A copycat Ken's Boom Boom Sauce made with the real ingredients — aged cayenne pepper, Dijon, roasted red pepper, and shallot. Tangy, smoky, and bright orange, ready in 10 minutes.
Ingredients
For the base
½cupmayonnaise
2tablespoonsFrank's RedHot or other aged cayenne pepper sauce
2teaspoonsDijon mustard
1tablespoonrice vinegar
For the flavor
2tablespoonsroasted red bell pepper, drained and finely minced
1tablespoonshallot, finely minced
2teaspoonsplum jam or plum sauce
½teaspoongarlic powder
½teaspoonsmoked paprika
¼teaspoonsweet paprika
¼teaspoonkosher salt
⅛teaspoonground turmeric
Ground chile de árbol or cayenne, to taste
Instructions
Finely mince the roasted red bell pepper and shallot. Keep some texture — the sauce should have visible flecks.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, hot sauce, Dijon mustard, and rice vinegar until smooth and pale orange.
Add the garlic powder, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, turmeric, and salt. Whisk again until the color deepens to bright orange.
Fold in the minced red pepper, shallot, and plum jam with a spatula, keeping the pepper pieces intact.
Add ground chile de árbol or cayenne a pinch at a time until the heat is where you want it.
Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.
Equipment
Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Notes
Use full-fat mayonnaise — light mayo makes the sauce thin and tangy in the wrong way.Do not substitute sriracha for the aged cayenne pepper sauce. Sriracha is sweeter and more garlic-forward, and it pushes the flavor toward bang bang sauce.The turmeric is for color, not flavor. An eighth of a teaspoon is enough.Chilling is required, not optional. The sauce tastes disjointed before it rests and noticeably better the next day.Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 7 days. Do not freeze.