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Bowl of copycat Ken's Boom Boom Sauce with visible red pepper and shallot flecks, served with crispy fries

Ken's Boom Boom Sauce (Culver's Copycat)

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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 12 Servings

Description

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

  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons Frank's RedHot or other aged cayenne pepper sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

For the flavor

  • 2 tablespoons roasted red bell pepper, drained and finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon shallot, finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons plum jam or plum sauce
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • teaspoon ground 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.

Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 68kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 0.2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 232mgPotassium: 17mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 81IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 3mgIron: 0.1mg