optional additions for this poke sauce recipe to try out:
- Sriracha (1/4 teaspoon or to taste)
- Sweet Chili Sauce (1/4 teaspoon or to taste)
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Teriyaki Sauce (1/4 teaspoon or to taste)
- Finely Chopped Chives
- Finely Chopped Red Chiles
How to Make Poke Sauce
Start this recipe by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk them together until they are well combined. Taste test your sauce and add any extra sriracha, garlic, or any ingredients to fine tune the recipe to taste.
Add in the pieces of tuna or salmon you chose and gently toss them in your homemade poke sauce.
Combine your tossed fish and your favorite poke bowl ingredients in a separate bowl. Drizzle in any extra poke sauce you may want and dig in!
Making Your Poke Bowl Sauce Gluten Free
This recipe is extremely easy to make gluten free. Since the only ingredient that has gluten is the sot sauce you just swap that out for a gluten free ingredient. You have the choice of using coconut aminos or tamari soy sauce, which are both gluten free and work perfectly for this homemade poke sauce.
How to Store Poke Sauce
For the most part you won’t need to store this recipe much as it makes a small enough amount and you will likely use most or all of it depending on how you utilize it. It is also such a fast and easy recipe to make the you can whip up a small amount in no time.
If you do have extra and want to store it or just make it ahead of time, all you will need to do is to store it in an air tight container and refrigerate. It will keep well refrigerated for about 5 days.
To store this poke sauce in a meal prep situation for setting up a poke bowl for a lunch or the like, store this homemade poke sauce in small sealable dressing containers to pack into your bowl and have on hand when you’re ready!
Frequently Asked Questions
How does poke sauce taste?
The taste of poke sauce will vary to a degree since there are tons of different recipes for it. Poke sauce is usually a mix of sweet, savory, and spicy flavors. There’s a touch of a salty taste as well which makes for a rounded flavor that works in a variety of foods.
Where does poke sauce come from?
Originally, poke sauce is from Hawaii. It accompanied poke bowls which is essentially a bowl of sliced fish and various other ingredients which gave poke sauce its name.
Why do poke bowls look like a Japanese dish?
Poke bowls look similar to Japanese dishes because the ingredients that normally make them up such as fish, rice, seaweed, etc are also ingredients that are easily found in that area as well as in Hawaii.
What is in poke sauce?
Normally poke sauce will include soy sauce as the base along with some citrus, spices, and sesame oil. There are many different poke sauce recipes but these ingredients will comprise the basis for a large amount of them.
Can you use poke sauce instead of soy sauce?
Poke sauce generally has soy sauce in it as its base which makes it a great substitute for soy sauce in a lot of the dishes that you would use the soy sauce for. With the extra ingredients it can even be an upgrade as it add some extra notes of flavor to the soy sauce.
Is poke sauce gluten free?
Generally poke sauce uses a soy sauce base which makes it not gluten free by default. This recipe, however has some easy substitutions to make gluten free poke sauce without sacrificing any of the flavor you’d want.
Is poke sauce the thing as eel sauce?
Eel sauce and poke sauce are not the same thing. The eel sauce is made differently and usually has a thicker texture then the poke sauce which is, in general, on the thinner side.
Is ponzu sauce the same as poke sauce?
Ponzu sauce is a poke sauce that usually consists of soy sauce, citrus, sesame oil, and red chiles.
Other Seafood Recipes You’ll Love:
- Lemon Butter Broiled Cod
- Cajun Salmon Pasta
- Shrimp Stuffed Salmon
- Shrimp Rasta Pasta
- Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass
- Smoked Tuna Dip
- Air Fryer Mahi Mahi
Easy Homemade Poke Sauce
This easy homemade poke sauce recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and savory flavors you would want in a poke sauce. It is dairy free and can easily be made gluten free as well. This recipe takes less than 5 minutes to make, consists of only six simple ingredients and is perfect for all of your tuna poke bowls and salmon poke bowls. Poke sauce can add a flavorful twist to many recipes and works great as a substitute to soy sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1/4 cup 1x
- Category: Seafood
- Method: Sauce
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon lime juice (fresh or bottled)
- 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
Optional Ingredients
- 1/4 teaspoon sriracha, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon sweet chili sauce, or to taste
- red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon teriyaki sauce, or to taste
- finely chopped chives
Instructions
- Combine all poke sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to combine
- Add any of your optional ingredients and taste test and adjust amounts as necessary
- Add your tuna or salmon pieces to the sauce and toss
- Add to your poke bowl or with your favorite poke bowl ingredients
Notes
- Use your poke sauce with this Spicy Salmon Bowl recipe!
For gluten free poke sauce you can change out the soy sauce for coconut aminos or tamari soy sauce and make the sauce as normal.
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