Comeback Sauce : Good for what ails ya!
Today I am bringing you a darn good recipe for an all purpose sauce that will make you slap your mama! Comeback sauce goes with everything from chicken to burgers to fries to chips, you can even dip your bread in it if you don’t have anything else! I think I got this recipe from my cousin, Cindy, when she lived in Birmingham and had it at a restaurant there. I’m pretty sure that’s where it came from but I hated to call her this morning and ask because she has a wee one now and we all know the offense for calling and waking up the baby is punishable by death (or at least it should be!).
Either way, I’ve been whipping it up for many years now, since right after we got married. The versatility of it comes in that you can just as easily whip up just enough for one person as you can for one hundred.
You might be wondering what is pictured up above. Well that, my friends, is a darn good hamburger and ….um….~takes a steadying breath and hangs her head~ green bean fries. Yes, I said green bean fries. If that doesn’t sound natural to you the reason is because it isn’t. Those things, god love ‘em, are just plain wrong. I have seen them cropping up on menus and across the internet and was obviously intrigued so I decided to make them for myself and give ‘em a try. I mean, they look good, don’t they?
Now the initial appeal of green bean fries is that they are a healthier alternative to french fries. Having a background in nutrition, I am fully capable of seeing the benefits of a green bean over a french fry. However, when you take a green bean and batter it before deep frying it in oil, you’re kinda muddying the waters here. I decided to adapt the recipe and bake mine in the oven to actually keep some semblance of them being a healthier option. They turned out brown and crispy and the coating was well seasoned and had a pleasant flavor. Having said all of that, please read my next paragraph before trying this at home.
If you ever find yourself wanting to make green bean fries. Honey, baby, darlin, sweetheart, precious little angel of mine – just go get some french fries. Trust me on this. I mean, they were okay but certainly nothing to write home about. If you’re that desperate for a non fried dish, have an apple, eat some saltines, have a piece of cheese. If, after considering all of this you still feel compelled to have green bean fries, make plenty of comeback sauce 
.
Ingredients are easy (as they usually are with my recipes): Ketchup, black pepper, mayo.
Now I don’t know if y’all realize this or not but I’m not a big mayonnaise person. I don’t have an aversion to it I just don’t sit around thinking “MMMM Gots ta have me some Mayo!”. I do see it as a weee bit on the gross side. My point in telling you this is so that you know when I use mayonnaise in a recipe, its gonna be good!
Just like this sauce .
Here is the beauty of this, there is no specific amount of ingredients you have to have, its all done in proportions. You can just as easily whip up two tablespoons of sauce as you can two cups!
Place equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise in a bowl.
If you use 1/2 cup mayo, use 1/2 cup ketchup. If you use 2 tablespoons mayo, use 2 tablespoons ketchup, etc.
I’m doing 1/2 cups here because I just need enough to disguise the flavor to enhance the flavor of green bean fries for a few people.
Stir that together…
Until it is well blended like this.
Now cover the top in pepper like this.
And stir…
And cover in pepper again….
Now listen, that photo is not “covered” in pepper. It needs about a tablespoon or so more to be considered “covered”. I always get skittish and wimp out on covering my sauce. Don’t do like I do because I end up covering it in pepper three times instead of two due to lack of peppery goodness. Don’t worry, this is not a “hot” sauce at all. Think of the pepper as a spice because that is all it does in here but it is sooooo dang good.
This is my final comeback sauce after I covered it in pepper three times instead of two because I was a wimp with the pepper. Don’t be a pepper wimp, learn from my wimpiness!
Ohmygosh this stuff is so good!!
Comeback Sauce
Equal Parts Mayonnaise and Ketchup
Black Pepper
Combine mayo and ketchup in a bowl. Completely cover the top with black pepper by sprinkling it on. Stir. Repeat once more. Serve!
This sauce is excellent with burgers, chicken, fries, and pretty much any other dippable or spreadable food .
@southernplate
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My husband is the “Pepper King” He will love this sauce.Thanks …once again.
I bet he will! my husband loves it, too.
I just love that it is so easy!!!!
My favorite thing is to dip my chicken and fries into it. My grandmother loves it on her hamburger!
Stir in some horseradish too and dip your seafood in it or fried chicken fingers or fried cheese sticks or muchrooms! Ummmm………….. one of those souther thingy’s you’ll swoon as you take each bite! I grew up eating this in southern Florida as a Florida remolaude.
It looks similar to what we in Idaho and Utah call “fry sauce” – which is just mayo and ketchup mixed together. I guess this is the Southern version – made more flavorful by the addition of what looks like WAYYY too much pepper.
Maybe I’ll give it a try…
hehe! you know what they say
if a little is good…
We use this sauce with no pepper for prawn cocktails/ seafood sandwiches etc. Tastes very nice. With the pepper I’ll bet it is great with hamburgers.
Yup, we call it fry sauce in Oregon, too, Stephanie. I think that Artic Circle (a fast food burger joint popular in the 60’s and 70’s) was the 1st place in my experience to offer it. I think they may have added pickle juice to theirs. Very similar to Thousand Island dressing without the relish.
When I was a kid, I would walk down to our local Artic Circle and buy a corn dog and fries and get extra fry sauce because I could never get enough. I have also been known, as a young adult, to put it on brown rice and my chicken fried steak! I know, some will erp at the suggestion, but I was not very adept at makin’ gravy back then.
Christy, I was directed to your site for the 1st time a few nights ago by a friend and absolutely love your recipes and pictorial directions. Too cool, girl! Thank you for your dilligence and hard work. You are a Rock Goddess! Tawanda!
My daddy (Yes, I am a southern belle from Alabama so even at 38 yrs old I still call my father “Daddy”)has been mixing ketchup and mayo together as a sauce whenever we have “roast”–done in the crock pot of course. I don’t know if he puts pepper on it, though. I may have to pass this along to him to try.
Same thing I still call mine, Daddy!!!
and I’m thirty…ummm…
yeah, I still call mine daddy, too!
Hey Christy:
My mother did this also for a salad dressing. It was great!!! Thanks for the reminder!!!! Have a GREAT DAY!
thank you, Gwen! I have been thinking i’d like it on a salad!! have a wonderful day, too!!!!!!
Christy if you haven’t tried PFChangs fried green beans..by all means do! Child, they are addictive! My best guess is, they roll their’s in something like Wondra flour and then dunk them into a seasoned watery tempura batter. Which leaves them with a flaky very light crust once flash fried. They get served with a spicy chile sauce…much like Comeback Sauce.
ok, I went to PF Changs for the first time several weeks ago and I can believe ANYTHING They make is wonderful! I dont even remember what I had but it was AMAZING!!!!!
PF Changs is our favorite *adult* resteraunt. We go there for special occasions like anniversary, bday and valentines day. Try the egg drop soup… OMGoodness…WOW is all i can say…
Love that PF Changs…Oh, by the way, we also go to Pei Wei with the kids…That place is great too
My parents also made salad dressing this way…subtract the pepper and add a squeeze of dill pickle relish.
Yummers…
we used to make like a fondue with meat marintated in wine, and vegetables and used the main ingredients in your sauce we just added garlic powder instead of pepper sounds good either way
thank you for bringing back a few good memories
Ummm… In the south mayonaise is the base for just about everything and I love it. This sauce reminds me of the dipping sauce they give out at Zaxby’s Chicken. If my taste buds do not deceive there’s has some worchestshire sauce in there, too. I happen to be grillin’ burgers tonight and will give this a whirl.
Thanks!
yeah, My absolute favorite mayonnaise based sauce is Alabama White BBQ Sauce but this is a definite close second!
http://www.southernplate.com/2008/10/alabama-white-barbecue-sauce.html
They also give this out at Dairy Queen with their chicken fingers.
I think I might even be able to make this for my carb conscious husband! Using sugar-free ketchup of course! He thinks it’s just wrong to mix up mayo, mustard, and ketchup on your burger, gotta keep ‘em separated between other ingredients, but if it happened purposefully before it gets to the burger, I bet he’d be cool with it! Ya know, I think if you put some relish in there, you would have MacDonald’s “special sauce!”
We’ve been doing a version of this sauce that we really enjoy. We take the horseradish sauce and mix that with ketchup — YUM!! Love all of your recipes and your sense of humor!!!
I am the condiment queen! All my friends make fun of me for requesting lots of sides to dip my food in. Needless to say, I can’t wait to make this!
I’ve used mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together for years. I love it with fries, potato chips, hot dogs, burgers, chicken nuggets, just dang near anything that works with a sauce. I’ll have to try adding pepper. I’m not a big pepper person but I’ll give it a shot.
I think I’ve heard this stuff called “fry sauce” before. I’ve yet to try it because I’m squeamish about mayo a little myself. But I have been interested enough to consider it. And since you sound like me when it comes to mayo, and YOU think it’s good, I think I’m going to give it a whirl.
BTW, I love this post because your writing sounds just like I do when I talk to people!
(And I still call my daddy “daddy” too, and I’ll be celebrating my second 17th birthday tomorrow! LOL)
My dad used to mix up something like this for us to use on fries, hamburger, or anything else that struck our fancy. He used Miracle Whip, ketchup, and a little mustard with the pepper. So good, so yummy!!
Mmmmm, this sounds great! I’ll have to beg my husband to make some hamburgers for dinner soon! Sorry I haven’t posted my love for your recipes in awhile… I went to the hospital this last Tuesday. Skyler Marie decided to make her appearance 6 weeks early! She’s gorgeous, and we’re blessed to have her.
We have a tiny kitchen, and when my husband picks up the pepper shaker, even the dog sneezes. He will LOVE this recipe!
I have always mixed up a version of this sauce for dipping boiled shrimp, with onion salt, garlic powder, a little sugar, maybe a little pepper. I’ll have to try it your way. Thanks for the idea.
Bettye
Mmmmmm…. I love Come-Back Sauce! Haven’t ever done the battered green bean fries though. My sauce is just a tad bit different from yours but somewhat similar. I was just thinking yesterday about makin’ some up and posting it soon myself – great minds think alike!!
When I was growing up in New Jersey in the 50’s and 60’s we didn’t have a lot of extra money and my Mom made a salad dressing using chili sauce and mayo. We called it thousand island and put in on iceberg lettuce. Was good, ummmm might have to make again soon.
oops forget to say I still sometimes call my Dad “Daddy” too and I will soon be 65!
Christy… Received your cookbook over the weekend and love it. Are all the recipes you post in the cookbook? I don’t remember seeing this one. Thanks.
Hi -Gonna’ try this. Sounds like too much pepper—–but you haven’t failed me yet, Christy!
Take away the pepper, add some dill or sweet pickle relish and you got yourself some pretty good Big Mac sauce LOL!! That’s what we used to make at home as kids…we were too poor to get the real deal! We also used it on salads as its pretty close to thousand island dressing.
I cant wait to try this!
I ate fried green beans while in Birmingham last weekend and I LOVED them. I could have eaten nothing else! Wish I would have had come back to go with them, but their wasabi dipping sauce was good too.
Been doing this for years. It is a great sauce!
I had the most delectable fried green beans at Flounders in Pensacola last week. They were served with a wasabi sauce (ranch dressing, wasabi powder), and they were KILLER! Light, crispy, but, the sauce definitely made the difference. I tried one or two without dipping, and eh…ho-hum.
In Utah, we call that “fry sauce”…minus the pepper…
YUMMMMMMMY!
Wow! This is good stuff! I made it for supper tonight – to eat with fried chicken and fried okra. YUMMY!!! Then I realized I was out of salad dressing….guess what? Comeback sauce is great on salad! My only advice for those making it the first time – make more than you think you’ll need! I had to get up from the table and make more!!
Thanks, Christy! Love your site!
When we were growing up we would always go to this sub shop called Jerry’s. They had this sauce you would dip your fries in and they called it SECRET SAUCE. No matter what you said to them, they would NOT give you the recipe. A long time ago they stopped making the SECRET SAUCE. I am wondering if this is the same thing!! The color looks the same. I will just have to make it to find out. Thanks for the recipe. Kelli
I must comment on this.. well.. I think it’s my job to comment on everything. I don’t want Christy thinkin I was dead or sumpin…
I’ll give this a go and try and sneak it past the dadster on a burger. I still call my dad “Daddy” too. It’s the law in Texas.
Miz Christy.. how about some Tartar sauce sometime in the future when you have some time?
I make a version of this with just a few more ingredients–try it on boiled shrimp. At my house, we can eat this with a spoon!
thanks i know this will be good. and the green bean thing, well they are good. my mom has been pickling them for years. just like dill pickles. her friends request them. so she makes them. crazy….. if it can be pickles my mom will pickle it ( hahaha)
take care and happy cooking
Its is very surprising what the simplest things will turn out! I will have to try this!
Comeback sauce is definitely some kind of good!
Do you have the recipe up here for the fried green beans, I think I could actually get my hubby to eat them if I did that to them!
And I am 50 and still call my daddy, “Daddy”!
I so make the same thing! I just never put black pepper.
You know what else is really good? Mayo + salsa. Or sourcream + salsa: give it a try.
Is this the same sauce that they serve at Guthries (chicken fingers)? My roommate at Auburn used to call it “polka-dot sauce”.
This is so funny! I have always put pepper on my Ketchup and mix in Mayo when eating fries!!! It is GOOD!!!
YUM! Christy, this is GOOD! Can I bill you for my ‘up’ size in clothes? I’m already addicted to the Mini Boston Creme Pies… add this to the list, too!
Back in the 80’s I had a friend that worked at LJS all the people who worked there used to use a sauce like this BUT we also added VINEGAR and HOT SAUCE.. Talk about good.. We used it on fryed breaded chicken from Long John Slivers. You really have to try it sometime.. Talk about good!!!
I forget what they called it but I had it every single time I went up to visit them.
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
I am originally from Holland and your recipes remind me a lot of my mother’s and grandmother’s cooking (god bless their souls). My mother would make a sauce like this with a little Tabasco or hot pepper sauce instead of pepper. She would serve this as a dip sauce with shrimps or with salty snacks such as chips. Delicious! Thank you for this wonderful site!
in order to be a truly southern plate Dukes mayonaise is a must, in fact it may be sinful for a southerner to use any other…
I agree—got to be Duke’s. I thought we had a lot in common, Christy, but I have to confess, I’m a mayo freak. I’ll eat it on about anything, including french fries ‘course it has to be light, since I’m a diabetic. I also use much Splenda—never the “pink stuff”
Mama and Daddy all the way.
We always used it as a raw vegetable dip….. love raw cauliflower in it…. can eat a whole head…… thanks for giving it a name….mmmm
[...] as a single squeeze-out-of-a-tube product. And hey, take a look at this all American comeback sauce recipe And the one who recommends this is from the South. __________________ Mars [...]
If yall are ever in Louisiana or East Texas, hunt down a place called Raising Cane’s. They have a version of comeback sauce, that the receipt is a deeply guarded secret. They serve chicken fingers, and I tell you that place and their sauce is addictive. I might try making this with chili sauce which is more my thing than ketchup, or follow one of the suggestions and add a bit of horseradish.
Also I have to share my garage sale bargain…I got a hardback copy of “The Joy Of Cooking” for 2 bucks! That’s going for like 35 dollars now. I read, ok, gloated over it, all weekend!
I’ll have to give the pepper a try…My Mama always made a “special” sauce for us when we were kids, much like your comeback sauce, but with the addition of mustard. Delish on hot dogs, burgers and to dip fries in. I make it for my kids now…my son, who is soo not a condiment lover, actually asks me to make my “secret” or “special” sauce. Such a simple thing, huh?