Zax-Style Dipping Sauce
Ketchup, shelf-stable mayo packets, garlic, and far more black pepper than seems reasonable.
- calories
- 160
- weight
- 1.1 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 0 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Dinner
- No cook
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Day hike
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Single-serve mayonnaise packets | 1/2 cup total | about 8 packets; they keep unrefrigerated until opened |
|---|---|---|
| Ketchup packets | 1/4 cup total | about 6 packets |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1/4 tsp | carry it in a small dropper bottle |
| Black pepper | 2 tsp | coarse ground, and yes that is the amount |
Method
- Squeeze the mayo and ketchup into a quart freezer bag or a small screw-top jar.
- Add the garlic powder and work the bag until the color is even pink.
- Add the Worcestershire and mix again.
- Add half the pepper, mix, then the rest, mix. Doing it in two passes keeps it from clumping.
- Leave it in the shade for an hour if you can. The garlic powder needs time to hydrate or it tastes chalky.
This is a diner-counter sauce adapted for a pack. The original leans on a jar of refrigerated mayonnaise and a two-hour rest in the fridge, neither of which exists on trail. Single-serve mayo packets solve both problems: they are shelf-stable until you tear them, they portion themselves, and the sugar and acid in the ketchup keep the mixed sauce stable for the length of a meal.
The pepper is the whole point. It goes in twice rather than all at once because coarse pepper floats and clumps if you dump it, and mixing in two passes gets it distributed. The rest matters more than it looks like it should: garlic powder is dry starch until it takes on moisture, and a sauce eaten straight after mixing tastes dusty. An hour in a warm pocket does what the fridge overnight was doing.
No protein worth counting here. It is a condiment for tortillas, foil-packet chicken, or fried potatoes at a car camp.
Packing
Count out the mayo and ketchup packets at home so you are not carrying a full bottle. Premeasure the garlic powder and pepper into one small bag. Worcestershire goes in a dropper bottle; the glass bottle is not worth the weight.
Variations
- A pinch of cayenne or a few drops of hot sauce sharpens it up.
- Powdered buttermilk and dried dill turn it toward ranch.
- Use it as a wrap spread instead of a dip and it does double duty.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/copycat-zax-sauce-recipe