You can buy eel sauce or unagi sauce at most large stores like Walmart or Target. Another place to get eel sauce is on-line at places like Amazon or Walmart.

The Easiest Places to Buy Unagi (eel) Sauce!

Any Asian store will also most likely have eel sauce in stock, or it may be called Unagi, Natsume or Kabayaki sauce as eel sauce and all three sauces are the exact same thing.

Amazon has a few quality eel sauces on their site. And from my own research has shown is they also have the largest variety of brands and sizes than any other of the on-line stores. They also offer next day shipping on most of their sauces and if you have Prime, it’s even free delivery.

Walmart also carries a few eel sauces. So you can either run to their local store, or also grab it on-line. They carry Kikkoman – aji-mirin eel sauce which is one of two of my favorite brands.

Target also has eel sauce both on their website and in their stores. Just go to the Asian food section and you’ll see bottles of all kinds of cool Asian sauces and dips. Pick up some sushi or rice vinegar to get the full effect.

And one other tip, try mixing some soy sauce, eel sauce and a touch of wasabi to make a great sushi dipping sauce. It’s excellent! And the eel sauce helps calm wasabi burn!

Why Buy Eel Sauce?

Eel sauce is “easy” to make, but the ingredients aren’t what you’d call the norm in many non-Asian households. An easy recipe for eel sauce consists of Sugar, Dashi (fish soup), Shoyu (soy sauce), Mirin, Sake, Cornstarch and Water.

Now you may have a few of these ingredients, but things like Sake, Mirin and Soy Sauce may not be overflowing in your cabinets at the moment. So to make a good eel sauce, unless you do have all the ingredients on hand or want to buy a lot of stuff, it’s more of a nuisance to make than just getting a bottle of ready made sauce.

But don’t worry, you can use eel sauce for a lot more than just sushi rolls, although eel sauce on sushi is really yummy! It’s a great additive to anything you BBQ. I add eel sauce to my ribs, then add my BBQ sauce over the eel sauce. And yes, it does make a difference!

Eel sauce doesn’t taste like eel. There is no eel in it. But it does have a nice sweet-savory flavor that can go on anything grilled as well as many other foods.

And yes, making it from scratch is best, if you have the time and ingredients. But the next best thing is simply to pick up a few bottles at the grocer, or buy eel sauce on-line at places like Amazon.

Which Eel Sauce Brands to Buy?

There are actually only a few commercial brands that you’re going to get in most western countries. My personal favorite are either Kikkoman – aji-mirin or Nippon Shokken. The other brands listed below are also good, just my personal preference is these two. And all of these brands can be found on-line.

• Kikkoman – aji-mirin
• Nippon Shokken
• Otafuku
• Shirakiku
• Banko

How Much Does Eel Sauce Cost?

You can find eel sauce anywhere from $6.99 at places like Walmart, all the way up to $30 plus if you’re buying it in larger quantities like a half or full gallon.

Unless you eat a ton of sushi, I’d suggest you just pick up something like a 16oz bottle. A half gallon would last for ever and is pretty bulky to store. And eels sauce isn’t something you normally use every day like soy sauce would be.

My favorite eel sauces start at around $10 for a 12 oz. bottle.

So as with most things, the larger bottle you buy, the more you save. You just need to think about how much you’re going to realistically use. Eel sauce does go bad just like anything else, but I’ve also had bottles in the refrigerator for as long as a year and they were still usable.

So when buying eel sauce whether on-line or at a store, go with the brands in order I have listed above. Any will do of course, but why not buy the best when you can, they all cost about the same.