Our Five Favorite Sauces For Fried Chicken
Our five favorite dipping sauces for crispy birds
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Step away from the ranch dressing.
If you're going to go through the oil-splattered trouble of making fried chicken at home, you may as well be armed with a supply of dipping sauces in which to submerge pieces of breaded bird.
We did the heavy dunking for you, trying out a slew of sauces while we tested deep fryers (two birds with one stone!). Here are our five favorites, spicy, sweet and everything in between:
Adoboloco Pineapple Habanero ($10): Made with sweet Hawaiian pineapple in the Aloha State, this bright yellow hot sauce is just spicy enough, a little sweet and crazy addictive. It was the clear favorite among our editors; we all snuck spoonfuls whenever we were waiting for another batch of fried chicken to dip into it.
We Rub You Original Korean BBQ Marinade ($8): Yes, it's a little thick—that's because it's actually a marinade—but this salty, sweet and super garlicky sauce just works with fried chicken. Plus, you can make a decent lazy man's version of Korean fried chicken by simply coating your chicken in the sauce post-frying.
A&B American Style With Garlic Pepper ($12): You can't go wrong with this classic vinegary hot sauce with a habanero and Fresno chile one-two punch. It's A&B's version of Sriracha, and it's got pleasant lingering spice and a bracing acidity that cuts through fried chicken perfectly.
Stonewall Kitchen Honey Mustard Aioli ($7.50): We tried so hard to avoid any sort of honey mustard monstrosity, but we couldn't ignore this delicious, ultra creamy iteration. It wasn't cloying, like so many other versions we tried, and it's made with salted eggs, which gives it a luscious finish.
Terrapin Ridge Farms Spicy Chipotle Sauce ($18): A combo of egg yolks and xantham gum make this the most velvety chipotle sauce we've tasted. Dashes of turmeric and Dijon mustard give it a little earthiness and zing. We were instant fans.