Name: Umami Seasoning Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 Cup Dried Mushroom Medley, (see notes section below for substitutions); ½ Cup Nutritional Yeast, (see notes section below for substitutions); 3 Tablespoons Shiitake Mushroom Powder, (optional); 2 Tablespoons Dulse Flakes, (optional, see notes section below for substitutions); 1-2 Teaspoons Dry Miso Seasoning, (optional, you can use salt or omit according to your dietary needs and preferences); 2 Teaspoons Granulated Onion; 4 Teaspoons Granulated Garlic; 1 ½ Teaspoons Smoked Paprika

Incredibly flavorful and easy to make, this Umami Seasoning Recipe is perfect for marinades, seasoning vegetables, sauces, and much more. You only need 5 minutes to make this flavor-packed umami dust. No added salt but sodium-free options available!

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A portrait-oriented photo of a turquoise bowl filled with umami seasoning powder, a spoon lifting up a spoonful of it.

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Similar to my Dairy Free Cheese Powder recipe, this umami seasoning recipe is an easy seasoning blend you can make in your blender in just 5 minutes! (Or blend in batches in a spice grinder.)

This mushroom seasoning (it’s not just mushrooms, but they’re a big part of it) has absolutely incredible flavor and is great sprinkled on vegetables, potatoes, cooked grains, and more.

You can use this umami seasoning blend in marinades, sauces like stir fry sauces or pasta sauces… it’s a great boost to my homemade Alfredo (coming soon).

It’s really great in any kind of Asian cuisine-inspired dish, but it’s also great on basics like avocado toast!

Sprinkle it on your salad or give an instant flavor boost to soups, stews, curries, and more. This umami seasoning blend would be great in my cabbage mushroom soup or potato and cauliflower soup.

It’s also incredibly easy to make. Just whiz up the ingredients in the blender for like 30-40 seconds until they become a fine dust and then transfer the umami powder to a large spice jar (or a mason jar or any airtight container).

A portrait-style photo looking down into the blender with dried mushrooms.

Ingredients

See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.

Dried Mushroom Medley: I love to use a blend of dried mushrooms to give a lot of good umami flavor in this umami seasoning blend. There’s a really great one at Costco if you have a membership, otherwise you can find some online. See the substitutions section below if needed.
Nutritional Yeast: This adds a lot of great savory flavor to our umami powder. I personally use non-fortified nutritional yeast, but you can use whatever brand or kind you like.
Shiitake Mushroom Powder: It’s not necessary since we already have the dried mushrooms, but I have this on hand for my vegan cheese powder anyway and I love the flavor this shiitake mushroom powder adds to the recipe.
Dulse Flakes: I promise there is not enough of the dulse flakes in this recipe to make it taste like seaweed or the ocean at all. It just adds to the overall umami flavor. It’s also adding some iodine in there which is great if you don’t eat salt.
Dry Miso Seasoning: This adds a little saltiness to our recipe without adding salt. Yes, miso has sodium, but according to Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect, so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively.
Granulated Onion and Granulated Garlic: These both contribute a lot to the flavor of our homemade umami seasoning.
Smoked Paprika: Just a hint of this smoked paprika adds great balance to the recipe and I really prefer the powder with it included.

A portrait-style photo looking down into the blender loaded with umami seasoning recipe ingredients.

Substitutions

Dried Mushroom Medley: If you’re allergic to one type of mushroom, I’d be careful with a medley. If you can have porcini, you can just buy porcini mushroom powder or dried porcini mushrooms. Same with shiitake. If you cannot have mushrooms at all, try adding more of all the other ingredients in this recipe.
Nutritional Yeast: Hate nutritional yeast or just can’t have it? I’d add just add more of all the other spices. If it gets too concentrated, blend in some dehydrated potato flakes.
Shiitake Mushroom Powder: Optional. If you don’t have it, don’t worry about it.
Dulse Flakes: You can skip this if you don’t have it. You could also crumble in one or two nori sheets.
Dry Miso Seasoning: If you can’t have any added sodium, you can omit this. On the flip side, if you use salt, go ahead and add salt to taste with this recipe (start with a teaspoon or so).
Granulated Onion and Granulated Garlic: Only skip these if you can’t have them; they add a lot of flavor!
Smoked Paprika: If you don’t have this, don’t worry about it.

A portrait-style photo looking down into the blender with a fully blended umami seasoning powder.

How to Make Homemade Umami Seasoning

Watch me make this recipe or follow the step-by-step instructions below. Note that it may start 10 seconds or so before the recipe video starts.

Add dried mushrooms to the blender: Add the mushrooms first. If you do not have a high powered blender, you might want to blend the mushrooms by themselves until they become a fine powder. You could also do this in a spice grinder.
Add remaining ingredients to the blender.
Blend: Blend on high for about 20 seconds. Turn off the blender and shake gently to get the umami seasoning powder unstuck from the sides.
Taste: Pinch a bit of the umami dust between your fingers and taste it. Make any adjustments and repeat step 3.
Storage: Use a funnel to transfer the contents of the blender into a large spice jar, mason jar, or your preferred airtight container. Store in a cool, dark, dry place like a cabinet. This umami seasoning recipe should last for up to 6 months.

A portrait style photo of a woman's hands funneling umami seasoning powder into a large spice jar.

Expert Tips

Make the recipe as written the first time: Unless you’re a seasoned (hah) recipe developer, make the recipe as written the first time you make it so you know what I intended it to taste like (UMAMI!). After you’ve made it, you can start to play around and customize it to your preferences.
Take notes: Speaking of which, when you do start playing around, take notes on what you change! That way, when you make it again (and you’ll want to make it again because it’s so good), you’ll be that much closer to perfecting it for your own use.
About the sodium: This recipe does contain some added sodium (due to the miso powder) because that’s how I personally enjoy it. I’m not using a ton of it (I use a teaspoon or two of it at a time), and I’ve calculated how much/little sodium it adds to my daily intake and I’m fine with it. If you can’t have any added sodium, go ahead and omit the items that contain it.
Use salt? Similarly, if you’re used to eating salt and you’re okay to continue with that, go ahead and add a teaspoon or two of salt to this recipe, otherwise it probably won’t taste very good to you if you’re accustomed to things tasting fairly salty. That being said, dry miso and dulse are great tools to transition away from using salt.

How to Use This Umami Seasoning Recipe

This homemade umami seasoning is fantastic on vegetables (steamed, roasted, air fried—however you like them!), sweet potatoes or regular potatoes, pasta, grains, beans, etc.

Basically, if you have a meal that needs jazzing up, this is a fantastic seasoning for that.

This umami dust is especially great with any Asian cuisine-inspired flavors. I love to use it with just a dash of coconut aminos or for a salt-free option, it’s REALLY good with California Balsamic’s Teriyaki Balsamic Vinegar. (All their vinegars are AMAZING and SOS-free!)

Use this umami seasoning powder in salad dressings, marinades, sauces, etc. It’s so good on basically everything.

I most often use my umami seasoning on veggies, to make them taste even better. I especially like to do this with frozen veggies when I don’t have time to cook a full meal or develop flavor. Just pop some veggies like frozen Brussels sprouts or broccoli in the microwave or air fryer, cook, season, and eat! Healthy food in just 10 minutes!

You can also mix this umami mushroom seasoning powder with a small amount of warmed non-dairy milk to make a quick sauce. Simply mix some of the umami seasoning with warmed non-dairy milk and your favorite thickener (use cornstarch or arrowroot powder if you’re going to cook it on the stovetop which results in a smoother sauce, or just use a little nutritional yeast or dehydrated potato flakes to thicken it immediately).

A portrait-style photo of two large spice jars filled with vegan cheese powder (left) and umami seasoning powder (right) on a brown granite counter.

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