Seeing everyday life as a miracle
If you’ve ever eaten at one of the chicken finger chains like Zaxby’s or Raising Cane’s, you’ve no doubt wondered how they make their special sauce taste so good. It is, after all, the crowning glory of their chicken finger dinners. It’s the perfect dip for the chicken fingers, the fires, and even the bread. We southerners are a little crazy about dipping our food. While the actual recipes used by chains are closely guarded secrets, you can make a batch of Comeback Sauce at home that will rival any of the chain sauces.
Comeback Sauce is simple to make, as it only requires mixing the ingredients – no cooking whatsoever. It does have quite a few ingredients, but most of them are items most family households would have on hand anyway. If you’re in a pinch, go ahead and make it without the missing ingredients, as it will still be good. You can mix it with a whisk or in a blender, whichever you prefer.
Here’s what you’ll need for Comeback Sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup chili sauce or Heinz 57 Steak Sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon sriracha or Tabasco hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk or blend in blender. Store in air-tight container in fridge.
Comeback Sauce is great on chicken, but it is also good on shrimp, steak, hamburgers, oven fries, and just about anything else you like to dip. It is a great staple dip to have on hand because you can always find something else to try it on.
I hope you all like it!
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I don’t know much, but I do know this: a good sauce makes any dish better. The other day we made Chicken and Waffles for lunch, and we had some leftover chicken fingers. Today I heated them up for lunch, but I needed a new dipping sauce. I remembered a creamy sriracha dipping sauce I’d seen somewhere along the way, and it sounded like the perfect compliment to my fried chicken.
1 cup mayo
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons sriracha (a little more if you like it spicier)
You can’t get much more simple than that list of ingredients! All you do is mix those ingredients together and serve it up! It doesn’t get much easier than this.
It was so delicious on my fried chicken tenders that I tried it on my grilled hamburger tonight. Perfect! It would also be delicious on rosemary oven fries or sweet potato fries. It is super good with a piece of grilled chicken or a grilled chicken sandwich. Y’all be creative and let me know what you try it on.
Creamy Sriracha Dipping Sauce is a simple way to dress up any casual meal! It is so simple that it doesn’t have to be reserved for meals. We eat it with so many snacks that I make a batch and keep it in the fridge in a mason jar. The girls love to pull it out anytime! It’s no wonder this has become one of my most popular recipes on Pinterest!
For more delicious sauce recipes, visit our Recipe Index.
Our local Japanese steak house makes the most fabulous white sauce. They serve it, like most other Japanese steak houses, with their hibachi dinners. I always ask for more, and I even ask for a to-go cup to take home with my leftovers. One day at lunch as I was warming my leftovers I realized I had forgotten to ask for a cup of white sauce. Oh, the horror! So I turned to the internet to search for a recipe.
I had no idea that the white sauce is such a closely guarded secret. The recipe was elusive! However, I did come across a recipe for Yum Yum Sauce, which is very similar. In fact, we like it so much that we’ve used it just about everything. It’s a great dipping sauce for french fries and chips. It’s fabulous on hamburgers. It’s one of the key ingredients on my Fried Green Tomato BLTs. You can use it on anything!
1 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/3 cup milk or water
1 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste or 1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Whisk together. Store in airtight container in fridge.
Love sauces? Try our Chili Lime Butter or our Basil Pesto. Browse our Recipe Index to see our whole recipe collection.
We’re back from our family vacation, and we’re working our way through unpacking suitcases, restocking groceries, and running errands. Since summer is in full swing, and it’s BBQ season, I thought you might enjoy a re-print of my Battle of the BBQ Sauces post…
The spring weather is here, and it’s all we can do not to grill out every meal! Though we have had a very mild winter, we miss our grill in the winter months, as it is just too cold to stand outside while the food cooks. But in the spring, oh the glorious spring! We fire that baby up at every opportunity.
Tonight I made these lovelies – Caribbean Chicken Kabobs with Honey Soy Glaze. I used GroceryBudget101.com’s recipe for Key West Grilled Chicken as a starting point. I found it on Pinterest, and thought it looked delicious, but I wanted something a bit spicier. Here’s what I came up with:
Honey Soy Glaze:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
juice of 1 lime – Put halves into mixture
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons honey (I used local Alabama wildflower honey.)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro – coarsely chopped
Several grinds around on a sea salt grinder
Several grinds around on a black pepper grinder
Once again, I use a glass mason jar to mix this together. Just throw it all in, including the lime halves, and shake well enough to thoroughly mix. Let it sit for several hours for the flavors to meld.
For the Kabobs:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into kabob-sized chunks
1 pkg whole mushrooms
1 container fresh pineapple chunks
1 red or Vidalia onion, cut into eighths
After the marinade has been melding for a few hours, pour it into a gallon-sized Zip-lock bag. Add in the chicken, mushrooms, onions, and pineapple. Squish it all around really well to coat everything. Let marinate in fridge for several hours.
Fire up the grill to about 350-400 degrees. While it heats, put ingredients on skewers. When grill is at proper temperature, throw the skewers on. Grill for 15-20 minutes, turning to ensure all sides get cooked.
I served my kabobs with a side of black beans and rice.
This was a really fun, spring meal. If you’re a dipper (like we are), be sure to make some extra marinade to serve with your dinner. Whatever you do, DO NOT serve the marinade that you have used to marinate your raw chicken. I’d just die if you got salmonella from this dish!
My southern is showing a little with the publication of this recipe. But I can’t help it. I have only recently acquired a taste for greens, so I’m learning to make them. If you haven’t ever tried your hand at cooking greens, let me introduce you to my recipe for collard greens.
Collard greens aren’t hard to make, but they take a long time. But since they are incredibly healthy and we all need more green in our diet, they are worth the effort.
There are as many ways to make collard greens as there are southern cooks, so feel free to tweak this recipe to fit your tastebuds. You can buy collard greens fresh in a bunch, but then you’ll have to de-stem the leaves and wash them really well. I prefer to buy mine shredded.
And can you imagine washing all of those collard greens after they have been shredded? So this is what I’m looking for…
So much easier! In order to make a big pot of collard greens, here’s what you’ll need…
2lb bag of shredded and pre-washed collard greens
2 quarts of chicken stock
2 small white onions, diced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound of bacon, cooked and diced, with grease reserved
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup maple syrup or molasses
In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of reserved bacon grease over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic in bacon grease until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in cooked bacon, red pepper flakes, and salt. Pour in one quart of chicken stock and heat until simmering. Let simmer for about 30 minutes to allow bacon to flavor the stock. Add part of the greens to fill the pot, as they won’t all fit until some have cooked down. Place lid on pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to let green wilt. When able, add more greens, stir, and allow to wilt. Continue until all greens are added to the pot. Add the second quart of chicken stock.
Once all greens are cooking, add vinegar and syrup. If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember my favorite vinegar from Trader Joe’s, which is what I use in this recipe.
Allow to simmer covered for about an hour. Collard greens are a tough green, and you want to cook them low and slow to make them tender. Serve with pepper sauce if you like them a little spicy.
Collard greens are a wonderful complement to most any meat-and-veggie type meal. We like them with roasted pork and cheese grits, and they are also wonderful with a rotisserie chicken and sweet potatoes.
Cranberry Orange Relish is a new-to-us recipe on our holiday table this year. While I’ve long been a fan of cranberry sauce – yes, I like the canned stuff! – I wanted something a little more special this year. Festive, maybe. This simple recipe is just the ticket. It takes about five minutes to make, and it is absolutely delicious!
Cranberry Orange Relish is full of bold flavor, so it is definitely best as a relish instead of a full-size side dish or salad. A little goes a long way.
You can go with a nutty option or a non-nutty option. I like both. You’ll need a 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, one orange, a half cup of sugar, and an optional half cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.
Wash the cranberries well. Quarter the orange with the peel on. Take seeds out if there are any. Squeeze orange juice in a mixing bowl. Place cranberries and squeezed orange in food processor and chop for a few seconds. Be sure to get all big chunks of orange peel chopped or they will be bitter. Put chopped fruit mixture in bowl with orange juice. Add sugar and mix well. Store in fridge for at least an hour. Stir again and add nuts just before serving.
We hope you enjoy Cranberry Orange Relish as much as we do!
Our family LOVES dinner out at a Japanese steak house. And I have to admit, I love watching the hibachi cook. One of these days I’m goig to install a hibachi grill in my kitchen. One of these days. The fried rice is one of my favorite parts of the meal. I’ve tried to make it at home, and mine just doesn’t turn out like theirs does, and it is super unhealthy with the amount of butter and starches and salt. However, I have been able to perfect a lighter version that I refer to as Healthy-ish Fried Rice.
One of the ways I cut out a lot of simple carbs is to use half brown rice and half cauliflower rice. I buy the packaged frozen brown rice and the organic riced cauliflower at Trader Joe’s. Another fat-cutting trick is to use coconut oil instead of butter. To cut salt, I use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of straight soy sauce. Same taste, but a lot less salt.
Until the day comes that a hibachi grill is installed in my kitchen, I use my cast iron skillet to make Healthy-ish Fried Rice. I can get it super hot, and the coconut oil melts like a dream in it.
You can serve this dish in place of most any starch. I sometimes add chicken or shrimp to make it a one-dish meal. It is also good with a piece of grilled chicken. Most of the time, though, we eat it as a side dish to salmon. Super healthy meal that is also super delicious! If you, like me, can’t stand the thought of giving up the yum-yum sauce, don’t fret. I have that recipe for you, too.
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Thank you so much for visiting us at The Hill Hangout. I’m Ashley, the chief cook and bottle washer around here. I’m married to Jonathan, a great guy who loves the Lord, loves his family, and pretty much lays down his life for us daily. Yep, he’s a keeper. Together we have two not-so-little-anymore girls, Mary Anneliese (18) and Patterson (12). They are full of life and laughs and are the heartbeat of our home. Read More
