Boom Boom Sauce

Published by Fork Around & Find Out Kitchen — presented in the Lila editorial voice. Editorial standards

Quick Answer

Boom Boom Sauce whisks mayonnaise with sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and garlic into a creamy, sweet-heat dip for anything fried, grilled, or wrapped.

Jump to Recipe

Boom boom sauce is five minutes of whisking followed by ten minutes of pretending you worked harder than you did. Mayonnaise gives it the creamy base, Thai sweet chili sauce brings sweetness and peppery body, and sriracha supplies the sharper heat. Ketchup, garlic powder, rice vinegar, and a pinch of kosher salt fill in the edges, turning the whole thing into that coral-orange sauce you suddenly want on fried shrimp, burgers, wraps, fries, chicken, and probably whatever is standing closest to the refrigerator. The smart part is tasting it on something bland rather than straight from the spoon. A chip or piece of bread tells you how the sauce will behave with actual food, then you can adjust in small steps: more sriracha for heat or more sweet chili sauce to pull it sweeter. Let the finished sauce sit for ten minutes before serving so the garlic powder hydrates and the flavors settle down together. That short rest is the difference between “I mixed condiments in a bowl” and a sauce that tastes like it had a meeting first.

Prep5 minutes

Cookno cooking

Total15 minutes (with resting)

Servesabout 1 cup

DifficultyEasy

Ingredients

Servings

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 teaspoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
Pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

1Whisk the mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce together in a bowl until fully blended and glossy.
2Add the sriracha, ketchup, garlic powder, and rice vinegar. Whisk until the color is an even coral-orange.
3Taste on something bland — a chip or a piece of bread, not a spoon. Add sriracha in half-teaspoon steps if you want more burn, or another spoon of sweet chili sauce to pull it sweeter.
4Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving so the garlic powder hydrates and the flavors round off.

Nutrition Information

Estimated per serving: 2 tablespoons (about 8 servings in the batch).

150Calories

0 gProtein

3 gCarbohydrates

16 gTotal Fat

2 gSaturated Fat

0 gFiber

2 gTotal Sugars

250 mgSodium

9 mgCholesterol

Estimated from the ingredients and quantities in this recipe using standard food-composition values. Brand choices, trimming, cooking loss, optional ingredients, and actual portion size can change the numbers. How we calculate nutrition estimates.

Pro Tips

Taste it on food, not from a spoon. Straight off a spoon the heat reads hotter than it will on a shrimp or a fry, and you'll under-spice it.
Use Thai sweet chili sauce (the kind with visible pepper flecks), not chili garlic paste — they are entirely different sauces and only one of them belongs here.
Rice vinegar is the quiet hero: a teaspoon cuts through the sugar and keeps the sauce from tasting like dessert.

Substitutions

sriracha → sambal oelek Hotter and less sweet, with a rougher texture — start with 2 teaspoons and build.

mayonnaise → Kewpie mayonnaise Richer and a little tangier; if you use it, skip the added salt.

sweet chili sauce → honey plus a pinch of chili flakes An emergency stand-in — 2 tablespoons honey, generous pinch of flakes, and accept it will be smoother.

Storage Instructions

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Stir before serving; the chili sauce can settle toward the bottom.

Make Ahead

Boom boom sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The heat mellows slightly over the first day, so make it a touch spicier than you want it to end up.

Freezing

Skip the freezer — mayo-based sauces separate when thawed and there is no whisking them back. Five minutes rebuilds it from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this ahead of time?

Boom boom sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The heat mellows slightly over the first day, so make it a touch spicier than you want it to end up.

How do I store the leftovers?

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Stir before serving; the chili sauce can settle toward the bottom.

Can I freeze it?

Skip the freezer — mayo-based sauces separate when thawed and there is no whisking them back. Five minutes rebuilds it from scratch.

Can I adjust it for what I have on hand?

Yes — the sweet chili sauce and sriracha are levers, not laws. Slide the ratio toward sweet chili for a milder table or toward sriracha for heat, keeping the total around a third of the mayo volume so the texture holds.

What's the most common mistake to avoid?

Taste it on food, not from a spoon. Straight off a spoon the heat reads hotter than it will on a shrimp or a fry, and you'll under-spice it.

How long does it take?

About 15 minutes (with resting) from start to finish, including no cooking of active cooking. No stove involved — 5 minutes of whisking and a 10-minute rest and it is ready to pour.