Creole Sauce

Perfect on po'boys and blackened fish, this sauce is delicious spooned on just about any grilled protein.

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated August 20, 2024
Close up view of Creole sauce in a saucepan.

Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Why It Works

  • The Creole "holy trinity" of onions, celery, and green bell pepper lays the fragrant base of this sauce.
  • It's rounded out with some heat (from hot sauce and cayenne) and further flavored with Worcestershire, thyme, and bay leaves.
  • A last-minute swirl of butter gives the sauce a silky finish.

I've never tackled Creole cuisine, so when I decided to throw a Creole- and Cajun-influenced barbecue, I needed to start from the ground up and used Creole sauce as my introduction.

It's a fitting choice, since the sauce's base is the Creole "holy trinity": onions, celery, and green bell peppers. I sautéed the aromatics until they started to lose some volume, then added garlic, tomatoes, and chicken stock, along with some Louisiana hot sauce, Worcestershire, bay leaves, white and cayenne peppers, and dried thyme.

After the sauce simmers for 20 minutes, it's finished with butter—which gives it a nice, slightly thick consistency—along with parsley and green onions.

What I had created seemed an embodiment of Creole flavors. The vegetables gave the sauce a great freshness and a complexity that went beyond any other tomato sauce I've ever made. While the garden flavor started the sauce off, as it settled on the tongue, the spices started to mingle, with the distinct white pepper playing heavily, and the hot sauce and cayenne ending the affair with a slight hit of heat.

This was seriously delicious over some blackened catfish, but it can do so much more as the base of shrimp Creole or as a condiment on a po'boy, or spooned over almost any grilled meat.

October 2012

Recipe Details

Creole Sauce Recipe

Cook 35 mins
Active 45 mins
Total 35 mins
Serves 32 servings
Makes 4 cups
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 cup diced onions (about 1 medium)

  • 1/2 cup diced celery (about 2 stalks)

  • 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (about 1 medium)

  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 medium cloves)

  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes

  • 2 cups low-sodium store-bought or homemade chicken stock

  • 1 tablespoon Louisiana-style hot sauce (such as Frank's or Crystal), plus more to taste

  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

  • 4 tablespoons butter

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions, celery, and green peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

    Dice onions, celery, and green peppers being sauted in a saucepan.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  2. Stir in tomatoes, stock, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer until sauce slightly thickens, about 20 minutes.

    A saucepan containing Creole sauce on the stove. A pat of butter is being melted into the sauce.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  3. Remove and discard bay leaves. Add butter and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and green onions. Season with salt, pepper, and additional hot sauce to taste. Sauce will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

    Adding parsley and thinly sliced green onion into Creole sauce.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Special Equipment

Large saucepan

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
28Calories
2gFat
1gCarbs
0gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 32
Amount per serving
Calories28
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g3%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Cholesterol 4mg1%
Sodium 119mg5%
Total Carbohydrate 1g1%
Dietary Fiber 0g2%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 6mg28%
Calcium 11mg1%
Iron 0mg1%
Potassium 66mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

More Serious Eats Recipes