Easy Sauce Recipes for Every Occasion

Maybe you use a ton of fish sauce, hoisin sauce, black vinegar, and chili oil, but is oyster sauce a part of your essential Asian food pantry yet? Here's why it should be.

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.

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.

Sweet, sour, salty, and a bit spicy, with some tomato to prevent it from going too fruity, this condiment is delicious wherever you would put regular ketchup. It's especially good on sweet potato fries, pork dishes, and chicken wings, and could be the base of a really fantastic barbecue sauce.

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.

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.