Craving that signature Arby’s sauce flavor? Look no further than this spot-on copycat recipe! Tangy, sweet, and with a subtle kick, this versatile sauce is perfect for elevating your favorite sandwiches, dipping fries, or adding zing to any dish. Best of all, you can whip it up at home in just 30 minutes!
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- Better than the original: Customize the tang, sweetness, and heat to your liking
- Versatile: Enjoy on sandwiches, burgers, fries, chicken tenders, and more
- Quick and easy: Just 30 minutes and basic pantry ingredients
- Make-ahead friendly: Stores well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks
What is Arby’s sauce?
If you have never had Arby’s sauce, it has a sweet, tangy, and spicy flavor. It is a marriage made in heaven when it comes to flavor. You can make your own version of their signature sandwich at home with this easy recipe. It’s so much more than a tangy barbecue sauce!
Homemade Arby’s Sauce
Buying something to get some sauce can be expensive, but you can make Arby’s tangy sauce just like they do at home. Mix this sauce up and make the family smile. Make a batch and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator so it’s always on hand.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need for this copycat Arby’s sauce recipe:
- Ketchup – Provides the tomato base and initial sweetness
- Brown sugar – Adds depth of sweetness and helps balance the acidity
- White vinegar – Creates the signature tang and helps preserve the sauce
- Onion powder – Adds savory depth without texture
- Garlic powder – Provides essential savory notes
- Paprika – Contributes color and a subtle sweet pepper flavor
- Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins) – Adds umami and complex flavor
- Salt – Enhances all other flavors
- Cayenne pepper – Provides the subtle heat kick
- Water – Helps achieve proper consistency
- Corn starch -Thickens the sauce to the perfect consistency
How to Make Arby’s Sauce
- Place all sauce ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for 15-20 seconds.
- Pour ingredients into a small saucepan, and heat on medium-low. Simmer gently for twenty minutes, stirring several times.
- After twenty minutes, add the cornstarch mixture and stir well.
- When the sauce begins to thicken, let it simmer at a very low temperature for ten minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. The sauce will be similar in thickness to the steak sauce.
- Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.
Troubleshooting Tips
Sauce Too Thin?
- Simmer longer to reduce
- Make an additional cornstarch slurry
- Add 1/2 teaspoon at a time
Sauce Too Thick?
- Add water gradually
- Whisk while warming
- Adjust 1 tablespoon at a time
Lumpy Sauce?
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer
- Blend again until smooth
- Ensure cornstarch is fully dissolved before adding
Variations and Substitutions
Make It Your Own
- Spicier Version: Double the cayenne pepper
- Sweeter Version: Add an extra tablespoon of brown sugar
- Lower Sugar: Use sugar-free ketchup and brown sugar substitute
- Gluten-Free: Ensure Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free certified
How to Use Arby’s Sauce
Of course, you’ll want to use this on your own shaved roast beef sandwich. This sauce has the perfect balance of flavor, so you can use it on other foods like:
- Pour a little on your favorite burgers for a change.
- Dip the French fries into this sauce.
- Use as a sauce for chicken tenders.
- Dip mozzarella sticks into this sauce!
- Make sloppy joes using this sauce. This is one of my family’s favorite dinners!
How to Store Arby’s Sauce
- Transfer the cooled sauce to an airtight container or jar.
- Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
- Give the sauce a good stir before using, as some separation is normal.
- Freeze in ice cube trays for easy portion control, then transfer frozen cubes to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using.
Frequently Asked Questions About Arby’s Sauce
No, Arby’s serves the red ranch sauce on their beef ‘n’ cheddar. The regular Arby’s sauce is used on their classic sandwich and is available in packets upon request.
This classic sauce may be considered a barbecue sauce, but it has a broader range of spices to give it more flavor. This sauce is also thinner than most traditional barbecue sauces.
Arby’s sauce tastes like a BBQ sauce that has been leveled up. It packs a kick of garlic, onion, paprika, and so much more.
Want more copycat Arby’s recipes? Try these!
- Arby’s Horsey Sauce
- Pecan Chicken Salad
- Chocolate Turnovers
- Cherry Turnovers
- A Guide to Arby’s Sauces
Easy Sandwich and Dipping Sauce Recipes
- McDonald’s Dipping Sauces – Hot Mustard
- Chick-fil-A Sauces – Honey Mustard
- Big Mac Special Sauce Recipe
- Swiss Chalet Sauce – BBQ
- Outback Tiger Dill Sauce
- BK Sauce
- Red Robin Campfire Sauce
- Smashburger Smashsauce
- Tartar Sauce
Be sure to check out more of my popular fast food copycat recipes and the best dips and sauces.
Arby’s Sauce Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients except the cornstarch into a blender with 1 cup of water and blend on high speed for 15 to 20 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring several times.
- Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce and mix well.
- When sauce begins to thicken, let it simmer on a very low temperature for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. The sauce should be similar in thickness to steak sauce.
- Store in a covered container in the refrigerator and serve with hamburgers, pastrami, or hot wings.
There is definitely nutmeg in Arby sauce. I’m eating it right now and that’s the predominant flavor.
I have found yours to be the closest online recipe. It’s my preferred go to. I just added 1/8 tsp ground cloves, and it pretty much nails it. Thanks Stephanie
Thank you!
Perfect! Been missing my Arby’s during the lockdown. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
I am so glad you like it!
It was very close and awesomely delicious.. I double the Worcestershire sauce and this made the recipe nearly perfect… thanks for posting it
I can’t wait to try this! Thank you so very much!
Do you happen to have Arby’s “Red Ranch Sauce Recipe?” I love that or do you have their “Greek Sauce” they put on the one sandwich? it sounds like year-o? sorry I can’t remember how to spell it.
I am sorry I don’t have either one of those sauces. I will keep them in mind. I think you are asking about takizi sauce for the Greek sauce.
When we ran out of red ranch when I worked at arbys, my boss always had me go to the grocery store and buy French dressing. It is exactly the same. I hope this helps!
I worked for Arby’s in the early 1970’s in Cambridge, MA. I was told the name Arby’s come from the the letters R & B, which stood for Roast & Beef.
Loved this sauce.
For those of you criticizing this because it doesn’t have the three peppers, the title doesn’t say its Arby’s three-pepper sauce. It says Arby’s sauce. The three-pepper has not even been around that long. Arby’s Sauce is the original Arby’s sause that they have been passing out forever with their roast beef sandwiches.
This may achieve an approximation of the taste.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I do have paprika, and cayenne, but this does not contain jalapeno at all. The ketchup and the Worcestershire sauce offers additional flavor profiles, that are similar to the listed ingredients.
Thank you for dropping by.
This recipe is a good sauce, but is only marginally close. The ingredients for the original sauce are located on the Arby’s website. To have a better approximation, replace the ketchup with Heinz or Del Monte Chili Sauce. Ditch the Worcestershire, and add a little red bell pepper puree, ground celery seed, and chipotle powder. Replace the paprika with smoked paprika. That will get you there.
WHERE ON THE WEBSITE DO U FIND THE ARBY’S SAUCE RECIPE????
It’s on this page, a little above where you wrote your comment.
Arby’s Sauce®: Water, Corn Syrup, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Soybean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Garlic (dehydrated), Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Onion (dehydrated), Spice and Spice Extractives, Artificial Flavor, Extractives of Capsicum.
This sauce is almost exactly the same as Arby’s Sauce. IMO, it’s the VINEGAR that does it. And the consistancy, Arby’s Sauce isn’t terribly thick. I’ve been looking for this for years, and my family and I think this recipe is the closest match. Thank you!!!
I have just discovered Arby’s Three Pepper Sauce within the last four months. Like others, I really like it. However, having to buy something just to get some sauce is getting kind of expensive. Let’s not mention the cardiac issues just around the corner if I continue to make jalapeno bits a staple. So the quest began to duplicate it.
Before I found the recipe you posted. My initial close examination at the sauce
reminded me of a tomato based Hamburger relish the Heinz Company used to
produce. The major difference being, that was a chunky relish and Arby’s product is a sauce. However, both are in similar in flavor from my recollection of the hamburger relish.
A closer look reviled that there were very small pieces of
either pickle or a pepper that appeared to be in a course tomato base. After seeing
your recipe and comparing it to what I already observed, I just didn’t think it
was right.
So here’s what I did.
1 12oz bottle of Aldi’s chili sauce
4 to 5 jarred jalapeno slices, very finely diced
1 heaping Tbsp. light brown sugar
½ tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish, very finely diced
7 drops hot pepper sauce
1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
Heat all ingredients in a small sauce pan and then let it
cool. I think this sauce is closer but
there is smoothness on the pallet that I can’t seem to totally duplicate.
Enjoy!
I am sure they added some nice xantham gum or something to help make it smooth and creamy.
If you could give me a recipe for the Arby’s French dipping sauce that would be awsome.
It’s just au jus. Concentrated beef broth.
It’s just au jus. Concentrated beef broth.
Eat all the jalapenos you want, they in no way cause cardiac issues!! Enjoy without worry 🙂
I work at arbys the ingredients are water vinegar salt garlic soy bean oil and pepper spices and capsicum spice
Amandamarcum93 Thats odd! my daughter works there and they do not make it on site. it comes canned or in packets.
I really liked this recipe, and I thought it was better than “Arbys Sauce” Kudos to you!
Your recipe is not even close to “Arbys Sauce” Just sayin! Tastes like horrible bbq sausce. just sayin!
You SURE you didn’t screw it up???
not everyone can cook lollll
I look forward to trying it! In Sweden, we dont have Arbys, and man do I miss it! Thanks
I would really like a recipe for Arby’s three pepper sauce
Close enough to the real thing for me!
wow thanks. this is terrific