5 Flavorful Sauces You Can Create With All Those Condiments In Your Fridge

Whether you're trying to use up the last few tablespoons of a bottle languishing in your refrigerator door or are just wanting to shake things up in the flavor department, there are almost an infinite number of sauces you can make with the condiments in your refrigerator (and pantry, for that matter). While you could experiment with random combinations like an unbridled child at a 7-Eleven Slurpee machine, I'm doing the work for you as both a professionally trained chef and a person who cannot ever get enough sauce in her life, a condiment champion, if you will. 

These are sauces I've made myself at home and thoroughly enjoyed, although there have been a few misses that I've been sure to omit from the roundup. All of these simple sauces can be made with just a bowl and a spatula (or whisk, depending on your preference), and none of them require any blending, grating, or otherwise laborious sort of extra steps unless you are inclined to go the extra mile. 

I also encourage you to try some combinations of your own, as the risk of disaster is extremely low in this experimentation endeavor. Whether you're trying one from this list below or an idea all your own, start with small amounts of each condiment so you don't waste a combination that you dislike. If you're still looking for more ways to clear out your condiment shelf, try any of these 18 two-ingredient sauces that make dinner extra easy.

Combining mayonnaise with a spicy condiment isn't anything ground-breaking, but it is always so perfectly satisfying and, most importantly, incredibly easy to make and customize. There are many combinations to be had, depending on what type of mayo you use and which spicy element you chose to mix with it. Japanese-style Kewpie mayo is just begging for a vinegary, spicy sauce to cut through the extra richness, so pairing it with sriracha or a tangy hot sauce like Frank's RedHot is a great idea. A Southern classic hot sauce like Crystal or Tabasco would be a perfect pairing for Duke's mayo, another beloved condiment in the American South. You could also look toward other condiments in your refrigerator that pack some serious spice, like kimchi, harissa paste, or sambal oelek to combine with mayonnaise for a sauce that's creamy and spicy but with a bit more texture than what you'd get from plain hot sauces. 

Once you've crafted your spicy mayo, the possibilities for use are endless. Slather your spicy mayo on bread for a bit more kick in your sandwich (especially a fried egg breakfast sandwich), or dip tater tots or french fries in the sauce for a satisfying side dish with both fat and heat. Dip breakfast burritos in spicy mayo, mix it into tuna salad, or pour it over your fried fish or fried shrimp tacos. Basically, anywhere you might normally use mayo could likely benefit from a spicy upgrade, so the tasting adventure is yours to create as you best see fit. 

Inspired by classic burger condiments like In-N-Out's special sauce or McDonald's Big Mac sauce, making a burger sauce at home is easier than you might think. Although this burger sauce does have the most ingredients out of these flavorful condiment-based sauces, it still comes together quickly as all you need to do is just squeeze or spoon everything into a bowl and give it a good mix. For the burger sauce, grab your ketchup, mayo, yellow mustard (although you can play around with other mustards that you have on hand as well), and pickle relish (either sweet or dill will do). Since it does have a larger number of ingredients, this is a sauce that requires a bit of tinkering with the ratios to get the exact flavor that you prefer, but it's easy to adjust as you stir the sauce together and taste it. 

As you may have suspected, the burger sauce is not only stellar on cheeseburgers, but it is also great on french fries, grilled chicken or club sandwiches, and as a dipping sauce for chicken tenders or fried zucchini sticks. It would also be great for dressing a crisp wedge salad or as an alternative to cocktail sauce for chilled shrimp cocktail. If you make a lot of burgers, or sandwiches for that matter, make a larger batch of the sauce and store it in an airtight jar for up to a month in the refrigerator, but make sure to label and date the sauce after transferring it to a storage container. 

You've probably seen or tried a combination of canned chipotle in adobo sauce and mayo before, but blending it with tahini sauce is a cultural mash up that's greater than the sum of its parts, although they are both stellar ingredients on their own too. The creaminess of the sesame seed paste combined with the spicy, earthy notes of dried and smoked jalapeño peppers is a beautiful contrast between Mexican and both Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. 

Tahini can be a fickle ingredient to work with. Initially, it can thicken and seize up as you stir more liquid into it, defying logic, but as you continue to add more liquid and stir with purpose, it will eventually blend into a smooth paste again. The easiest way to add chipotle to tahini is to simply squeeze out the adobo sauce that surrounds the peppers and vigorously whisk it into the tahini until smooth. But if you're looking to make a much more spicy, smoky version, you could use an immersion blender to puree the chipotle peppers along with their adobo liquid and then use the immersion blender once again to blend that with tahini without all that manual labor. 

In terms of how to use the sauce, take this recipe for baked falafel salad with lemon-tahini dressing, for example. Either swap the lemon juice for some chopped chipotle peppers and their sauce, or just add a bit of chipotle sauce in addition to the lemon juice with tahini, depending on your zeal for acidity. 

Some barbecue sauces are already spicy and tangy on their own, but if you're looking for a little more punchiness from your bottle, look no further than a jar of spicy brown mustard. This combination works especially well with any sweeter barbecue sauces as the spiciness of the mustard helps to balance out the heavy sugar in them. We've already praised the addition of tangy yellow mustard to bottled BBQ sauce, but you can take it a step further by swapping plain yellow mustard for spicy brown mustard, sometimes called deli mustard as its pronounced tanginess helps to cut through fatty sandwich meats. 

Mostly seen as a squiggle on hot dogs, yellow mustard is much more mild and mellow than spicy brown, as it's made of mostly dry ground yellow mustard seed powder and vinegar. Spicy brown mustard has more depth of flavor, as it uses vinegar-soaked brown mustard seeds that are sharper and spicer than yellow mustard seeds. Spicy brown mustard also uses whole mustard seeds that are ground down to a paste, giving the mustard a bit of a thicker, more textured consistency compared to plain yellow mustard. 

The distinct bite of spicy brown mustard is a perfect counterpart to store-bought barbecue sauce, as it brings balance and a nice kick to the bottled sauce. Use it on pulled pork or barbecue chicken sandwiches, or serve it alongside chicken tenders for a perfectly spicy-sweet dipping sauce. 

While you've likely come across a spicy ranch dressing before, normally with buffalo sauce or any sort of hot sauce stirred into the herby salad dressing, I'm asking you to think a bit differently with this combination, which has decidedly more texture. You could opt for either chili crisp or chili crunch, depending on how much extra texture you want to bring into the sauce. Chili crisp will have a less noticeable crunch but will still add some excitement into the ranch, while chili crunch will have a decidedly chunky, crunchy texture. Fly By Jing's Xtra Crunchy Sichuan Chili Crisp (previously named Chengdu Crunch) is a personal favorite of mine, as larger legumes like soybeans, fava beans, and yellow split peas keep the spicy paste extra-crunchy and exciting to eat. 

The smoothness and creaminess of the ranch dressing plays well with the chunky, heat-packed chili crunch for an irresistible, umami-packed sauce that's perfect for everything from dipping vegetables in to serving alongside fried chicken. If you're one of those people that doesn't like ranch dressing, you could always try another take on this spicy condiment by swapping the ranch for blue cheese dressing and the chili crisp or chili crunch for a Louisiana-style hot sauce. This would be the ultimate dipping sauce for chicken wings or even for crudités like celery, carrots, and endive leaves.