Sauce

This condiment, called nam pla prik, is found on virtually every home and restaurant table in Thailand.

Though I’m all for high-quality prepared sauces and such to use as shortcuts, I’ve never found a bottled vegan barbecue sauce I really like. But this nearly instant sauce is so easy that I’ve ended the search. It’s especially good with tofu, tempeh, and seitan.

Sliced tomato makes a colorful addition to this classic Greek yogurt sauce. It's a refreshing accompaniment to lamb.

This isn’t the thick harissa that resembles a paste. Treat it like your favorite barbecue sauce and smother grilled steak and chicken with it.

Giving the tomatillo some time to drain and cool after it’s been grilled makes for a creamier and more flavorful sauce. Serve alongside grilled bone-in rib eye.

While this cooling yogurt sauce recipe is welcome alongside spicy foods, it is also amazing slathered on flatbreads or spooned over basmati rice. This recipe is from Gunpowder, an Indian restaurant in London.

This irresistibly smoky-spicy condiment lasts for a month and perks up everything from scrambled eggs to lamb chops.

Oaxaca is known for its moles, and there are countless types. This recipe features dried red chiles and is often served with poultry.

Mixing lemon and lime juice, as well as a shot of apple cider vinegar, makes for a much more dynamic dressing than just one type of acid could ever achieve.

Serve with anything and everything—it will get better, spicier, and more Vietnamese-approved over time.

This fiery sweet-tart red sauce is smoky, tangy and has sufficient red pepper flakes to let you know it means business.

This is a little bit like making a ranch dressing and putting it on pizza. Which can’t possibly be a bad thing.