Raising Cane’s Sauce is a tangy, creamy, peppery, and addicting dipping sauce that goes with literally everything. We love it with french fries, chicken tenders, and burgers.
Raising Cane’s Sauce is the most delicious chicken dipping sauce. It was made for dipping fried chicken tenders and serving with homemade coleslaw and buttery Texas Toast. This recipe was one of the first recipes on my site back in 2019, and it continues to grow in popularity because it is so good! It is one of our favorite recipes, so I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
My husband and I brought home a huge container of Cane’s Sauce from a trip to visit his parents in Louisiana back in the Spring of 2019, and we experimented for days – trying different combinations of spices, ingredients, and timing to get the flavor just right. We think this Raising Cane’s Sauce recipe is nearly perfect, and I hope you like it.
👩🏻🍳 What is Raising Cane’s Sauce?
Cane’s Sauce is the signature sauce from Raising Cane’s Restaurants. Raising Cane’s is a fast-food restaurant franchise that serves amazing fried chicken tenders with quite possibly the very best chicken dipping sauce that you will ever try. (Yes, it is better than Zax Sauce and Chick-Fila-A Sauce.)
At our house, Cane’s Sauce is a food group, and we always order extra sauce, so we knew we had to make our own copycat version.
The very first Raising Cane’s Restaurant was opened in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the Louisiana State University campus. My husband went to college at L.S.U. and made it through college on Cane’s and pizza while studying engineering, so we have a special connection to Cane’s. (We always go out of our way to get Cane’s on road trips.)
🤤 What Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Taste Like?
Cane’s Sauce is a little tangy, a little peppery, and has a little bit of spice. It has a little bit of tang that comes from mayonnaise and a little bit of the sweet tomato flavor from ketchup. All balanced out by a heap of black pepper, some spice from Tony Chachere’s seasoning, and a bit of garlic powder.
I recently heard from someone that they use Dijon mustard, onion powder, and salt as well, and it made their sauce fantastic. I haven’t tried that combination yet, but let me know if you do!
Table of Contents
- 👩🏻🍳 What is Raising Cane’s Sauce?
- 🤤 What Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Taste Like?
- 🥘 Raising Cane’s Sauce Ingredients
- 🥣 How to Make Cane’s Sauce
- Why Does Cane’s Sauce Taste Better the Next Day?
- 🍗 Raising Cane’s Sauce Uses
- 🥫 Can You Buy Cane’s Sauce?
- ✏️ Tips to Make the Best Sauce
- 🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
- 🫙 How to Store Cane’s Sauce
- 🥪 How Long Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Last in the Refrigerator?
- 🍟 Looking for More Copycat Raising Cane’s Recipes?
- 🫕 More Delicious Homemade Sauces
- Raising Cane’s Sauce Recipe
- 🌶️ Other Great Cajun & Creole Recipes
🥘 Raising Cane’s Sauce Ingredients
- Ketchup – You can use any kind of ketchup.
- Mayonnaise – Our favorite mayonnaise for Cane’s Sauce is Blue Plate – it is from Louisiana, and we think it has the best flavor. My father-in-law will go to battle over that mayonnaise. (Here’s a fun history about Blue Plate.) Our second choice would be Duke’s. Don’t use Miracle Whip – it will be too sweet.
- Black Pepper – I like to use coarse ground black pepper – there isn’t always a noticeable difference in dishes when using different size grinds of pepper, but I think one of the best things about Cane’s Sauce is its pepperiness, so the coarser grind gives you that big, bold pepper flavor. If your pepper container says “table grind or coarse grind,” – that is perfect. That being said, there is nothing wrong with the “pure grind” you just might find that you need to add a little more pepper to get the right amount of pepperiness.
- Garlic Powder – We just use plain old garlic powder or granulated garlic – not dehydrated minced garlic. Any brand will work, just don’t use garlic salt.
- Worcestershire Sauce – Any brand will work!
- Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning – Tony Chachere’s Seasoning is the little bit of lagniappe (something extra) that I like to add to this recipe to make it as good as it is. It is not officially in the original recipe, but the addition of Tony’s Seasoning really takes this recipe over the top, and it’s what we think makes this recipe so good. It used to be my “secret ingredient” that made this recipe unique, but now everyone is using it!
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Share with friends🥣 How to Make Cane’s Sauce
Making your own Cane’s Sauce is really simple. It uses simple ingredients, and somehow, you end up with the most amazing sauce. Someone leaked what they claimed to be the “official” Cane’s sauce recipe on Reddit a while ago, and this recipe is a little different than that recipe, but we love it.
First, gather up all of your ingredients – mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, pepper, and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning.
Then, you literally just put it all in a bowl and whisk it together.
Put the sauce in an airtight container or mason jar and refrigerate for at least 6 hours – the longer, the better – then enjoy it. That’s all you need to do.
Why Does Cane’s Sauce Taste Better the Next Day?
I will probably say this ten times in this post, but the best way to get the real Cane’s sauce flavor is to let the sauce sit in the fridge for as long as you can resist before serving it.
A minimum of 6 hours will give you the best flavor (I KNOW – who wants to wait 6 hours for Cane’s Sauce?!)
Seriously though, the longer, the better for this sauce. The time it has to sit in the refrigerator allows the flavors to develop, so if you eat it right away, it will taste like ketchup – we learned this from a lot of trial and error.
If you’re making you’re own Raising Cane’s Sauce, either make it the night before if you want it for lunch the next day or in the morning if you are planning to have it for dinner. It is worth the wait.
🍗 Raising Cane’s Sauce Uses
Cane’s Sauce is, of course, meant for dipping crispy chicken tenders and crinkle fries, but you can use it for almost anything that you can think of that is best served dipped in or drenched in a sauce.
If you’re wondering what to dip in Cane’s Sauce, serve it with:
- French Fries – Cane’s Sauce makes a great fry sauce for dipping homemade french fries.
- Sandwiches and Burgers – It is a great burger sauce or an aioli to use on fried chicken sandwiches or wraps.
- Fried Seafood – It’s from Louisiana – of course, it goes great with fried fish or fried shrimp.
- We also use it with hush puppies, dipping fresh veggies, tater tots, or drizzled on grilled potato slices.
🥫 Can You Buy Cane’s Sauce?
Currently, you can only buy Cane’s Sauce in a Raising Cane’s fast food restaurant. I am dreaming of the day that you can buy a bottle of Cane’s Sauce.
Until it is available in stores, you can make this Copycat Raising Cane’s Sauce Recipe at home!
✏️ Tips to Make the Best Sauce
- I am not joking when I say to let this sauce sit for at LEAST 6 hours. If you taste it immediately, it will just taste like ketchup. Seriously, pop it in the fridge and come back later. You won’t regret it.
- Make sure you add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. I have tested Slap Ya Mama, Homemade Cajun Seasoning, and Who Dats Creole Seasoning. They all make a yummy sauce, but Tony’s is the only one that really gets the flavor right. (Seriously, we tested this SO many times and so many different ways.)
- While making your Cane’s Sauce, make a batch of Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders – they taste just like Cane’s Tenders, and they taste so good dunked in that perfect peppery sauce!
🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
One of the biggest perks of making your own sauce at home is that you can make it fit any diet you are following. You can control what goes into it. You can make it Paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, dairy-free, and even vegan. I have now created a separate post with my Paleo Raising Cane’s Sauce since so many people were looking for tips to make it!
No – it is totally different. 1000 Island Dressing is thinner and is made with mayonnaise, pickle relish, ketchup, horseradish, paprika, sugar, and sometimes vinegar or lemon juice.
Yes. Always. The little cups of one Cane’s sauce cost 40 cents extra, but it is always worth it. It isn’t on the menu, but you can also get a giant 32 oz cup of Cane’s Sauce for like $6 to bring home. (You can also always swap out your coleslaw or toast for more sauce, but we like it all, so we always just get an extra sauce.)
The big cup of sauce is around $6 if you include tax. It is significantly more sauce than is in the little cups, so for a house full of people, it is a great deal if you are making a batch of chicken tenders or having a party.
No – they are totally different. Cane’s Sauce has a pepper and mayonnaise kind of taste, and Chick-fil-A sauce is more of a sweet honey mustard and barbecue kind of sauce. They are both delicious but in their own ways.
🫙 How to Store Cane’s Sauce
Homemade Raising Cane’s Sauce can, unfortunately, expire, though I doubt this sauce will last long enough to go bad. You should store your sauce in the refrigerator in an airtight container or a mason jar.
🥪 How Long Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Last in the Refrigerator?
Use the sauce within 10-14 days; though it’s so delicious, I doubt it will last that long!
🍟 Looking for More Copycat Raising Cane’s Recipes?
Since I first wrote this post, I have added a Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders post to my site that comes pretty close to the Raising Cane’s Chicken Tenders recipe, and these homemade chicken tenders are crunchy, juicy, and delicious! Served with a side of Copycat Raising Cane’s Coleslaw, it’s like a trip to Cane’s without leaving the house.
Cane’s Restaurants use crinkle-cut fries, so if you really want to make a Box Combo at home, bake up some frozen crinkle fries and some Texas toast, and start dipping! My next project is going to be to recreate Cane’s Texas Toast – but that soft bread is not easy to find. I hope you enjoy all the recipes!
🫕 More Delicious Homemade Sauces
Cane’s Sauce is the ONLY dipping sauce you need – but if you want to try something else, here are some other tasty sauces:
Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!
Raising Cane’s Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
Instructions
- Gather all of your ingredients – garlic powder, Tony's Creole Seasoning, black pepper, ketchup, mayonnaise, and Worchestershire sauce.½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup ketchup, ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
- Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl.
- Whisk until well combined.
- Transfer to an airtight container.
- Let your sauce sit in the refrigerator for a least 6 hours before serving. Leaving it overnight for 24 hours will give you the best flavor.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
Soooo good! Tastes just like what we get from Cane’s! Will definitely be making it often. 😋😋😋
I’m so glad you like it! 🔥
I added more Tony’s to it, but it was a fantastic base to start from. Thanks!
This was phenomenal! Thought I was eating at Canes. The addition of the Tony’s is key and makes it unique.
So glad you liked it! The Tony’s was the perfect touch for the perfect sauce!
Hands down the best canes sauce recipe out there. Others are putting lemon juice, curry powder, and all kinds of strange things. This was perfect!!! So amazing!!!
So glad you liked it!
The best sauce, use it all the time!!!
I tried this and I forgot to make it earlier In the morning and I used it about 20 minutes later and it tasted pretty good to me
So good! BeSt One i’Ve found!
So glad you like it!!
I accidentally used Slap yo mama seasoning and it was still delicious… It may not be raising cane’s but they definitely have competition ☺️
This is so yummy. I go heavy on the Tony’s, but everything else the same. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! 💖
i tried it with heinz 57 sauce and garlic powder soo good
I found some ketchup and mayo mix in a bottle at the store, grabbed it and forgot the dang ketchup as i was going to try both, do you think it would be close to this if i added all the other ingrediants and whisked it together and let sit as in the instructions?! Thanks!
I had misplaced my Cane’s Sauce recipe and did a quick search for it online. As soon as I saw you added Tony Chachere’s to it, I knew I had the NEW right recipe, because that was the one addition I made to mine as well. Tony’s goes in so many things at our house, as well as shakers in the car for when we find ourselves in drive throughs. Perfect addition. Ignore the haters, they just haven’t tried Tony’s yet.
You guys sound like my kind of people – Tony’s in everything!
Hi Kari! I live in Mentor, OH and wwe just had Raising cane’s open in the 19th. Can you tell me if Tony’s is similar to old bay seasoning? I do not think we have Tony’s here.
Hey Anthony! It’s actually very different. Old Bay has different spices in it and isn’t as spicy as Tony’s. If you can’t find Tony’s locally, they sell it on Amazon and it is delicious on everything so it is worth buying! (We love putting it on chicken with a little olive oil and grilling it or searing it – it’s really good!)
Anthony, I’m in Mentor too and I bought Tony’s seasoning at Walmart up in Chardon. I forget what aisle it’s in, but they definitely have it!
I’m in Mentor too! I will try Tony’s
This was great! I added about a TBSP of white distilled vinegar and it tasted even closer to the sauce. Love! 💫
What a great idea! I’ll try that next time we make it! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I love Canes but I don’t care for the sauce. My family absolutely loves it. I tried this tonight w my fried chicken (on a honey bun w corn meal) & my family 👪 loved it. Said it was perfect. Thank you so much!
Upped the garlic and Worcestershire and added smoked paprika and cayenne. Was great
This recipe is Right On!! Delicious
Thanks!
This is a great recipe. We make baked fried chicken and its perfect. This is really close to raising Canes but better. I make my own cajun seasoning and use that and like thIs sauce better than raising canes. Plus their chicken is so Greasy. Thank you for this recIpe. Its always requested on birthdays from my kids. Sorry if this is in all caps.
Sounds like a good copycat though I believe a little lemon would make it even closer to the real deal. Thanks for the post.
My son works next door to a Raising Canes. He would bring it home at least once a week. I made this sauce and he loves it. We now just make chicken strips at home and use this sauce. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Robin! So glad you guys like it! 🙂
Tried it and this is the closest recipe I’ve found! Think I’ll stick with making this one from now on. My husband loves Cane’s and he said it’s really close to the real thing! Thank u for ur recipe ????
Also, all these same ingredients are what I use to make my crawfish dip when we boil crawfish! And it’s amazing!!
I’m so glad you guys liked it! I’m definitely going to try it as a crawfish dip – that sounds awesome!
My husband doesn’t know it yet, but he’s thanking you! We loved Raising Cane’s when we were in Ohio, but I don’t think we have any nearby now. Thanks for making a yummy copycat recipe!
My fiance says it is as good as the real thing – hope you guys enjoy!
My kids LOVE Raising Cane’s and they always ask for extra sauce. Definitely going to have to make this.
I hope you guys enjoy it! We love it!
My oldest son would love this!! He always gets extra sauce at Cane’s …Can’t wait to to try it .
This sounds fantastically flavorful! And I love sauces that I can just whisk together. I will look for Tony’s in Denver, though I see it’s available on Amazon. Looking forward to it!