How I Utilize Sauces as a Tool For Healthy Eating

Five sauces to make even the blandest of meals flavorful

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash.

In today’s food environment laden with junk and convenience options, it can sometimes be difficult to consistently choose or cook healthy meals. Although the preconception that healthy eating requires time and effort is sometimes true, it never has to be. Not to mention, healthy food just doesn’t taste very good right? These are false pretenses and they got me to ask the question: If I wanted to eat healthy meals that were easy to prepare AND tasted amazing, how would I do it? The conclusion I came to was that is all about the sauce and that is what I wanted to share my thoughts (and recipes) on here today.

Sauces and condiments are among the easiest ways to add more layers of flavor to a dish. I’m not talking about rich French sauces like hollandaise here (though they have their place too), but rather I’m focusing on sauces that are easy to make, contain generally healthy ingredients, and are very flavorful. Imagine that you want to eat chicken breast and rice for lunch, because it’s a light, easy-to-prepare meal, but you also dread it because this type of meal just doesn't have much flavor. This is where sauces come in. In fact, the right sauce can transform even the blandest of foods into a symphony of flavors, and in this article, I wanted to share five sauces that I have personally found to be very useful assets in the kitchen. Adding these sauces to your own kitchen repertoire will not only give you some new and creative options for increasing the flavor of your meals but also may give you a taste of the myriad of possibilities that can arise when you start trying new things and experimenting with new flavors in the kitchen.

Chimichurri

Ahh, a classic Argentinian condiment. I placed Chimichurri at the top of the list here because it does such an excellent job at packing a ton of flavor into even just a small spoonful. The chimichurri recipe that I usually use is from Seriouseats. It is easy to make and has the classic elements of flavor including extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley, oregano, and garlic. If fresh oregano isn't available, dry can also be used in a pinch.