Food and Recipes Seafood 15 Standout Dipping Sauces Made To Go With Southern Seafood By Kaitlyn Yarborough Kaitlyn Yarborough Part of the Southern Living team since 2017, Kaitlyn Yarborough is a Georgia native living in Austin, Texas, who covers a wide variety of topics for both the magazine and website, focusing on culture and lifestyle content, as well as travel in the South.She earned a B.A. in Journalism at the University of Georgia. She hopes to inspire your travel bucket list with her features on road trips through Texas Hill Country, bourbon tours in Kentucky, and the best beach getaways on the Gulf Coast. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on September 10, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Stephen DeVries Something that we will never, ever deny is that a dipping sauce makes anything better, especially when it comes to Southern seafood favorites like fried catfish, boiled shrimp, crab cakes, conch fritters, or even freshly shucked oysters. (If you've never had mignonette sauce on an oyster, you're missing out on a serious bite.) Because if you have perfectly grilled, boiled, or fried seafood on a plate with an even better sauce to slather on it, all you need is a bucket of fries or hush puppies and a cold beverage to wash it all down. If you're like us, you don't want to live in a world with cocktail sauce, Old Bay rémoulade, Cajun comeback sauce, or tartar sauce—and don't dare us when we say we'd just about bathe in our herby warm butter sauce. Here are 18 must-have dipping sauces for when Southern seafood is on the menu. Many of these sauce recipes come included in their own seafood recipes, but feel free to pull any sauce out and pair with anything you'd like. 01 of 15 Old Bay Rémoulade Johnny Autry; Prop and Food Styling: Charlotte L. Autry Recipe: Old Bay Rémoulade with Crudités and Shrimp Is there anything that Old Bay seasoning can't do? We've yet to find it. In this recipe, classic creamy rémoulade gets an extra kick of flavor from Old Bay and stone-ground mustard. 02 of 15 Comeback Sauce Photo: Hector Manuel Sanchez; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller Recipe: Comeback Sauce We all know this crowd-favorite dipping sauce that's often paired with hush puppies, fried shrimp, chicken fingers, or even slathered on a fish sandwich or burger. Similar to a rémoulade, it is super creamy, mayonnaise-based, and infused with just a tipple of hot sauce. 03 of 15 Traditional Mignonette Sauce Stephen Devries; Prop Stylist: Rachael Burrow; Food Stylist: Catherine Steele Recipe: Traditional Mignonette Sauce Mignonette is a classic vinegary sauce made to be paired with freshly shucked oysters, with folks spooning just enough on to coat the taste buds when sucking the whole thing on. All it takes is three easy ingredients. 04 of 15 Old Bay Sauce Southern Living Recipe: Air Fryer Popcorn Shrimp with Old Bay Sauce What if we told you that there was always a creamy seafood sauce sitting in your kitchen? Mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, and a pinch of sugar can get you there. 05 of 15 Hot Mignonette Sauce Stephen Devries; Prop Stylist: Rachael Burrow; Food Stylist: Catherine Steele Recipe: Hot Mignonette Sauce We gave an extra kick to mignonette, the classic vinegary oyster sauce, by adding Sriracha sauce to the traditional recipe. 06 of 15 Romesco Sauce Hector Sanchez Recipe: Roasted Gulf Shrimp with Romesco Sauce Romesco is a warm, roasted red pepper-based sauce often paired with rustic Italian dishes—and it goes with oven-roasted shrimp like nobody's business. 07 of 15 Herb Butter Sauce Linda Pugliese; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Anna Hampton Recipe: Grilled Clambake Foil Packets with Herb Butter Melted herb-infused butter literally always makes a delicious option for any form of boiled, broiled, or grilled seafood—from clam bakes to shrimp to mahi mahi. This recipe calls for the addition of shallot, dill, parsely, lemon, and—of course—Old Bay. 08 of 15 Boom Boom Sauce Southern Living Recipe: Boom Boom Sauce Known for its signature tangy kick, thanks to sweet chili sauce, this four-ingredient sauce is a match made in heaven with our Boom Boom Shrimp recipe. 09 of 15 Dao Family Crawfish Sauce Cedric Angeles Recipe: Dao Family Crawfish Sauce Any crawfish boil can stand on its own with massive amounts of seasoning, of course; but we'd also like to have this chunky, spicy, fiery sauce (made with orange peels, onions, garlic, butter, and plenty of spices) on hand to ramp up the flavor and festivities. 10 of 15 Summer Sauce Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Cat Steele Recipe: Summer Sauce This might not be solely just a seafood sauce, but man, does it really do some major good when brushed onto grilled fish or shrimp. Like a looser, fresher, lighter version of pesto, it's packed with fresh herby flavor. 11 of 15 Cajun Sauce Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall Recipe: Mini Crab Cakes with Cajun Sauce Cajun sauce is a creamy finishing touch often paired with fried catfish or crab cakes, and it only requires a simple combination of hot sauce, lemon, Cajun seasoning, and mayo. 12 of 15 Sweet Mignonette Sauce Stephen Devries; Prop Stylist: Rachael Burrow; Food Stylist: Catherine Steele Recipe: Sweet Mignonette Sauce Another vinegary mignonette to top off freshly shucked oysters, this sweet three-ingredient rendition adds rice wine vinegar and diced green apple for a sweet zing. 13 of 15 Quick Rémoulade Sauce Max Kelly Recipe: Grilled Shrimp Po'Boys with Quick Rémoulade Sauce By quick, we mean incredibly easy. A handful of ingredients you most likely have on hand has a rémoulade sauce ready to be spread onto a po'boy. 14 of 15 Grilled Hot-Pepper Sauce Greg Dupree; Prop Styling: Ginny Branch; Food Styling: Anna Hampton Recipe: Grilled Hot-Pepper Sauce Who doesn't love a couple sprinkles of hot sauce on their fresh catch, no matter the form? This homemade option gets epic smokiness from grilling all the peppers and can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 15 of 15 Maui Mustard Sauce Howard L. Puckett Recipe: Coconut Shrimp with Maui Mustard Sauce Coconut shrimp certainly always packs a flavorful punch, but the real sensation here is the super tangy mustard sauce made with pineapple preserves, apricot preserves, and stone-ground mustard. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit