How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (2024)

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Diana Rattray

How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (1)

Diana Rattray

Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.

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Updated on 04/13/23

Tested by

Diana Andrews

How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (2)

Tested byDiana Andrews

Diana earned her B.A. in Fine Art at Queens College and her culinary certification from the Institute of Culinary Education. Diana has served as head recipe developer and editor for Emmy-nominated PBS series Moveable Feast, food editor and test kitchen manager at Fine Cooking Magazine, and recipe developer, and product tester at Food Network.

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Comebacksauce is a classic Southern sauce that originated in Jackson, Mississippi. Originally, it was the house dressing served at the Greek restaurant, The Rotisserie, and today you'll find it on many Mississippi restaurant menus.The name comes from the traditional goodbye in Mississippi. Anytime you leave a place, people don't say "goodbye" or "see you later." Instead, they say, "y'all come back." This tasty sauce is definitely a good way to seal the deal.

This Mississippi creation is a versatile Southern-style sauce. It is similar in flavor to a Louisiana rémoulade or Thousand Island salad dressing, but the latter is sweeter than comeback sauce. There's no cooking required. Simply mix common pantry ingredients such as mayonnaise, chile sauce, ketchup, mustard, oil, and Worcestershire sauce with minced onion and garlic, and you're done. For the best flavor, try to make the sauce a day ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight.

Easy to make and delicious, once you experience the taste for yourself, you'll find countless ways to enjoy comeback sauce. Serve it instead of tartar sauce with fried seafood, including popcorn shrimp. It makes an excellent salad dressing and sandwich or burger spread, and you can even drizzle it overfish tacos. It's also a good dipping sauce for everything from french fries and chips to chicken nuggets and wings.

"This sauce is so versatile! Tangy, with a subtle sweet note from the ketchup, it goes well with just about anything from a burger to a sandwich or a dip for veggies. I served this as a dipping sauce for steamed artichokes. It was great!" —Diana Andrews

How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (4)

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mayonnaise

  • 1/4 cup chile sauce

  • 1/4 cup ketchup

  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil

  • 2 tablespoons minced onion

  • 1 teaspoon spicy brown, orCreole mustard

  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (5)

  2. Add the mayonnaise, chili sauce, ketchup, oil, onion, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and garlic to a jar with a screw cap lid. Shake the jar until the ingredients are well combined. Refrigerate, preferably overnight, before serving.

    How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (6)

  3. Serve in individual portions for dipping or spread the sauce from the jar and enjoy.

    How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (7)

Tips

  • The chile sauce used in the recipe is a condiment similar to ketchup and not to be confused with Asian chile paste. It's found near ketchup in most grocery stores.
  • Add up to 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to make a thinner dressing for salads.

Recipe Variations

  • Add heat to the sauce with a few teaspoons of Sriracha sauce, some Tabasco or cayenne, or 1 or 2 teaspoons of sambal (Asian chile paste).
  • If you don't care for the raw garlic taste, use 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. The sauce will keep for up to six days with garlic powder.
  • The minced onion can be replaced with about 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder.

How to Store Comeback Sauce

Refrigerate any leftover sauce and use it within two days when it's made with fresh garlic.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
267Calories
27g Fat
5g Carbs
1g Protein

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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6to 8
Amount per serving
Calories267
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 27g35%
Saturated Fat 4g19%
Cholesterol 12mg4%
Sodium 371mg16%
Total Carbohydrate 5g2%
Dietary Fiber 0g1%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 2mg11%
Calcium 9mg1%
Iron 0mg1%
Potassium 77mg2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

  • Tomato
  • southern
  • weeknight
  • condiment

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How to Make Classic Southern Comeback Sauce (2024)

FAQs

What is comeback sauce made of? ›

Ingredients for Comeback Sauce

Mayonnaise: For a creamy, rich base. Chili sauce: Such as Sriracha, for a spicy kick. Ketchup: Adds sweetness, tanginess, and color. Lemon juice: Acidity balances and brightens the sauce.

What are the 3 tips for making a good sauce? ›

sauce = sear + deglaze + cook (strain) + reduce + enrich

Sear your protein to create deep flavor, deglaze the bits of flavor stuck to the pan, cook the sauce sufficiently, reduce the sauce to intensify flavor, and enrich it to achieve that velvety finish.

What is Jack's comeback sauce made of? ›

Combine mayonnaise, ketchup, chili sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, onion powder, hot sauce, garlic powder, and paprika in a small bowl; whisk until well combined.

Why is it called comeback sauce? ›

The name comes from the traditional goodbye in Mississippi. Anytime you leave a place, people don't say "goodbye" or "see you later." Instead, they say, "y'all come back." This tasty sauce is definitely a good way to seal the deal. This Mississippi creation is a versatile Southern-style sauce.

What is ketchup and mayo mixed together called? ›

Fry sauce is a condiment often served with French fries or tostones (twice-fried plantain slices) in many places in the world. It is usually a combination of one part tomato ketchup and two parts mayonnaise. Fry sauce.

What is hillbilly sauce? ›

Hillbilly Hot BBQ Sauce – The proper BBQ sauce you've all been looking for. It's flavorsome, smokey and hot with a subtle sweetness. The sauce's main ingredient is the Ghost Pepper, which was the first chilli tested to hit over 1 million Scoville Heat Units... It's not longer in the top spot but it still a belter!

What is the secret to good sauce? ›

Texture-wise, fat adds a rich, mouth-coating feel to a sauce, both when it's broken out of the sauce on its own, and when it is emulsified with the sauce's liquid phase, making the whole thing creamier. Add a bit of butter in there as well.

What is the most common mistake in sauce making? ›

When creating a sauce, one common mistake is not allowing the appropriate time for the ingredients to mingle. Some sauces are best fresh like pesto or guacamole because they contain fresh ingredients that break down or oxidize (per America's Test Kitchen). Other sauces require slow cooking to concentrate the flavors.

What are the 3 important ingredients used in most sauces? ›

There are three basic kinds of ingredients in most sauces: a liquid, a thickening agent, and other flavoring and seasonings. The quality of the liquid base determines the quality of the sauce.

What is ace comeback sauce? ›

For those that don't know what comeback sauce is, it's generally a mayo based sauce with a mix of other sauces such as ketchup, hot sauce, onion powder, pepper, and dry mustard. I'm not quite sure how Ace makes theirs but I could literally eat it with anything.

How to make comeback sauce on Reddit? ›

The original recipe was just Heinz chili sauce and mayo, although a few put Worcestershire in it too. That's really about it. If ya wanted to make one at home I'd probably just start with two parts mayo to one part chili sauce then add some Worcestershire and spicy mustard to taste.

Is Mississippi comeback sauce the same as Cane's sauce? ›

Though not entirely similar, many people liken comeback sauce to Raising Cane's sauce or Chick-fil-A sauce. Both sauces fit the description, as they're creamy, tangy, savory, and smoky.

What is the oldest sauce in the world? ›

Possibly the oldest recorded European sauce is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans, while doubanjiang, the Chinese soy bean paste is mentioned in Rites of Zhou in the 3rd century BC.

What is yum yum sauce made of? ›

Yum Yum Sauce is made of mayonnaise, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, sugar, paprika and water to thin the sauce out. That's it! It's really just a matter of the right ratios of ingredients to get the flavor you want!

What is Big Mac sauce made from? ›

Ingredients: Soybean Oil, Sweet Relish (diced Pickles, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Corn Syrup, Xanthan Gum, Calcium Chloride, Spice Extractives), Water, Egg Yolks, Distilled Vinegar, Spices, Onion Powder, Salt, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (hydrolyzed Corn, ...

What is remoulade sauce made from? ›

Remoulade is a traditional French sauce, originally made with ingredients such as mayonnaise, herbs, capers, pickles, and perhaps some anchovy oil or horseradish. French cuisine has a lot of influence on Louisiana cuisine, and the Cajuns and Creoles have a lot of influence on Louisiana cuisine.

Which leading sauce is a sauce suprême prepared from? ›

According the Larousse Gastronomique, a seminal work of French haute cuisine, first published in 1938, suprême sauce is made from the mother sauce velouté (white stock thickened with a white roux—in the case of suprême sauce, chicken stock is usually preferred), reduced with heavy cream or crème fraîche, and then ...

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