Kids love a good sauce. Who am I kidding? I do too, I’m a little saucy. This is my famous chicken nugget dipping sauce that I created when the kiddos became a little too ketchup obsessed.
A blend of the famous Chick-fil-a dipping sauce and what I had on hand, it still uses their beloved ketchup, but a few other items to jazz things up.
And, of course, there’s honey, to balance and sweeten.
But don’t be fooled, this sauce goes far beyond nuggets, popcorn chicken, and chicken strips. It can be used on grilled chicken, burgers, and hot dogs — or for dipping fries, onion rings, and more.
What is Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce?
This sauce is an easy combination of common condiments that bring together tons of flavors that pair well with the neutral flavor of chicken nuggets. It’s a great dip for both moms and dads as well as little ones.
Why You’ll Love Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce
What’s not to love about an easy-to-make sauce made with simple pantry ingredients?
- Easy – All of the ingredients are likely handy or you can grab them quickly at the grocery store. Then, just mix together and serve.
- Versatile – You can use this sauce for any sort of dish you want to give a little pizazz to.
- Customizable – Change this sauce up however you like to please everyone’s palates.
Ingredients
These simple ingredients combine to make the most delicious sauce for dipping.
- Mayonnaise – This is the creamy base for all of the other flavors.
- Ketchup – A bit of tomato flavor gives the sauce color and the flavor that everyone loves. You can use plain ketchup or a spicy ketchup.
- Honey mustard – Who doesn’t love the umami that mustard imparts? And the slight sweetness from the honey rounds it out.
- White vinegar – Vinegar balances this simple sauce.
- Honey – Sweeten this sauce just a little bit with a touch of honey.
What to Serve Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce With
You don’t need to reserve this savory and sweet sauce for nuggets or chicken fingers — add it to other dishes, too.
- Grilled meats – This is a great way to add interest to your cookout spread. Just offer this sauce along side the classic condiments.
- Potatoes – This is the perfect sauce for potatoes. Whether they’re french fries, roasted potatoes, or home fries, this sauce will pack a flavor punch when you add it.
- Veggies – Serve fresh vegetables or fried versions and watch your kiddos scarf those nutrient-packed vegetables.
- Wings – This creamy sauce is an amazing accompaniment to chicken wings.
- Salad – Use this sauce as an amazing salad dressing.
- Sandwich – Spread this sauce over buns before adding fried chicken, grilled chicken breasts, or your favorite proteins.
Variations
Switch this versatile dipping sauce up however you like for dipping your nuggets, chicken tenders, or any other favorite finger foods!
- Heat – Add cayenne pepper, spicy Buffalo sauce, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, or chili powder for some spiciness.
- Sweetness – Reduce the amount of honey or use yellow or dijon mustard instead of honey mustard.
- Vinegar – Try apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar.
- Saltiness – For more salty flavor and a bit of umami, add soy sauce.
- Spices and aromatics – Try adding garlic powder, garlic salt, fresh garlic, onion powder, or your favorite spices.
- Dressing – Creamy ranch dressing or blue cheese can transform this sauce.
- Citrus – Squeeze or splash a little bit of lemon juice or lime juice in for brightness.
- Other sauces – Add just a bit of sweet barbecue sauce or tangy barbecue sauce, hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or your own favorite sauces into this for your own signature sauce.
- Pickles – Add some sweet flavor with diced bread and butter pickles or use a dill pickle relish for zesty flavor.
Storage and Freezing
You can make this simple sauce and store it until you need it.
Refrigerator: Store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container.
Freezer: We do not recommend storing mayo-based sauces in the freezer.
Common Questions About Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce
There are tons of dipping sauces that are popular for chicken nuggets. Ranch dressing, ketchup, mustard, and sweet and sour sauce rate just as high as the fast food versions of this style of dipping sauce.
What can’t you eat with chicken nuggets is the better question! You can eat anything with nuggets like cheesy sauces, other dipping sauces, fries, salads, sandwiches, or soups.
Other Savory Sauces
- Golden BBQ Sauce
- Blue Cheese Sauce
- Nashville Hot Sauce
- Coleslaw Dressing
- Sweet Potato Fry Dipping Sauce
Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup honey mustard
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
- Combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, honey mustard, vinegar and honey in a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Cover and chill for a minimum of 20 minutes to let the flavors marry.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings!
I’m a dipper – I dip everything, and I loooove this dipping sauce! Savory with just the right amount of sweetness – it’s perfect.
I love Chick-fil-a sauce and I actually think I like this even better than the original. This stuff is great!
I buy the sauce in the bottle at the store, and this is just as good! So much better knowing exactly what’s in it!
But in fact you really don’t know what’s exactly in the store bought sauce. Read the ingredients! So many preservatives and thickeners that you can’t even pronounce and what exactly is ‘natural flavor’? Given how simple this recipe is I would suggest you make it rather than buy it. I personally would not even bother with the sugar!
This really does taste just like it, and so much better to have it at home. Now I can put it on everything!
The kids love this sauce more than ketchup so it’s so nice that I can make a bigger batch for when we have tenders and nuggets at home!