Cafe Yumm Sauce Recipe + How to Make a Yumm Bowl

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Posted by:

Erin Lynch

Updated:

March 25, 2025

5 from 41 votes

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Learn how to make Yumm Sauce – inspired by Cafe Yumm. These vegetarian Yumm Bowls are loaded up with all the toppings and drizzled with a creamy curry & cumin spiced chickpea sauce.

Overhead close up of finished yumm bowl with avocado, tomatoes, black olives cheese cilantro and sour cream.

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Table of Contents

It’s almost been six months since I quit my corporate job and started blogging full time. It’s definitely the best decision I ever made and I haven’t looked back, but there are a few things I miss about it…

I miss my parking spot in downtown Portland.
I miss my co-workers.
I miss my favorite lunch spots.

Lunch was always the highlight of my day.

Obviously… Everyday I dream about food… all day.

The spots that I really miss the most are Cafe Yumm and the Whole Bowl. And, if you’re not native to Portland, or haven’t visited before, you probably have no idea what these places are all about.

Three copycat cafe yumm bowls lined up on the counter with a side of yumm sauce.

The Whole Bowl is a food cart with a few locations around Portland. It serves up bowls of rice & beans topped with a “Tali sauce” and then loaded up with lots of toppings like sour cream, cilantro, cheese, salsa, avocado & black olives.

Cafe Yumm is essentially the same thing… but the sauces from The Whole Bowl and Cafe Yumm taste just a little bit different… I’d say that the Tali sauce at The Whole Bowl is a bit more curry forward while the Cafe Yumm sauce is a bit more smoky.

Plus, the Cafe Yumm sauce comes in a few different versions – Roasted Garlic, Chipotle and Original. I’m a huge fan of their chipotle Yumm sauce recipe! It’s got a hint of smokiness with a little bit of heat.

I also love their Jalapeno Sesame Salsa (which I’ve created a recipe for as well).

I’ve been working on mastering this Yumm sauce recipe for years… Many, many years… That’s because I’ve been eating it since college. Cafe Yumm! originated in my college hometown of Eugene, Oregon and I think I ate there like once a week. Seeing as I’m now in my last year of my 30’s… you can imagine I’ve eaten my fair share of Yumm bowls!

That’s why I’m so excited to share this recipe for Yumm sauce with you today! This is for all my readers who haven’t yet had the chance to experience this amazing sauce. It’s also for all my local readers who are obsessed with this sauce as I am.

But let me warn you, it’s totally addictive…

What does Yumm Sauce taste like?

It’s creamy, lemony, and garlicky with the most amazing blend of spices and a umami flavor.

There are two special ingredients that give this sauce it’s great texture and an almost cheese-sauce like quality – almond flour and nutritional yeast.

The good thing is, this recipe makes a big batch of Yumm sauce, enough for about 8 “yummy” bowls, and it will keep in the fridge for about a week.

What is Yumm Sauce made of?

Yumm Sauce recipe ingredients

Garbanzo beans – I love making chickpeas in the instant pot
Canola oil
Almond flour
Lemon juice
Silken tofu
Nutritional yeast
Garlic
Curry powder
Cumin
Oregano
Cilantro
Mustard powder – Or, try one of these dry mustard substitutes.
Chipotle chili powder (optional)

Yumm Bowl ingredients

Rice or Quinoa – I love making a big batch of rice cooker rice, instant pot rice or instant pot quinoa to have on hand for Yumm bowls throughout the week.
Beans – You can use pinto beans, red beans, or black beans. Again, I love these instant pot pinto beans or instant pot black beans.
Avocado
Tomatoes
Black olives
Cheddar cheese
Cilantro
Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream
Jalapeno Sesame Salsa – For topping. This is optional, but Cafe Yumm includes it on its Hot & Jazzy Bowl.

How to make Yumm Sauce

It’s super simple to make this sauce. Just add all the ingredients to a blender and process until smooth.

Yumm sauce ingredients in food processor bowl.

Yumm Bowl ingredients

Start with a base of brown rice, white rice or quinoa. I love making my grains in the Instant Pot. Here’s my recipe for Instant Pot Quinoa and Instant Pot Rice.
Add some beans. I generally heat up a can of drained and rinsed red beans, but you could also top these bowls with instant pot black beans or instant pot chickpeas. You could even add some sliced chicken.
Pile on the toppings – Tomatoes, olives, avocado, jalapeno sesame salsa, cheese, cilantro, sesame seeds.
Drizzle on the Yumm sauce to your liking. I like a lot of sauce on my bowl.
Enjoy!

What do you put Yumm sauce on?

Top your Buddha Bowl with it for extra flavor and creaminess.
Add a spoonful to a bowl of Sweet Potato Chili for the perfect final touch.
Use it as a dip for veggies or air fryer chicken wings.
Swirl it with some Jalapeno Sesame Salsa for the most amazing dip around – serve with pita bread.
But the standard way to use it is to make a Yumm Bowl!

Can you freeze Yumm Sauce?

You can freeze Yumm sauce though it may separate when thawed. Just give it a good stir, or pop it back into your blender or use an immersion blender to it process again.

A trio of copycat cafe yumm bowls on the counter next to a bowl of yumm sauce.

More healthy bowl recipes

Did you try this yumm bowl recipe?

If you loved this cafe yumm bowl recipe I would appreciate it so much if you would leave a star review! Also, be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #platingsandpairings and tagging me @platingsandpairings.

For more great Platings and Pairings recipes, be sure to follow me on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and Facebook.

PS – Don’t miss my Cafe Yumm! inspired Jalapeno Sesame Salsa too!

More → 15+ rice bowl sauce recipes & buddha bowl sauce recipes.

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This recipe was originally published in 2019. It was updated in 2025 to add new photos and an instructional video. The yumm sauce recipe remains the same. Enjoy!

5 from 41 votes (30 ratings without comment)

48 responses

Grace

October 7, 2019

This was absolutely yummy!
My version came out thick, more like hummus than dressing (which some prefer to the bottled restaurant version)… and my family asked for loads more garlic, but I thought this was an excellent addition to my favorite rice bowls.
Tonight’s was Caprese based, so not vegan, but delicious and I’m ready to make another batch to get us through the week.

Reply
1. Erin
  
  October 11, 2019
  
  I’m so happy to hear that you liked it Grace. I like the idea to add in more garlic. I’m definitely going to give that a try next time! Or maybe try adding in some chipotle for a hot & smoky version. I think that if you’d like the sauce a bit more thin, you could always add in a bit of water. Hope that helps and thanks so much for stopping by!
  
  Reply
Stacey C.

January 31, 2020

I am in Oregon visiting now and my mom and I were discussing Cafe Yumm and their sauce. I miss it so much. I always looked forward to going there to eat. I will definitely try your recipe, after I grab me some cafe yumm to eat now, lol. I would also recommend trying, instead of the smoked chili powder, try using chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Try using a tablespoon of the adobo sauce in the yumm sauce. I use it when I’m making chili or my chicken tortilla soup and it’s amazing.

Reply
1. Erin
  
  February 3, 2020
  
  Love the idea to add in some chipotles in adobo Stacey!
  
  Reply
Kris

March 10, 2020

I’m so glad I saw this recipe. I grew up in Eugene/Cottage Grove, and love Yumm! bowls. I moved to the UK 5 years ago, and have really missed the taste. I’ve found copycat recipes for so many of the foods I love and miss, and I’m constantly trying and finding new copy cat recipes, but the Yumm! sauce has alluded me. I’ve tried a couple different recipes and nothing has come close. My best friend flew to the UK to see me this past Tuesday, and she smuggled a bottle of the sauce in her luggage for me. It was the first time in 5 years that anyone has been willing to do that for me. So Saturday night, I roasted a chicken, as we are a family of carnivores, and while we like the occasional meat free or completely animal free meal, my husband prefers to have an animal protein on the table. So, that aside, I cooked rice in my rice cooker, though I should have used my instant pot, I would have gotten more rice that way, as we ended up running out, and then I put all the best ingredients into little bowls and let everyone put what they wanted in their bowls. We had fresh tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, black beans, avocado, red Leicester cheese (closest to American cheddar. Here they like their cheddar so sharp it’s crunchy. And it’s actually labeled that. Crunchy extra mature cheddar), olives, and the bottle of Yumm! sauce. Oh, and fresh coriander (what they call cilantro here). I’m pretty sure that’s the full list. My husband, kids, and friend all added chicken to theirs, while I didn’t. It was agreed that I didn’t make enough rice, that had I made more rice we would not have had any Yumm! sauce left, that I needed to figure out how to copycat the Yumm! sauce recipe, and last but not least, and the most important thing, in my opinion, was my husband’s opinion that we did not need to roast a chicken the next time I made this as long as I got the sauce right, because it was an amazing stand alone meal, and he wouldn’t mind having it for a meat free Monday meal (I am trying to get the meat cut down).

So, I’m going to try your recipe. I already have the nutritional yeast, my mom buys it and dehydrated refried beans in the bulk section of Winco and brings both to me, because I struggle to find nutritional yeast here, and because a single can of refried beans cost £1.50 here, which is just way way too expensive. Mexican is not big here, so the ingredients are expensive.

Tonight I made beef ho fun for dinner, which uses rice noodles, and I was asked by my husband and my friend to make rice, even though it is a second starch, and unnecessary. I happily made it, and then didn’t eat the beef ho fun, leaving my serving for anyone who wants seconds, and I’m going to use the rice and swap out kidney beans for black beans as I don’t have black beans right now, and make myself a Yumm! bowl for dinner.

Reply
1. Erin
  
  March 10, 2020
  
  That’s such an awesome story Kris – I hope you absolutely love it!
  
  Reply
Wendi Fisher

July 20, 2020

While the sauce would be good to put on falafel, it doesn’t resemble Cafe Yumm sauce to me. It’s way to lemony and almost tastes like I’m just eating hummus. Back to the drawing boards.

Reply
LLL

September 4, 2020

I grew up in Eugene and my dad actually went to the gym with the man who invented Yumm sauce they were buddies so I’ve definitely had my fair share. While this recipe is similar to the actual Yumm sauce I found the tofu flavor to be way to strong, not enough garlic or lemon and it was missing a fresh flavor. I made it again but this time I halved the tofu, doubled the garlic, Used fresh cilantro and oregano and squeezed lemon over the top when serving it was definitely a lot closer to the actual recipe flavor wise but still missing something. I did however find out from my mom that they now ship the sauce (we are in Virginia) a little pricey but sooo worth it! Thanks for sharing the recipe though It was very tasty (Just not Yumm sauce) and my little one who has only had it once at age 2 really liked it and asked me to make it again.

Reply
Will

December 12, 2020

Just made this sauce last night and it was PERFECT. I followed it to a T and it tastes exactly how I remember Yumm sauce. I immediately texted all my friends from Oregon and they wanted the recipe, too. My partner has never tried Yumm sauce and when I made it last night, he told me this was one of the tastiest sauces he’s ever had and asked me to save him some 😛 Thanks so much!

Reply
1. Erin
  
  December 18, 2020
  
  That’s so great to hear Will – Thank you!!!
  
  Reply
Rebecca

April 22, 2022

What would be a good replacement for the tofu?

Reply
1. Erin
  
  April 26, 2022
  
  Hi Rebecca – You can try just adding additional garbanzo beans. Hope that helps!
  
  Reply
Dan

August 22, 2022

Im allergic to almonds, can i swap a 1:1 ratio to all purpose flour instead??

Reply
1. Erin
  
  August 24, 2022
  
  Hi Dan – I haven’t tried that myself, but I would maybe just add in a bit more tofu, or leave out (or lessen) the water. That should result in a thick sauce similar to the Yumm sauce. Hope that helps!
  
  Reply
Rachel

July 13, 2023

Yum! Yum! Nailed it. I could eat this stuff with a spoon.

Reply
1. Erin
  
  July 13, 2023
  
  Thanks Rachel!
  
  Reply
Stephanie

March 12, 2024

I’ve made this sauce a handful of times and it is sooooo delicious! Honestly it’s better than Cafe Yumm! 🤤 I triple the batch and use it for meal prep bowls! Perfection! Thank you so much for the recipe!

Reply
1. Erin
  
  March 18, 2024
  
  Thank you!!!
  
  Reply