There are certain condiments I really missed when I started seriously restricting sodium.
This is one of them.
I love Arby’s Sauce. It’s sweet, tangy, a little spicy, and it’s one of those sauces I’ll put on all kinds of food.
The problem?
Like so many condiments, sodium can add up quickly.
Fortunately, I found a homemade Arby’s-style sauce recipe from WonkyWonderful and realized it would be incredibly easy to modify for the way I eat now.
A couple of ingredient swaps, leave out the added salt, and about 20 minutes later…
Bam. Sauce is back.
First Thing to Go: The Salt
This one’s easy.
The original recipe calls for sea salt.
I leave it out completely.
There are already plenty of flavorful ingredients in this sauce, so I don’t think it needs it.
That’s something I’ve discovered over and over since I started cooking with much less sodium.
Salt isn’t always necessary just because it’s printed in the recipe.
Sometimes you can leave it out and barely notice.
For me, this is one of those times.
The Big Change: No-Salt-Added Ketchup
Ketchup is the base of the sauce, so this is where I can make a huge difference.
Instead of regular ketchup, I use Heinz No Salt Added Ketchup.
This stuff is kind of interesting.
Regular Heinz ketchup contains 180 mg of sodium per serving, while the no-salt-added version has only 5 mg. That’s 96% less sodium.
By itself?
I’ll be honest.
It’s pretty bland.
If I squirt some on a burger and expect regular ketchup, I’m probably going to be disappointed.
But that’s not what I’m doing here.
Once you combine it with all the other ingredients in this recipe, that bland ketchup becomes a completely different animal.
That’s where it really works for me.
Then I Replace the Hot Sauce
The other substitution I make is the hot sauce.
A lot of traditional hot sauces can bring more sodium into a recipe, so I use Doc’s Original Salt-Free Hot Sauce.
Doc’s Original Salt-Free Hot Sauce
Doc’s describes its original hot sauce as sodium-free, which makes it a great option for this recipe.
This product was actually a pretty big find for me.
Hot sauce was another condiment I thought might disappear from my life once I started watching sodium so closely.
Then I found this.
Hot sauce was back.
I’ll eventually add Doc’s Salt-Free Hot Sauce as its own Helpful Find because I’ve found plenty of uses for it besides this recipe.
Everything Else Stays Pretty Much the Same
After those changes, I follow the original recipe.
That’s what I like about this one.
I’m not trying to invent some complicated replacement sauce with 47 ingredients that takes half a day to make.
Remove the salt.
Swap the ketchup.
Swap the hot sauce.
Follow the rest of the directions.
About 20 minutes later…
I’ve got sauce.
That’s my kind of recipe.
How Much Sodium Did We Actually Remove?
This is where things get interesting.
The original recipe’s nutrition information lists 593 mg of sodium per serving.
By removing the added salt and replacing two major sodium sources with extremely low- or no-sodium alternatives, we’re eliminating a substantial amount of sodium from the recipe.
The Heinz ketchup I use has only 5 mg of sodium per serving, compared with 180 mg in regular Heinz ketchup.
And the Doc’s hot sauce is marketed as sodium-free.
So my version is dramatically lower in sodium than making it with the regular ingredients.
But compared with where we started?
It’s not even close.
Don’t Read That as “Drink the Bottle”
You knew this was coming.
Just because we’ve taken a huge amount of sodium out of something doesn’t mean:
Congratulations! The entire bottle is now one serving.
No.
I still use it as a condiment.
The difference is that now I can enjoy a flavorful sauce without having one little squirt consume a ridiculous portion of what I’m trying to manage for the day.
That’s the goal.
Not unlimited food.
Better choices.
Into the Bottle It Goes
Once the sauce has finished cooking and cooled, I transfer it into condiment bottles and keep it in the refrigerator.
I use bottles like these:
It makes the homemade sauce just as convenient as something I’d buy at the grocery store.
Open the refrigerator.
Grab the bottle.
Squirt.
Put it back.
The original recipe recommends keeping the sauce refrigerated and using it within about two weeks.
That’s never really been a problem around here.
It doesn’t last two weeks.
Not because it goes bad.
Because we eat it.
What Do I Put It On?
Probably a better question is:
What don’t I put it on?
It’s great anywhere you want a sweet, tangy barbecue-style sauce.
I’ve used it with sandwiches, chicken and other meals where I would have previously reached for a bottled condiment.
And that’s really why I like recipes like this.
It’s not just about making “diet food.”
I don’t want every meal to remind me that I’m eating differently because of my health.
Sometimes I just want some freaking sauce.
Now I can have it.
❤️ Greg’s Take
This recipe represents something I’ve learned about low-sodium cooking:
Before eliminating a food completely, see if you can fix it.
The original recipe wasn’t going to work particularly well for the way I eat.
So I changed three things.
No sea salt.
No-salt-added ketchup.
Salt-free hot sauce.
That’s it.
I didn’t sacrifice all the flavor.
I didn’t create some bizarre substitute that tastes nothing like the thing I wanted.
I just changed the ingredients that were creating the sodium problem.
And 20 minutes later, I have one of my favorite condiments sitting in my refrigerator again.
That’s a win.
Low sodium doesn’t have to mean no sauce.
Original Recipe
My version is adapted from the Arby’s Sauce Recipe by WonkyWonderful. You can find the original recipe and complete preparation instructions here:
Original Arby’s Sauce Recipe – WonkyWonderful
I modify the original recipe by omitting the added sea salt and substituting no-salt-added ketchup and salt-free hot sauce.
Products I Use
Heinz No Salt Added Ketchup:
View at Amazon
Doc’s Original Salt-Free Hot Sauce:
View at Doc’s Salt Free
Storage Bottles:
View at Amazon
Affiliate Disclosure
This article contains an Amazon affiliate link. If you purchase something through that link, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only share products that I personally use or believe are useful. Purchasing through my affiliate links helps support He’s Knocking on My Door and allows me to continue creating content.
Medical Disclaimer
This article describes how I personally modify recipes to reduce sodium in my diet. It is not medical or nutritional advice. Sodium needs and dietary restrictions vary from person to person. Always check the nutrition labels on the specific ingredients you use, since formulations can change, and follow the dietary recommendations provided by your healthcare team.
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