Raising Cane’s Sauce Recipe (Copycat)

5 from 209 votes
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Whether you’re a loyal fan of this southern chain or have yet to try it, my copycat Raising Cane’s sauce is the easiest way to make Cane’s sauce in your own home.

A spoonful of homemade Raising Cane's sauce

For those not in the know, Raising Cane’s is an American fast food restaurant chain that started in New Orleans, Louisiana. They sell chicken tenders, among many other southern staples. They take particular pride in their Raising Canes sauce – signature sauce made in-house.

We might never know the real Raising Cane’s sauce ingredients (like Mcdonald’s, it’s something of a foodie secret). But by making an educated guess, we can create a homemade Cane’s sauce that tastes just as good.

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What Is Raising Cane’s Sauce

So, what is Cane’s sauce exactly? To the untrained eye, Raising Cane’s dipping sauce looks similar to Thousand Island dressing. It uses similar base ingredients and emerges the same salmon color.

Even if we don’t know what is in Cane’s sauce in its entirety, by taste profile, the cane sauce recipe is a creamy, tangy sauce. It uses a base of ketchup and mayonnaise which gives it its distinctive color. Usually paired with their Canes chicken recipe, for which they’re famous across the US, I’ve added extra spices and a dash of heat to my take on the Raising Cane’s sauce recipe.

A spoonful of homemade Raising Cane's sauce

What Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Taste Like

Whether served with spicy fried chicken or garlic-infused Texas Toast, the great thing about a Cane’s sauce recipe is its mild flavor can complement basically anything. The restaurant itself describes it as “tangy with a little bit of spice”, which largely comes from the tomatoes and extra spices.

What Is Raising Cane’s Sauce Made Of

For my copycat version of cane sauce recipe, you’ll need a few simple ingredients:

  • Ketchup: You can use store-bought or homemade, they both work fine.
  • Mayonnaise: You can use store-bought or homemade. It’s best to use regular, not flavored mayo.
  • Worcestershire sauce: You can find this at most grocery stores. In a pinch, use balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, or fish sauce.
  • Spices: I use garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. You can also add others like cayenne pepper, onion powder, Cajun spice, or creole seasoning.
Ingredients for Raising Cane's sauce

How To Make Raising Cane’s Sauce

For a homemade Raising Cane’s sauce, place all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to combine.

Once fully mixed, it will have turned a salmon-y color. Place it in an airtight container and leave to refrigerate for a few hours before serving. That way, the flavors will have time to meld together and give the Cane’s sauce a greater depth of flavor. 

Steps for mixing Raising Cane's sauce

Why Does Cane’s Sauce Taste Better The Next Day

Sauces like this Raising Cane’s sauce recipe tend to do better the next day. That’s because more flavor is released as it;s allowed to sit, giving a deeper taste to the overall product. Sometimes, the ingredients sit on top of each other – especially mayonnaise sauces that have fat in them – rather than blending.

Through time in the refrigerator, they can blend slowly and integrate the flavor more complexly. So, if you’re making your own Raising Cane’s sauce, do it the day before you plan to serve it for a better overall flavor.

How Long Does Raising Cane’s Sauce Last In The Fridge

Any extra sauce will keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. However, it’s so delicious it might not even last that long!

A bowl with homemade Raising Cane's sauce

Cane’s Sauce Uses

Most famously, the Cane’s sauce recipe is served with chicken. But there are plenty of ways how to make Cane’s sauce a staple of your condiment rotation: 

  • As is most popular, you can dip these air fryer Homemade Chicken Tenders (from scratch or from frozen) into Cane’s sauce. This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy chicken fingers or chicken nuggets.
  • You can also use it as a dipping or drizzling sauce over your favorite recipes for burgers and dishes with chicken, beef, fish, and more. Just use it in place of the traditional mayo and/or ketchup.
  • Cane’s sauce is great for dipping in, especially french fries. Or, if you don’t want ordinary potato fries, this yummy sauce blends nicely with sweet potato fries. Or with zucchini fries, eggplant fries, and even rounds of crispy fried squash.
  • Swap it out for ordinary mayo and ketchup, amping up the flavor on some familiar classics. I like this copycat cane’s sauce on sandwiches or drizzled over a taco salad or a Caprese salad.

Traditionally, southern fried food always comes served with some sweet tea. So, whatever you’re serving my Raising Cane’s sauce recipe with, I suggest washing it down with a peach iced tea or perhaps a more unorthodox recipe, like my blackberry earl grey iced tea or even a glass of cold brew tea from your own favorite blend.

Dipping chicken tenders in Raising Cane's sauce

More Delicious Sauce Recipes

If you try this how to make Cane’s sauce recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!

Raising Cane’s Sauce Recipe (Copycat)

5 from 209 votes
By: Samira
Whether you're a loyal fan of this southern chain or have yet to try it, my copycat Raising Cane's sauce is the easiest way to make Cane's sauce in your own home.
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Total Time: 3 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients 
 

  • 4.4 oz mayonnaise 1/2 cup
  • 2.6 oz ketchup 3 Tbsp
  • 1.5 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce in a pinch, use balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, or fish sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper coarse
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions 

  • Place all the ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine. 
  • Once fully mixed, leave in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
    Pro Tip: The flavors meld together over time, so it's best to prepare the sauce a day before you plan to serve it for a better overall flavor.

Storage Instructions

  • Fridge: Store the sauce in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Video

Notes

Whether served with spicy fried chicken or garlic-infused Texas Toast, the great thing about a Cane’s sauce recipe is its mild flavor can complement basically anything.
Check the blog post for lots of serving recommendations.
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American, Southern
Freezer friendly: No
Shelf life: 2 Weeks

Nutrition

Serving: 2Tbsp, Calories: 159kcal, Carbohydrates: 5g, Protein: 0.4g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.04g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 496mg, Potassium: 82mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 81IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 9mg, Iron: 0.4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Recipe Rating




18 Comments

  1. 4 stars
    I tried the recipe. It is a good start but not the same as Cane’s sauce. The amount of ketchup makes it sweeter than Cane’s sauce. I halved the ketchup to make the sweetness closer. Mine came out too salty when adding salt so I omitted it. I halved the black pepper since it had visibly more pepper than cane’s sauce.

  2. 5 stars
    Great. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish, and some hot sauce. I’ll try the lemon as seen in another comment. Thank you for posting.

  3. You’re missing lemon juice from this recipe. If you taste canes sauce you can taste an element of sour to it. Without it the ingredients fall flat.

    1. 5 stars
      Amazing recipe! I did add like 5 drops of lemon juice from a lemon wedge. It really did bring out the flavor profile similar to how Cane’s sauce tastes! Savory!

  4. 4 stars
    I can’t fairly leave any honest rating just yet because I haven’t let the sauce rest since I juuuust made it and obviously the flavors haven’t developed yet. (for other readers, this is NOT a criticism of the recipe, as it’s clearly stated you have to let it sit for awhile!) However I’m leaving 4 stars because even though it’s not ready yet, it’s still pretty tasty and I’d feel bad leaving anything less. I’ll come back later to adjust my rating once it’s ready.

    My question is that the color is off and I’m wondering why. It’s not nearly as orangey as the actual sauce or the one in you video. Yours looks spot on whereas mine is more beige-brown. I’ve used decent quality ingredients as listed, with the exception of the pepper. I used decent quality, but it’s ground pepper rather than course. Would that change the color? And more importantly, will the off color have an effect on the finished flavor? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

    Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi Michelle,

      Indeed, the ground pepper may have affected the color but it should not affect the flavor much. To change the color a bit, you can add a bit more paprika. I hope you give the recipe another try 🙂