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    Home » Recipes » Japanese (Traditional)

    Updated: Jun 7, 2022 by Marc · 24 Comments

    Yuzu Kosho (Yuzu Chili Paste)

    Yuzu Kosho (柚子胡椒) is a hot and citrusy Japanese condiment. Made with fresh yuzu zest and togarashi chili peppers, this chili paste is easy to make and delicious.
    Recipe Pin

    Hot sauce is my favorite condiment. Whether you're talking Tapatio, Sriracha, or Blair's Ultra Death, I love them all. You could put that stuff on crusty boot-leather and it would make it taste good. I mean what else can you think of that can be squirted onto airline food to make it palatable?

    In the world of fruit though, my love for hot sauce is paralleled by citrus. That's why yuzu kosho (yuzu chili paste) is perhaps my favorite hot sauce of them all. For those of you that have never had it, yuzu is a small Japanese citrus that tastes somewhere between Meyer lemon, grapefruit and lime. In Japan the zest is combined with green chili peppers to make a potent paste that not only adds heat, it adds a heavenly fragrance that goes with just about anything.

    While yuzu kosho in paste form is concentrated and delicious, I like to add some citrus juice so you can use it as a sauce. Yuzu isn't the easiest citrus to find, but you can get it in fall at Japanese supermarkets. If you can't find yuzu, this is also delicious made with other citrus zests such as Meyer lemon, lime, or even orange.

    Warning: These are some seriously potent chilis. After handling them, my hands literally felt like they were on fire for almost 24 hours. I'd recommend using gloves. If you happen to make the same mistake I did, scrubbing your hands with vegetable oil, then washing with dish soap helps a little.

    📖 Recipe

    Yuzu Kosho (Yuzu Chili Paste)

    5 from 2 votes
    Print Pin Discuss
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Total Time 10 minutes mins
    Yield 2 tablespoons

    Units

    Ingredients 

    • 2 green togarashi chili pepper (or 3 thai bird chilis)
    • 6 green yuzu
    • 1 teaspoon salt

    Instructions

    • Remove the seeds and white membrane from chili peppers. I recommend wearing gloves when doing this. Mince the chili's as fine as you can make them. Use a microplane to zest the yuzu.
    • Place the chili, yuzu zest and salt in a mortar and pound with a pestle until it turns into a smooth paste. Add the juice from the yuzu and mix well until the sauce is the consistency you want it.
    • Because of the salt content it will keep for a month in the fridge, or longer if you freeze it.
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    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. the indolent cook says

      October 30, 2011 at 4:38 am

      This must have quite a nice kick to it! I love yuzu, though I don't know if I've ever had the pleasure of sampling a fresh one.

      Reply
    2. lemonsandanchovies says

      October 30, 2011 at 11:06 am

      I can't ever eat anything without a condiment on the side, especially Asian dishes.  This one is new to me but it has already won me over with its citrus component.  Before I try to use my Meyer lemons, I will see if I can find yuzus in my area.  Thanks!

      Reply
    3. Nisrine M. says

      October 30, 2011 at 2:20 pm

      I bet this tastes zestily fabulous. Will have to try it sometime. Hope all is well, Mark.

      Reply
    4. essay writing service says

      November 02, 2011 at 5:34 am

      Its looks great! iNTERESTING HOW IT TASTE!

      Reply
    5. professional resume says

      November 03, 2011 at 5:02 pm

      very green))))

      Reply
    6. Peko says

      November 04, 2011 at 5:07 am

      You made yuzu kosho. Good going! I still have yet to make this one.

      I would like to try this made with Meyer lemon or other non-Japanese citrus. Could be interesting.

      Reply
    7. Chang Pick Yin says

      November 16, 2011 at 1:43 am

      I love yuzu! Recently made a cheesecake with the zest and juice of ripe (yellow) ones. Heaven. Very difficult to find here in Singapore.

      Reply
    8. phd thesis says

      November 16, 2011 at 9:44 am

      Awesome and adorable!

      Reply
    9. Maggie G says

      August 22, 2012 at 1:26 pm

      Thank you! I enjoyed this condiment a lot while living in Japan. Now, in the United States, I have to buy it online. I never thought of making it myself! SUPER!

      Reply
    10. Kristian M says

      September 25, 2012 at 11:27 am

      Thank you for posting this. I also enjoyed this when living in Japan, sometimes with sashimi and on top of nigiri sushi. I want to try to make yuzu kosho from my Meyer Lemons. They are starting to ripen, some are still green. Should I use them for yuzukosho while they still are green? I understand this is a point with the yuzu, that there is a differense in fragrance between green and ripe yuzu?

      Reply
    11. Marc Matsumoto says

      September 25, 2012 at 11:58 pm

      Yep the fragrance does change from green to ripe, however yuzu kosho is made both with green yuzu and ripe yuzu. Usually for green yuzu, they use green togarashi, and with ripe yuzu they make it with red togarashi. Green tends to be more intense than the ones made with ripe yuzu. I think that's a great idea trying to use meyer lemons! I love their fragrance and think they'll make a great condiment.

      Reply
    12. Kristian M says

      September 27, 2012 at 11:26 pm

      Thanks! then I´ll try both types, green and ripe. I like your blue/grey noodle bowl by the way, I have the same one bought in Japan. I´ve just "discovered" your website and next up is trying out your wonton noodle soup. Have a good weekend! (from Norway)

      Reply
    13. Chef A says

      October 09, 2013 at 8:31 am

      I can't get fresh yuzu, but I do have a bottle of Ponzu, fresh limes, lemons and oranges, and access to plenty of different kinds of fresh chili peppers. Would this recipe work, with which ingredients?

      Reply
    14. Marc Matsumoto says

      October 09, 2013 at 2:51 pm

      It wouldn't be yuzu kosho, but you could replace the yuzu zest with lemon or lime zest and make lemon chili or lime chili paste.

      Reply
    15. ATB says

      May 15, 2014 at 8:02 am

      Yuzu is it like as Thailand citrus ?

      Reply
    16. Marc Matsumoto says

      May 20, 2014 at 3:02 am

      Hi Annie, yuzu is quite different from kaffir lime taste wise, but you could do something similar to this using it.

      Reply
    17. Earlene says

      October 10, 2014 at 5:10 pm

      If I find fresh yuzu this fall will it work to zest and juice them and freeze in ice cube trays?

      Reply
    18. Marc Matsumoto says

      October 12, 2014 at 11:47 pm

      Hi Earlene, great idea! Once you freeze the juice, I'd recommend taking the cubes out of the trays and transferring to a sealed container to prevent freezer burn.

      Reply
    19. kathy moody says

      November 16, 2016 at 5:25 pm

      Other recipes for Yuzukosho say it is fermented........but yours is used "fresh". Please explain.

      Reply
    20. Eileen says

      October 17, 2020 at 9:14 am

      Do you have an estimation of how many grams of yuzu zest we should have? I have different size yuzu fruits

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        October 17, 2020 at 11:17 pm

        Hi Eileen, I'm sorry but this recipe was made before I started using weight measures for this site. The yuzu I used was about the size of a golf-ball.

        Reply
    21. Kathy Stroup says

      January 02, 2023 at 1:25 pm

      Hi Marc! I was thinking that zesting citrus might make a good technique video. You could explain the science behind extracting the flavor and show some different ways to zest. Ways to preserve citrus zest would be great to cover, too. I recently infused some alcohol with Meyer Lemon zest, and it's wonderful!

      I came across this recipe in a Google search. What if you revisited it as part of the video? I'm always finding ways to use citrus zest in sweet dishes, so finding this has piqued my interest.

      I recently made a Meyer Lemon and Jalapeno hot sauce following your Preserved Lemons method. It is FANTASTIC! I'm going to have to make another batch. This sounds very similar. You turned me into a Chili Head!🥵😁 (I have always been a Lemon Head!🍋😉)

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        January 03, 2023 at 10:11 am

        Thanks for the idea Kathy! We're past green yuzu season here but will definitely add this to the list for late summer/early fall. It's funny in retrospect, but I have some bad memories associated with this one. I minced the chilies by hand without wearing gloves, and my hands turned bright red and I felt like I was holding them in boiling water for over a day. I was holding an ice pack all night. I've been careful around chili peppers since then. Your Meyer Lemon hot sauce sounds fantastic! Love the idea of using citrus juice instead of vinegar and I bet the fragrance from the Meyers is amazing.

        Reply
        • Kathy Stroup says

          January 03, 2023 at 11:55 am

          So sorry to make you revisit painful memories! I was really thinking about a non-yuzu version of this condiment, since most people have trouble finding them, including me. I have a ton of citrus right now, and I'm struggling to keep up with processing it all.
          I was online researching yuzu a few months ago and came across a Japanese bath at a citrus farm. They had ripe yuzu floating in the bath. It looked so magical! I have so many Meyers right now that I decided to try taking a bath with some of them. It was wonderful, but probably not as amazing as the one I saw.
          I'm going to try dehydrating and pulverizing some Meyer Lemon zest. I'm not sure how long it will keep. I might try making some lime salt, too. I also like to make my own version of Tajin, which is so much tastier than the commercial version. I love using the candied peels for garnishes, so I'm going to make some of that. I've been dehydrating mandarin peels for tea and cooking. I will try making some Kosho with a combination of citrus (maybe not with super-spicy chilis😉), and I will make another batch of Meyer and Jalapeno hot sauce. I always make marmalade, too. It's been quite popular with the neighbors! At least it's a great time of year to be standing at the stove all day!

          Reply

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