Spicy sweet sriracha sauce has the perfect balance of flavor, heat, and sweet. It is a delicious match for a variety of foods and it’s beyond easy with just three high quality ingredients. As with most homemade sauces, this honey sriracha sauce has the power to take a dish from “just okay” all the way to “oh my amazing gourmet.” Use it as a dipping sauce, salad dressing, sandwich spread, or slather it on roasted vegetables. It really should come with a warning label: Spicy sweet sriracha sauce may be addictive when applied to food.
Originally appearing on the blog in February 2016, the recipe was last updated in January 2019.
This spicy sweet sriracha sauce was first created for my sweet potato fritters recipe. Like most dippable, fried, sweet potato treats, those fritters needed something that was worthy of them. Ketchup clashes, mayo is too bland, BBQ sauce overwhelms, and honey was too sweet. While honey mustard was good, it wasn’t great.
I wanted a dipping sauce with the perfect balance of spicy and sweet, full of flavor, but not a lot of heat. This honey sriracha dipping sauce satisfies all of these requirements and is the prefect compliment to all things sweet potato. Since it’s creation in 2015, I’ve realized that it also goes with a whole lot more.
I’ve put it on rockfish tacos, bacon cheese burgers, and nachos. It’s been used as a dipping sauce for soft pretzels and onion rings, and served as a dressing for spinach salad. I’m currently incorporating it into a breakfast pizza recipe and I’m working on a recipe using it with roasted Brussels sprouts. Spicy sweet sriracha sauce is one versatile sauce.
How to Make Spicy Sweet Sriracha Sauce
This sauce is so simple that it’s beyond basic. Take sriracha, honey, and mayo, put them in a bowl, and mix until combined. So how did I turn three simple ingredients into a full post? The short answer: quality over quantity. For the long answer, read on.
As in all things cooking, the less going on in the recipe the more the underlying flavors become present in the final dish. When you are working with a recipe that has this few ingredients, the quality of those ingredients matters so much more.
How is this version different from the original?
I originally developed the recipe use a simple ratio of 3 parts mayo to 1 part honey to 1 part sriracha. As I began using it for more and more things, I realized that I much prefer it with a bit more mayo while keeping the honey and sriracha equal.
With the new ration the sauce is a thicker, but has slightly less heat, which means I can use more. As with all homemade sauces, the ratios are of course adjustable. If you want spicy flavor but less heat, cut the sriracha in half. If you like it really spicy, double it. It’s really up to you. Start with the suggested amounts and start adjusting. Just remember to write it down so that you can do it the same next time.
The Sriracha
If you are not familiar with Sriracha, let me be the first to introduce you. It’s a hot sauce unlike any other hot sauce. They have a pretty impressive back story that you can check out at they parent site Huy Fong.
The thing I like most about sriracha is that there is actual flavor beneath all that heat. While I would never call myself a hot sauce expert, I have tried this with a couple other hot sauces. For me, they came up lacking. You can of course try it with your favorite hot sauce. If you have others to recommend, let me know in the comments below!
FAQs
In your kitchen you can do whatever you want, but if you’ve invited me over please don’t. Greek yogurt and sour cream have an underlying tanginess that doesn’t play nicely with the heat and sweet. The savory flavors of mayo create a completely different flavor.
Yes, I’ve actually tried it. After one taste it went straight in the trash.
Absolutely! Any kind of mayo or mayo substitute will work with this recipe.
Serve it with a spinach salad or veggie tray instead of french fries. Seriously. You may want to thin the sauce with water to give it the thinner consistency of a dressing, but it tastes great with spinach, avocado, and lots of other veggies.
Any liquid sweetener will work, just remember that the flavors in that sweetener will be present in the final sauce. Maple syrup tends to over power, while simple syrup adds nothing. I keep local honey on hand and the underlying flavors of wild flowers, honeysuckle, clover, and herbs really adds to the sauce.
Place it in the fridge in an airtight container. I use plastic squeeze bottles, which I’ve linked to below, but any airtight container will work.
In my experience, this sauce is only as good as it’s ingredients. If your mayo will be expired in 2 days, so will this sauce. If it smells funny, has something growing on it, or has changed consistency, don’t taste it just toss it.
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Spicy Sweet Sriracha Sauce Recipe
Spicy sweet sriracha sauce takes less than 5 minutes to make and is completely worth it for the wow factor. I’ve tried shaking it in a bottle, but the honey doesn’t like to mix with the other cold ingredients too easily. Use it as a dipping sauce, a dressing, or wherever you need a boost of spicy sweet flavor.
My favorite thing to serve this sauce with is sweet potato fritters. Also check out my other dressing and sauce recipes.
If you like this recipe, please give it a FIVE STAR rating and share with your friends!
Spicy Sweet Sriracha Sauce
This Spicy Sweet Sriracha sauce has the perfect balance of flavor, heat, and sweet. It really should come with a warning label: may be addictive when applied to food.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until smooth.
- Use as a dipping sauce, salad dressing, or sandwich spread on burgers, fries, sweet potatoes, nachos, tacos, or anything else you can think of that needs a little kick.
Notes
Store leftover sauce in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 2 TBSPAmount Per Serving: Calories: 145Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 271mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 0gSugar: 8gProtein: 0g
Matt LePage
So simple, and yet, so great! Neither the heat nor the sweet is overpowering at the recipe’s proportions. Used this on Fried Green Tomatoes and loved it. This is a keeper! Thank you Renee!
Betty
I can practically taste this! Such a versatile sauce full of flavour!
Renee Gardner
Thanks Betty!
SueT
Yummy dip for roasted brussels sprouts 🙂
Renee Gardner
Great idea!! It would taste amazing with roasted brussels sprouts!
Holly @ 3 Yummy Tummies
Sounds amazing…sweet and spicy are a winning combination for sure!
Ali @ Home & Plate
Heat and sweet….love it. This sauce would be delicious on so many dishes. Will keep this for the recipe box.
Renee Sitavich
Enjoy!!
Sarah and Laura @ Wandercooks
What a quick and easy sauce – love it! Adding this one to the collection at home. Thanks!
Renee Sitavich
So quick, easy, and delicious!! Enjoy!
Dana
Welp, I love Sriracha sauce, so I’m definitely intrigued by this and looking forward to trying it 🙂
Renee Sitavich
Let me know what you think!!
Sam | Ahead of Thyme
I love sriracha sauce but never thought to make my own! Thanks for sharing!
Renee Sitavich
It’s not actually a recipe to make your own sriracha. I leave that up to the experts who have been at it for over 30 years. This recipe starts sriracha as one of the main ingredients and turns it into something with a bit less heat and a little bit of sweet.