The Absolute Best Arby's Sauce Is Perfectly Sweet And Smoky

Nothing satisfies like an impressive underdog. When foodies hit the Arby's drive-thru, they may have their minds set on the chain's classics, like horsey sauce or au jus. Indeed, there's something to be said for sticking to the classics – some discontinued Arby's menu items we'll probably never eat again (the controversial Big Game burger can stay in the past). But when it comes to sauces, we implore foodies to branch out to barbecue. In Tasting Table's definitive ranking of every sauce on the Arby's menu, the hickory-smoked BBQ Sauce shone brighter than all 11 other offerings. To our surprise, this robust BBQ even trumped the chain's eponymous sweet-tangy "Arby's sauce."

For starters, Arby's hickory-smoked BBQ has more to offer than one-note ketchup, and it's more versatile than the (albeit inventive) Bronco Berry sauce. Other back-of-the-pack contenders like the cheddar cheese sauce turned us off with a highly processed profile. With Arby's hickory-smoked BBQ, as our taste-tester noted, "The sauce was aromatic, savory, smoky, and perfectly sweet [...] I appreciated the distinct notes of ground black pepper; it tasted like the peppercorns were freshly ground," boasting "great hickory flavor, thick consistency, and endless versatility." Arby's player in the BBQ category comprises a fairly standard ingredients list of high fructose corn syrup, tomato paste, spices, celery seeds, natural hickory smoke flavor, onion, and garlic. In execution, something about this seemingly straightforward condiment combo hits all the right notes.

Admittedly, this underrated offering may be fairly unknown. One Reddit thread asking foodies about their favorite Arby's sauces garners responses like horsey sauce, three pepper sauce, au jus, and signature Arby's sauce — allow us to remedy any lack of awareness immediately. The hickory-smoked BBQ is where it's at. Earlier this year, the chain even leaned into the hickory-smoked BBQ side of its repertoire by launching two limited-time hickory-smoked sandwiches. As Arby's Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Baker shared in an official press release announcing the duo, the launch was aimed at "creat[ing] barbecue sandwiches that are dripping with the kind of quality you'd expect from a BBQ pitmaster." By our count, the same could be said of Arby's true-to-form hickory-smoked BBQ sauce.

Arby's BBQ is thick, dark, and distinctive — and that texturally luscious, glossy, clinging sauce makes it a great fit for dunking chicken tenders (another underrated offering on the Arby's menu). To enjoy, this sauce would also perform fabulously smeared over Arby's classic roast beef sandwich or the Classic Beef 'N Cheddar, our favorite sando on the Arby's menu. That rich, dimensional BBQ delivers impressive depth alongside the sandwich's cheddar cheese sauce. Or, use it as a dipping sauce for Arby's fries, which we're loving here at Tasting Table. In another ranking, we praised Arby's seasoned curly fries as our all-time favorite brand of frozen store-bought fries (sorry, Ore-Ida).