Easy Sauce Recipes to Keep in Your Back Pocket

Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe

Picky eaters of any age will love this simple sauce. It's got everything you need in a sweet and sour sauce, and you don't need any high-end ingredients. We tested it with chicken fingers, but it'd also work for stir fries, carrot sticks, shrimp and salmon—pretty much anything you need to convince a kid to eat. 

Quick-and-Easy Pesto Recipe

For the ultimate vibrant, green sauce or topping, look no further than fresh pesto! Flavorful ingredients make great use of that basil growing in your windowsill for an herby, zingy sauce that adds a punch of flavor to your favorite dishes.

Sesame-Ginger Marinade Recipe

This intensely flavorful and savory Asian-inspired marinade is a vibrant twist on our "Master Marinade," and is a delicious match for anything from chicken wings to shrimp skewers. That said, we found that we especially love it as a marinade for crisp veggies—like broccolini and baby bok choy. This flavor bomb recipe is one worth keeping in your back pocket for sure. 

Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe

Looking for the best homemade tomato sauce recipe ever? Your search ends here. Though it comes together in under 10 minutes (we sure do love a quick and easy recipe), it'll need to sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving. Use it to top a pizza or spread it on bread for Italian bruschetta. It's also delicious tossed with penne. Seeding half the tomatoes keeps the sauce from becoming watery.

Copycat Wendy's Ranch Sauce Recipe

Rich, creamy, and tangy—just like the signature Wendy's ranch sauce, but without the preservatives. Easy to mix up and perfect for all kinds of dipping, this copycat Wendy's ranch is the perfect homemade condiment to prep ahead and use all week long. 

Do-It-All Marinade Recipe

Use this versatile marinade to lend zesty flavor to chicken, beef, pork—even tofu or vegetables. This marinade is a classic, versatile, and must-know recipe to always keep in your back pocket for those days when you want to add even more flavor to your favorite dishes.

Sun-Dried Tomato Oil Recipe

Sun-dried tomatoes add visual dazzle as well as flavor to this seasoning oil. Use Sun-Dried Tomato Oil as a marinade, drizzle for salads, or dipping oil for breads.

Soy-Ginger Dressing Recipe

Whisk together Soy-Ginger Dressing for your favorite salad greens, or use the dressing as a dipping sauce for your favorite cabbage rolls. With only 5 ingredients, Soy-Ginger Dressing is as versatile as it is delicious.

Ultimate Quick-and-Easy Pasta Sauce Recipe

This easy pasta sauce is so tasty and versatile. You can substitute crushed or whole tomatoes for the diced. Crushed will give you a smooth, thick sauce; whole adds a nice chunkiness. Serve this sauce with your favorite pasta.

Carne Asada Marinade Recipe

A hunk of skirt steak and this classic, flavor-packed carne asada marinade are the staples of the most epically delicious taco night you'll ever have. While we went with skirt steak to prepare our traditional Carne Asada, you can use this multipurpose marinade for just about any type of meat you want. 

Tangy-Sweet Barbecue Sauce Recipe

For a quick, 5-ingredient barbecue sauce, add apricot jam, honey, soy sauce and vinegar to ketchup.   It's ideal for summer entertaining on both grilled chicken and pork.

Alabama White Sauce Recipe

Goes with: Wonder Wings

Classic Gravy Recipe

Spicy Umami Sauce Recipe

This super intense sauce takes strongly flavored ingredients to the next level. To cut back on the heat, reduce or omit the sambal. You can also use low-sodium Worcestershire sauce without altering the taste. This is great for meat (Brush it on a steak or chicken thighs) or anything highly caramelized, like stir-fried vegetables. A little bit goes a long way, so you'll have plenty to go around. 

Basic Remoulade Recipe

Looking for an all-purpose sauce that can be used all over the place? Make some remoulade. Ours has a sweet richness, and its mouthfeel is enhanced thanks to the presence of relish and mustard seeds. It's creamy, tangy, and sweet with a titch of spice that enlivens things. Remoulade is obviously great paired with shrimp and crab cakes, but it's also incredible on a roast beef sandwich. When in doubt, serve it with something fried and crunchy. 

Banh Mi Mayo Recipe

This stuff has a perfect balance of fish sauce, lime, sugar, tanginess, and relish. Don't skimp out when it comes to buying fish sauce: The cheap ones might taste harsh, but the high-quality sauce will last. Try this on a sandwich with plenty of raw veggies (carrots, cucumbers, radishes, sprouts, avocado) and a lean protein like grilled chicken breast or pork tenderloin. Or, since there's a slight tartar sauce flair, pair it with crispy seafood. 

Ponzu Sauce Recipe

Ponzu Sauce, the tangy soy-based sauce, is traditionally made with a citrus fruit and may have been inspired by visitors from Holland during the 17th century. Fresh lemon juice and orange juice give this sauce a citrus snap.

Lemon Sauce For Everything Recipe

Okay, it's true: This is essentially the classic Greek lemon-egg soup, avgolemono. Every time I encountered a bowl of this creamy, rich, perfectly balanced soup, I thought to myself, "This is a sauce." And then I remembered my very first culinary instructor telling us that the only difference between a sauce and a soup was presentation. I agree, and this is a sauce. Put it on everything.

Quick Barbecue Sauce Recipe

When you need a barbecue sauce at the last minute, you can't go wrong with this 6-ingredient, 5-minute sauce. And all of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

Rhubarb-BQ Sauce Recipe

Barbecue sauce is hardly an expected place to find rhubarb, and that's part of what we love about this addictive, tangy-sweet Rhubarb-BQ Sauce tinged with smoky chipotle heat. Extra Rhubarb-BQ Sauce can be refrigerated for up to one month. Also try Rhubarb-BQ on pork and burgers.

Comeback Sauce Recipe

The kissing cousin of rémoulade, this versatile spiced sauce originated in Jackson, Mississippi. Try it on chopped lettuce or anything fried.

Easy Caramel Sauce Recipe

Easy Caramel Sauce is our tried-and-true method for spoon-lickin' success every time.