Sweet & Salty Sesame Everything Sauce

The art of "hero" sauces + my store-bought faves

My munchkin is a total nut for peanut and almond butter. This is fantastic at home, where I’m always trying to cram more protein and fiber into her meals. But thanks to the nut-free policies at most communal kid venues (schools, classes, daycares), it means I can’t always repurpose her favorite foods into a lunchbox.

Enter this sesame sauce, which is essentially a doupe for peanut sauce but made with thick, creamy tahini.

Add in a little fresh lime juice, gluten-free tamari (or soy sauce) and a smidge of honey or maple syrup, and you have a wholesome, addictive sauce to throw on anything and everything you’d like your munch to (pretty please) eat.

I could probably make this entire newsletter about sauces. One new simple sauce a week can do so much of the heavy lifting in getting my kid to try new things or switching up their current favorites (cc: the art of SSBD).

When I’m introducing a new sauce, I usually add more sweetener than I would ordinarily and then taper from there once she is familiar and a fan. So note the range in the recipe below. Now that she’s obsessed, I can get away with no sweetener at all (which is how I prefer to eat it myself!). 

Some ideas for using everything sauce:

• Toss it with brown rice ramen or spaghetti (a la peanut noodles)

• Coat your favorite protein (chicken, fish, tofu) and bake it in the oven

• Use as a dipping sauce for raw veggies like peppers, cucumbers and carrots

• Drizzle on top of “question mark veggies” – i.e. foods your kid is still warming up to

A few sample munch menus using this everything sauce (it will be in this week’s line-up!)

• Pan-Seared Tempeh + Ramen + Cucumbers 

• Teriyaki Tofu + Brown Rice + Avocado

• Sesame Sauce Baked Chicken + Roast Sweet Potatoes + Edamame

• Miso Butter Cod + Sesame Sauce Coated Broccoli & Chickpeas

There are many sauces that have the power to become an everything sauce, but this one is particularly easy to throw together and keeps for a remarkably long time in the fridge.

You could easily swap in some of my store-bought favorites for any of the above combinations. That’s the beauty of a hero sauce. 

A few store-bought hero sauces to add to your pantry:

• OmSom Miso-Yuzu Sauce

• Stubb’s Original BBQ Sauce (also available sugar-free)

• Mazzah Mango Chutney

• Eden Ponzu Sauce (not GF)

• Ayoh Dijonayo or Dill Pickle Mayo

• Gotham Greens Pesto

• Stonewall Kitchen Aioli (garlic and lemon-herb flavors are my fave)

  

  Finally, a few more homemade recipes in my arsenal that are munch-approved:

• Dairy-free alfredo sauce (pictured above)

• Homemade yogurt ranch 

• 5-Ingredient Gluten-free teriyaki sauce

If you have any favorites, would love to know in the comments or subscriber chat!

Happy munching!

Phoebe

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Sweet & Salty Sesame Everything Sauce
Makes 1 cup sauce

The sauce makes a full cup and can be stored in the fridge for up to a month, though it rarely lasts that long. You can also repurpose it for your own adult meals as a sauce for rice bowls or tossed with noodles.