The $8 Barbecue “Secret” Sauce I Can’t Stop Putting on Everything (I Wish I Tried It Sooner!)

I’ve eaten in Paris brasseries and Roman trattorias, but the meals I really dream about are pretty much all from a trip I took all across Japan. Perhaps it was all the raw fish, the winding grilled meat alleys, or the beauty that is Japanese breakfast — I knew from the first bites of each that I’d be slightly haunted (in a good way) by all the tastes I’d uncovered. 

My favorite? A cartoonishly perfect bento with a hearty filet of barbecued unagi lounging on a bed of fluffy rice. “It looks just like the emoji of a bento box,” I said for maybe the 1000th time to my travel partners. Aside from how pretty it was, the sweet and savory unagi was slicked with a secret sauce I knew I’d spend forever trying to re-create back at home.

Except I didn’t even have to tinker all that long because the folks at Bachan’s had so thoughtfully created a ready-made version of the salty-sweet sauce for me. 

There’s umami and then there’s Umami and Bachan’s Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce has that big U, dramatic Umami flavor for when you want to impart something ultra-savory to a dish. I’ve yet to run out of uses for this soy-based sauce, and not just because it so easily free-flows from its handy bottle. Along with the soy sauce, the Bachan’s combines other classic components of Japanese cuisine, like mirin, ginger, garlic, and green onion, which is reminiscent of a more deeply savory version of a teriyaki-style sauce. 

After draining my first bottle, I started to collect Bachan’s BBQ sauces like they were Pokemon cards; I simply had to have them all (and yes, the newest Sweet Honey flavor has a shiny bottle as if it’s a holographic Charizard). 

Much like any other barbecue sauce worth one’s salt, Bachan’s Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce has become my saucy sidekick when it comes to flavoring most anything. I love it in place of soy sauce when I’m making fried rice, drizzling on cocktail meatballs as an appetizer (or over rice for dinner), tossing with noodles, or marinating salmon. 

I’ve yet to try to re-create my Ratatouille-esque memory of the unagi, but it’s only a matter of time. Next on my list this summer? Using this sauce to grill Spam for homemade musubi and glaze the glut of zucchini I always manage to end up with year after year. 

Buy: Bachan’s Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce, $7.99 for at 17 ounces at Target

What’s your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce? Tell us in the comments below.