Raising Cane's Dipping Sauce Copycat Recipe

Raising Cane's Dipping 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.

🥘 Ingredient Notes

• Ketchup: you can use any kind of ketchup - we usually use Simply Heinz because it does not have high fructose corn syrup in it, but it doesn't really matter. (We once agreed to make it for a party and I was about two tablespoons short, so I used few ketchup packets our from out takeout stash - it still turned out great!)

• Mayonnaise: Our favorite kind 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 - https://blueplatemayo.com/about/.) Our second choice would be Duke’s. I tried to find good links to both but the cheapest option is to buy a pack of 4 - or get them in the store - otherwise, they are like $10 a jar on Amazon. (If you’re really ambitious, you can get a gallon of Blue Plate for $9 - I’m thinking that might be a great Christmas gift for my father in law 😉 or you can get really crazy and buy 12 jars of Duke’s.. )

• Black Pepper: I like to use a 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 parts of Cane’s sauce is it’s pepperiness, so the coarser grind gives you that big, bold 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/granulated garlic - not dehydrated garlic. I have used several different brands and it doesn’t change the taste

• Worcestershire sauce - I like to use the Lea and Perrins brand, but have also used the cheaper versions like the Heinz brand and the Publix store brand. 

• Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning - Tony Chachere's Seasoning is the little bit of lagniappe 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. 

🥣 How to Make It

Making your own Cane's Sauce is really simple. 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.

I will probably say this ten times in this post, but the best way to get the real Cane's 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?!)

Seriously though, the longer the better for this sauce. If you eat it right away it will taste like ketchup - we learned this from a lot of trial and error. We either make it the night before if we want it for lunch or in the morning if we are planning to have it for dinner. It is worth the wait.

🍳 Serving Suggestions & Uses

Cane's sauce is, of course, meant for dipping crispy chicken tenders, but you can use it for almost anything that you can think of that is good dipped in a sauce.

We use it for:

• french fries - I love to use this recipe from Against All Grain
• sweet potato fries - We love these Bacon-Wrapped Sweet Potato wedges
• as an "aioli" for sandwiches and burgers
• dipping fresh veggies

🐓 What Does Raising Cane's Sauce Taste Like?

Raising 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!

📋 Tips

• 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. It puts this sauce over the edge and makes it super tasty!

🥦 Can You Make this Paleo or Vegan?

One of the biggest perks of making your own sauce at home is that you can make it fit whatever diet that 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!

(The gist is, you just need to use Paleo mayonnaise or Vegan mayonnaise, Paleo ketchup (without added sugar for Whole30), and Paleo Worcestershire Sauce (most have some kind of added caramel color/sugar/gluten/soy - this recipe is really good.) )

If you don't want to customize your sauce, you can use whatever mayonnaise or ketchup that you have in your refrigerator - to be honest, that is what we often do. This recipe is so easy, so delicious, and so forgiving no matter what ingredients you use

🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating

Any homemade 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. (We like to use a mason jar or a Tupperware.) Use the sauce within 10-14 days if you are using store-bought ingredients to make it - if you are making a vegan or paleo version of this recipe and opt to make homemade mayonnaise, try to use it within 5 - 7 days. (Ketchup and mayonnaise with additives will last a bit longer than homemade versions.)

*I hate that I have to add this, but - I am in no means trying to steal or sell the real Raising Cane's Sauce - we can't get it here and that makes us sad! The real recipe as I have been told by many an angry message does not have any Tony Chachere's Seasoning in it. This recipe does, and it is damn delicious. Apparently, a bitter employee also leaked what they claim is "the real recipe" on Twitter and it is a little different as well. My recipe is what we have found to be the closest recipe to the real deal and it is our favorite sauce for dipping all of the things. Until Raising Cane's starts selling their sauce in a bottle or opens a location in North Carolina, we will keep making our own at home!

🌶️ Other Great Cajun & Creole Recipes

• Southern-Style Collard Greens
• Authentic Louisiana Red Beans and Rice
• Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo
• Slow Cooker White Beans and Ham

Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!