If you looking for sauce recipes to level up salads, vegetable side dishes, and pasta, you've come to the right place!
These delicious and easy sauces and dressings are easy to make, healthy, fresh, and vibrant. We've listed 25 of our best condiments and dips that can help you dress your next meal, such as pesto, vinaigrette, mayonnaise, sour cream, and creamy dressing.
Browse through this list, and take your pick: these healthy sauces will make those greens pop and add extra nutrition to your meal.
25 Easy Sauce Recipes
Honey mustard Dressing
The first recipe on our list is this basic mustard and lemon vinaigrette, perfect for salads and vegetable side dishes. It makes simple veggies pop, try it on steamed asparagus and roasted bell pepper and taste the difference.
Italian Dressing
Homemade Italian dressing is a simple vinaigrette recipe to add flavor, freshness, and aroma to many salads. A classic dressing that levels up green salads and pasta salads immediately.
Vegan Sour Cream
Sour cream is perfect on potatoes, with soups, and as a dip with nachos. Try this velvety creamy version with your next baked potato, nachos, or Taco Tuesday, or as an easy appetizer.
Marinara Sauce
This Italian marinara sauce is easy, versatile, and perfect with pizza, pasta, and mains. It's a simple base recipe that is a lifesaver if you're short on time and need a quick and tasty dinner on the table.
Vegan Mayo
This guide for vegan mayo will teach you the tips and tricks of mayonnaise. It's tasty, versatile, and so easy to make that you can do it in literally 1 minute with 6 simple ingredients. Serve it with fries, in a BLT sandwich, or as a spread in your next burger!
Eggplant Dip - Baba Ganoush
A scrumptious dip with a velvety and creamy texture, this eggplant dip is perfect with crostini, pita bread, and fresh veggies.
Vegan Basil Pesto
We'll show you how to make the best vegan pesto with basil. Then we demonstrate how easy it is to change the flavoring ingredient and make pesto with your favorite herbs and veggies.
Olive Tapenade
Technically not a sauce, but this olive tapenade spread deserves a spot on this list. It's perfect with crostini as an easy appetizer and great in sandwiches too!
Tahini Sauce
Ready in 5 mins with just 5 ingredients! Rich, creamy, nutty, and nutritious, tahini sauce is a favorite drizzle-on everything sauce. We love it with this crispy tofu salad.
Carrot Ginger Dressing
Refreshing, healthy, and bright, this carrot ginger dressing is perfect for salads and ready in 5 mins in a blender. It pairs well with Asian-inspired dishes, noodle bowls, and grilled vegetables.
Italian Salsa Verde
Refreshing, tangy, and aromatic, this Italian salsa verde is wonderful with roasted, steamed, and fresh veggies. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and stores in the fridge for about 3 days.
White Bean Dip
Our aromatic and mega-easy bean dip is perfect for game night and an appetizer platter. Serve with crackers or toasted bread and a sprinkle of parsley on top.
Guacamole
Simple, easy, and endlessly creamy. This is an amazing guacamole recipe that takes only minutes to make, and pairs well with nachos, burritos, baked potatoes, and on toast. Made with avocado, lime juice, red onion and salt.
Chimichurri Recipe
Another tex mex favorite on our list is this herby chimichurri sauce.
It's wonderful on roasted, baked, and steamed veggies and as a bold marinade for legumes too!
Tzatziki
Perfect for the summer: BBQs, grilling, and hot evenings.
Tzatziki sauce is easy! All you need is Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and dill, and just over 15 minutes to make this irresistible recipe.
Green Goddess Dressing
Green goddess dressing is a creamy salad dressing made with plenty of fresh herbs. Brighten up your healthy meals with this green sauce favorite!
Easy White Sauce (Béchamel)
Perfect with pasta bakes, lasagna, and as a sauce on baked veggies. In our white sauce, we use olive oil and plant milk to make a sauce that is as delicious and versatile as the original béchamel.
Quick Chipotle Sauce
This easy chipotle sauce takes 5 minutes to make, and it's literally good on anything.
From french fries to baked vegetables, nachos, fajitas, and flatbread pizza.
Cilantro Lime Dressing
Make this dressing in 5 minutes with 7 ingredients in a blender. This recipe is healthy, dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, and perfect to brighten up your favorite meal.
Romesco Sauce
The perfect condiment for everything grilled. You can make a quick romesco in 5 minutes with pantry staples, or a more authentic one in about 45. We'll show you 2 versions.
Parsley Pesto
This Parsley Pesto is a simple recipe that’s made in 5 minutes in a food processor. It’s so fast and easy to make, and it tastes really delicious on almost anything!
Red Pepper Pesto
Red pepper pesto is possibly one of the most flavorful pestos you'll ever try. Made with jarred roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes, this red pesto packs a punch, and is great on sourdough bread and in sandwiches.
Arugula Pesto
Refreshing and bright green! This light and healthy recipe for arugula pesto tastes wonderful over pasta and can also be used in other ways. We keep the recipe dairy-free so that anyone can enjoy it.
Muhammara
Middle-Eastern cuisine has abundant options for dips, and dressing for a mezze platter. This muhammara is a tomato and bell pepper condiment that works well as a dip, or as a pairing with grilled vegetables.
Chili Oil
It's a quick and simple recipe that allows you to make spicy chili oil from scratch in just over 10 minutes. A perfectly spiced Italian version of the original chili oil, perfect with roasted and steamed veggies.
How to serve your sauce and dressings
Drizzle your choice of sauce, dressing, or dip with a vegetable side dish or salad:
- Grilled zucchini, roasted bell peppers, and eggplant (green goddess dressing).
- Smashed potatoes (chimichurri sauce and tomato salsa).
- Roasted carrots (salsa verde and tahini sauce).
- Microwave sweet potatoes (cilantro lime dressing, guacamole, tahini sauce).
Combine your favorite sauces and load your roasted veggies with a symphony of condiments:
- Whole roasted cauliflower with tahini dressing, chimichurri sauce, and shaved almonds
- Air fryer sweet potatoes with avocado spread, cilantro lime dressing, and tomato salsa.
- 10-minute air fryer zucchini with chipotle dressing and salsa verde.
How to store homemade sauces
Store these sauces and dressings in an air-tight container in the fridge. Eat within 2-3 days of making them, but they are best and freshest on the day of preparing them.
For pesto sauces, use them straight away or refrigerate them immediately to prevent them from turning brown due to oxidation. If you want to keep it for longer, then freeze it. Pesto freezes well for up to 6 months. Put it in a small jar or in ice cube trays to have smaller portions at hand.
If you made any of these vegan rice recipes, leave us a star rating and a comment below. Feedback really helps us improve our content and help other people too.
For more condiment ideas, check out our dressing and sauces category page.
25 Easy Sauces
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup tahini made with 100% hulled sesame seeds, light-colored
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Take the jar of tahini and stir the content with a spoon. It's possible that if you haven't used it in a while the sesame oils and the sesame paste separate, so giving it a quick stir before using it helps.Pour tahini into a medium bowl, then add fresh lemon juice, water, a peeled and crushed garlic clove, and salt.
- Whisk for about a minute or two, until ingredients are combined and the tahini changes color and goes from light brown to beige.
- Taste and adjust for salt and lemon juice. Tahini sauce should be creamy but quite runny.Keep in mind that as it sits, the sauce thickens up slightly. You might need to add a little more water until you reach your desired consistency.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
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