Do you think McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets can be really McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets without the spicy buffalo dip sauce? Probably not.
It seems like ever since we realised eating could be more of a source of pleasure than just a mandatory activity to survive, we have not really stopped innovating with food. We developed different ways to cook food, from boiling, steaming, grilling and roasting to baking, simmering, sauteing and frying. We found out more things are edible, and now we have a huge variety of meat, poultry, seafood, plants, dairy products, fungi, seeds and nuts.
Besides, let’s not forget about the foods we invented, such as pasta, cereals, biscuits, ice creams, protein shakes and granola bars, and the spices we use to make our food more flavoursome—seriously, India, thanks. We owe you a lot.
Then we divided our main meals into stages like the World Cup. Appetisers are used to stimulate appetite, the main course is the primary food, side dishes are to support and complete the main course, and we eat desserts to get even more pleasure. Eventually, we made the main meal of the day, whether this is lunch or dinner, an experience we look forward to and one that is able to wipe away all the day’s stress.
Amidst this food evolution, dipping sauces came into existence. As Google told us, dipping sauces go as far back as the Roman Empire itself, where the Romans invented liquamen, a fish sauce they used to add more flavour to their seafood. Fast forward over ten centuries, dipping sauces, typically served separately in small bowls, are now an indispensable part of most meals.
In this article, we are giving you 10 different, mouth-watering and super quick dip sauce recipes to make in under five minutes.
Dip sauces are delicious food condiments typically now served with most main courses. There are two types of them, or at least this is how we like to perceive them. There are the not very thick, relatively easy and quick-to-make dip sauces that require only a few ingredients and go with many finger foods. Others are way thicker dip sauces that take more time to make, use more, sometimes special, ingredients and can be considered as side dishes.
Most dip sauces are savoury and can go with many types of food, the most common of which, for instance, are fried chicken, French fries, egg rolls, or raw vegetables. You can also use them as salad dressings. Dip sauces can also be sweet, usually consumed with fruits.
Additionally, most dip sauces have a base to which other ingredients are added and blended to produce the sauce. Some of the most common bases include regular yoghurt, Greek yoghurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, soft cheese and cream cheese and whipping cream in case of a sweet dip sauce. Some thicker dip sauces have cooked vegetables as their base.
Other common ingredients that dip sauces use include butter, olive oil, vegetable oil, barbeque sauce, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, vinegar, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
In the next section, we are demonstrating nine dip sauces you can make literally in 5 minutes or less and only one recipe that takes longer.
Well, some dipping sauces are named after their ingredients, and others are named after the foods they go with, and this is the case with our first recipe. Although you can actually dip whatever you want in it, this tasty chicken dip sauce happens to go frequently with chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, and grilled or stir-fried chicken. So here is how to make it.
In a small bowl, add half a cup of mayonnaise, two teaspoons of yellow mustard, two tablespoons of honey, two tablespoons of barbeque sauce, a little bit of salt and ground black pepper and a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder. If you do not have barbeque sauce, replace it with ketchup, or you can add both and make your sauce even more flavoursome.
Mix all the ingredients well, and there you have it, a tangy, sweet yet a little sour dip sauce perfect for the chicken tenders you are having for lunch today.
The rich, pungent, onion-like deep taste of garlic makes it a very common ingredient in so many savoury dishes and one that makes some of the best and tastiest dipping sauces as well. It is also how the garlic is used, either raw, cooked, or powered, that can produce a completely different taste.
We are going to demonstrate four different garlic dip sauce recipes, each using a different base and having a different intensity, yet all of them are so easy to make.
This beautiful creamy garlic dip sauce has a distinct taste, for it uses roasted garlic. Start by having six garlic bulbs, chop the top, place them on a sheet of foil and then pour around one tablespoon of olive oil on each one of them. Season the garlic bulbs with a pinch of salt, ground black pepper and some paprika. Fold the foil sheet to cover all the bulbs and place it in a preheated oven at 200°C for around one hour and 30 minutes.
Take the garlic out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Bring a mixing bowl and squeeze the garlic out of all the roasted bulbs. Add one cup of yoghurt, one tablespoon of lemon juice, one tablespoon of olive oil, half a cup of minced cucumber and a little bit of salt and ground black pepper. Mix all the ingredients well, and voila, your creamy garlic dip sauce is ready.
Another great tasty sauce to make with garlic is the garlic Parmesan sauce. This one is different because it is not yoghurt-based and uses minced garlic instead of roasted cloves which gives it a strong raw taste. So here is how to make it.
In the large bowl, add one cup of regular or low-fat mayonnaise, one tablespoon of olive oil, one tablespoon of vinegar, one teaspoon of lemon juice and one teaspoon of sugar to give it a sweet taste. Mix all ingredients until well-blended.
Now add the following to the mixture: salt and ground black pepper as desired, a little bit of minced basil and a quarter teaspoon of zaatar, half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, four teaspoons of minced garlic and two tablespoons of ground Parmesan cheese. Blend the ingredients one more time, and your sauce is ready.
This Lebanese garlic dip sauce is very famous in the Middle East and usually goes along with chicken shawarma wraps. It has a smooth, thick, still fluffy texture and requires a food processor to make. You will also need one cup of fresh, but firm, peeled garlic cloves, which is around four bulbs in addition to salt, two and a half to three cups of vegetable oil and half a cup of lemon juice. So here is your recipe.
Add the peeled garlic cloves to the food processor and add a pinch of salt. Blend well until the garlic is completely minced. Scrape down the garlic on the sides of the food processor then blend again to ensure there are no bigger pieces and that all the garlic is smooth.
Then it is time to add the oil. Just bear in mind that this Lebanese garlic dip sauce is completely white, so you should not use olive oil, for it is going to make the sauce yellowish or greenish.
First, add only one tablespoon of oil and blend it with the garlic, then add the oil slowly as a thin stream so that it can blend very well with the minced garlic. This way, the sauce turns out smooth and fluffy. After that, add the lemon juice and blend one last time. Move your sauce to a bigger bowl, and it is ready to go.
This butter garlic dip sauce is very rich and tasty and goes well with seafood more than chicken. The recipe is super easy and takes less than five minutes, but it is different from the ones we demonstrated so far. So here it is.
Place a cooking pot on medium-high heat, add five tablespoons of butter. Stir the butter until melted, but not burned. Add five chopped cloves of garlic and mix them well with the butter. Before the garlic turns golden, add half a teaspoon of ground black pepper, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of red paprika and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix the ingredients well, then add three tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Mix until all ingredients are well blended. Turn off the heat, pour the mixture into a bowl, and you are ready to enjoy your seafood lunch with the tastiest butter garlic dip sauce.
Unlike the recipes we demonstrated so far and the ones we are still going to demonstrate next, this is a sweet dip sauce that goes with fruits, biscuits or crackers. It only takes four ingredients and is made literally in two minutes. You are also going to need a hand mixture for this recipe, so here it is.
Add one block of room-temperature cream cheese to a large bowl and, using the hand mixer, blend it very well. Add three tablespoons of powdered sugar—adjust the sweetness as desired—and one and a half teaspoons of vanilla extract and blend them well with the cheese. Put the mixture aside.
Now, in another bowl, place one cup of heavy cream and using the hand mixer, mix it well in one direction on medium speed until you get this thick fluffy whipped cream. Add the sweet cream cheese to the whipped cream and blend them and there you have it, a cream cheese fruit dip sauce for your next sweet snack.
You can always change the recipe according to your own preference. If you want a healthier one, you can use low-fat cream cheese and replace the powdered sugar with honey.
This Greek yoghurt dip sauce, which is also known as tzatziki sauce, is an amazing and easy recipe that uses plain Greek yoghurt and minced cucumber and goes well with savoury food.
You will need one medium-sized fresh cucumber. The original recipe says you have to peel it, but if you decide not to, the sauce is still going to be amazing. You can also choose either to grate the cucumber or finely chop it; whatever works best for you is just fine.
Place the grated or chopped cucumber in a large mixing bowl and add two cups of plain Greek yoghurt, five tablespoons of chopped dill, four chopped garlic cloves, half a tablespoon of lemon juice, a little bit of salt and ground black pepper and three tablespoons of virgin olive oil. Mix until all the ingredients are well blended. Let the dip cool for 15 to 30 minutes in the fridge before you serve it, and before you serve it, add half a teaspoon of virgin olive oil on top.
This is another super easy, super quick, a little spicy dip sauce recipe that goes best with French fries and chicken tenders. Here it is.
In a small bowl, add four tablespoons of mayonnaise, one tablespoon of ketchup, one teaspoon of red chilli powder, half a teaspoon of crushed red chilli, a little bit of salt and half a tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix the ingredients well, and you have an amazing savoury dip sauce.
You can easily turn this very sauce into the famous 1000 Island sauce by just replacing the chilli powder and the crushed red chilli with two tablespoons of sweet pickle relish, four tablespoons of finely minced white onion and a little bit of paprika. Mix them with the rest of the ingredients well to get the 1000 Island sauce.
If you like making homemade burgers, then this is what you are missing to have the best experience. The classic burger dip sauce is a no-brainer, easy and quick to make and requires ingredients we always have. Here is how to make it.
In a small bowl, add four tablespoons of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of ketchup, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, half a teaspoon of sugar to give it a little bit of a sweet taste, a little bit of salt and ground black pepper, half a teaspoon of paprika, one teaspoon of lemon juice and another teaspoon of yellow mustard. Mix the ingredients very well to get your very tasty classic burger dip sauce.
This light, tender, pretty white dill dip sauce goes well with seafood, especially salmon fillet, fried shrimp, crab cakes and fish sticks. Yet, it would not mind if you dip French fries or raw vegetables in it. It is quite easy to make, though there are two ways to make it. There is the super quick, only-three-ingredients-and-a-pinch-of-salt way and the just quick, more-ingredients way. So here are both recipes.
All you need for the first one is a cup of mayonnaise, a quarter cup of chopped dried dill, two tablespoons of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Mix all the ingredients well in a bowl, and your sauce is good to go.
The second recipe uses the following ingredients:
Add all those ingredients to a mixing bowl and blend them well, and voila, your dill sauce is ready. Just make sure you let it cool for about 30 minutes in the fridge before serving.
Dip sauces are a no-brainer food condiment anyone can make so quickly. Whether you eat them with grilled chicken or salmon fillets or pair them with Doritos for a quick snack, they have the potential to completely transform your food experience.
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