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5-Minute Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce

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This sweet and spicy sriracha sauce recipe 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, or 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.

Spicy sweet sriracha sauce spilling out of a white ramekin next to a pile of sweet potato waffle fries on a wooden board.

A Homemade Sriracha Dipping Sauce

This spicy sweet sriracha sauce recipe 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 is 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 too much heat. This honey sriracha dipping sauce satisfies all of these requirements and is the perfect complement to all things sweet potato. Since its creation in 2015, I’ve realized that it also goes with a whole lot more.

I’ve put it on rockfish sandwiches, bacon avocado 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. This honey sriracha mayo sauce is super versatile, and it’s become one of my favorite homemade dressing and sauce recipes.

What You’ll Need

This sweet sriracha dipping sauce is made from three simple ingredients that you may already have in your fridge or pantry. Once you taste it, these ingredients will be in regular rotation.

  • Mayonnaise – Use good quality mayo for the best flavor.
  • Honey – Any honey will do, but check your label, many stores also sell honey-flavored syrup right next to the real deal.
  • Sriracha sauce – Spicy with just the right amount of heat, I recommend Huy Fong brand.

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An overhead shot of spicy sweet sriracha sauce in a white ramekin next to a pile of sweet potato waffle fries on a wooden cutting board.

How to Make Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce

This sriracha mayo recipe 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 few ingredients, the quality of those ingredients matters so much more.

How is this version different from the original?

I originally developed this spicy mayo recipe using 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 ratio, the sauce is 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 a 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 the parent site Huy Fong.

The thing I like most about sriracha is that I can taste the actual flavor beneath all that heat. While I would never call myself a hot sauce expert, I have tried this with a couple of 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!

A sweet potato waffle fry dipped into spicy sweet sriracha sauce in a white ramekin. The sauce is spilling from the ramekin and sitting next to a pile of sweet potato waffle fries on a wooden board.

Recipe Variations

Even with a recipe this simple, I still get questions about what swaps can be made while still ending up with a tasty sauce. With most of my recipes, I will happily tell you how to change them up to get something slightly different that still satisfies the initial intent. With a recipe this simple, any small change is going to make a big impact. Here are some of the most common questions I get for this creamy sriracha sauce.

Can I swap the mayo for Greek yogurt or sour cream?

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.

Have you actually tried it with Greek Yogurt?

Yes, I’ve actually tried it. After one taste, it went straight into the trash.

Can I use a low-fat mayo, vegan mayo, or other mayo alternatives?

Absolutely! Any kind of mayo or mayo substitute will work with this recipe.

How can I make this sauce “healthier”?

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.

What’s a good replacement for the honey?

Any liquid sweetener will work, just remember that the flavors in that sweetener will be present in the final sauce. Maple syrup tends to overpower, while simple syrup adds nothing. I keep local honey on hand, and the underlying flavors of wildflowers, honeysuckle, clover, and herbs really add to the sauce.

How to Store and Reheat

Place it in the fridge in an airtight container. I use pint-sized glass canning jars, but any airtight container will work.

Typically this sauce will last a good week or so in the fridge. Honey and sriracha have very long shelf lives, but 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 spilling out of a white ramekin next to a pile of sweet potato waffle fries on a wooden board.

5-Minute Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce

This three ingredient spicy sweet sriracha sauce recipe has the perfect balance of spice, heat, and sweet. It's your new favorite sriracha dipping sauce.
4.5 stars (104 ratings)
prep: 5 minutes
total: 5 minutes
servings: 10 ounces

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.

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Notes

Store leftover sauce in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Serving: 2TBSPCalories: 145kcalCarbohydrates: 9gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 271mgSugar: 8g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is for general information purposes only. For the most accurate information, calculate using your select brands and exact measurements.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @reneenicoleskitchen or tag #reneenicoleskitchen!

Want to see the step-by-step version? Check out the Spicy Sweet Sriracha Sauce Story.

By on January 31st, 2019

About Renee N Gardner

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15 Comments on “5-Minute Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce”

  1. 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!

    Reply
    • 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.

      Reply

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