A month ago, the pink sauce lady, Chef Pii, went viral on TikTok after she posted several videos with her homemade sauce over fried chicken, tacos, and other food items. She wouldn’t tell people what it tasted like, and that created a buzz around the sauce. She then gained over 80, 000 followers on TikTok and more than 3 million likes.
You have probably seen YouTube videos reviewing the sauce, or even DIY pink sauce recipes according to Chef Pii’s recipe. Carly Pii’s pink sauce ingredients include sunflower seed oil, garlic, honey, and chilli, and she added dragonfruit/pitaya to give it that pink colour.
Even if you haven’t seen the sauce but are fascinated by the idea of having a pink sauce over your food, we’re going to give you three pink sauce recipes that you can use in tacos, pastas, and anything really – it’s your tastebuds’ choice. A good blender will be handy to help you create a smooth sauce. If you don’t have one, the Best Buy Canada flyer has a number of affordable options to choose from. You can also get pretty mason jars to store your pink sauce in there too. Let’s get to the pink sauce recipes.
Roasted Garlic and beet Crema
This recipe combines roasted garlic, beets and fresh dill added to a DIY ranch dressing for a creamy sauce. This pink sauce is perfect as an addition to a salad, or tacos. It can also be used for finger foods like tater tots, chicken tenders or french fries.
Ingredients:
Ranch dressing:
Mayonnaise (½ cup)
Plain Greek Yogurt (½ cup)
Sour Cream (½ cup)
Buttermilk (⅓ cup)
Parsley (¼ cup)
1 tablespoon chopped Chives
1 tablespoon dried Dill
2 cloves Garlic
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper
Beet crema:
½ cup Ranch dressing
1 clove Garlic
½ roasted beet
¼ cup Sour Cream
¼ cup Heavy Cream
- Drizzle olive oil on beets and garlic separately. Wrap them in aluminium foil and roast for 50 minutes.
- Whisk all the Ranch dressing ingredients together. Make sure to mash the garlic with a fork to avoid chunky pieces in the dressing.
- Blend the ranch dressing, roasted garlic beets, heavy cream, and sour cream in a blender. If you want it more creamy, add buttermilk.
- Serve over your choice of food.
- Store the rest (it can be kept for up to 5 days).
Italian Pink Sauce Pasta / Parma Rosa pasta
The mixture of white heavy whipping cream and scarlet tomato puree gives this pink tomato cream sauce its name. Depending on the ratios you use, the sauce may be made to be more or less pink. It takes about 20 mins to prepare, making it a fantastic dish for a quick yet delicious pasta night the Italian way. You can also use this sauce over stuffed chicken thighs or shrimp pasta.
For this recipe, we suggest short pasta such as macaroni, penne or shells. Add bacon and Italian sausage for some protein and season with parsley or herbs. You can tailor the recipe to your dietary needs if you are lactose intolerant or prefer a lighter sauce for your pasta. To thicken the sauce, try cooking with a thickener gel or powder. Use coconut milk for a dairy-free option, or half and half for a light sauce.
Ingredients:
2 Tbspoons extra virgin olive oil
Onion/Shallots
Fresh garlic
Tomato paste
Tomato puree Heavy cream
Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
- On medium heat, heat up olive oil in a large pan or skillet.
- Add chopped onions and cook until translucent. Stir occasionally to avoid the onions burning.
- Add tomato paste and tomato puree. Add salt, stir to combine and bring the sauce to a soft boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add cream or half and half, stir to combine, and then add the parmesan cheese.
- Let the sauce cook for a few minutes, then put the sauce aside until it’s ready to serve.
- If it’s a pasta dish, add cooked pasta to the skillet and stir well until everything is combined (reserve ¼ cup of pasta water to add to the recipe). You can add some more parmesan cheese, and sprinkle with parsley or chili flakes to taste.
Extra tips:
- Make sure to boil the sauce on low heat, high heat will cause the cream to split.
- If your sauce tastes a bit acidic, add a teaspoon of sugar to neutralize it.
- You can store the pink sauce in the fridge for a few days if you don’t use it all.
Creamy vegan pink pasta
This 7 ingredient pink pasta recipe is perfect as a family meal, and a fun dinner option if you have fussy kids. Beetroot and cashews are the stars of the show. Beets are a good source of vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber, and they are also low in calories. Cashews are an excellent source of protein and have vitamin K, magnesium, and zinc.
Preparation:
- You will need to peel, chop, and cook the beets ahead of time. Steam them for about 18 minutes or until the skin peels off.
- The cashews are what will make the sauce creamy, but you will need to soak them in advance if you want to have a perfectly smooth texture. To soak, pour boiling water over the raw cashews and soak for 1-2 hours. If you don’t have time, you can boil them for 15 minutes and you will get a similar result.
1 cooked beet
1 cup cashews
2 Garlic cloves
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (if you want a cheesy flavour)
¾ cup of water
Instructions:
- Using maximum speed, blend the beets, cashews, water, garlic, salt, and nutritional yeast (if using) for one minute, or until the mixture is absolutely smooth and creamy. If necessary, pause to scrape the edges of the container with a small spoon and re-blend. Using maximum speed, blend the beets, cashews, water, garlic, salt, and nutritional yeast (if using) for one minute, or until the mixture is absolutely smooth and creamy. If necessary, pause to scrape the edges of the container with a small spoon and blend again.
- After cooking your pasta, pour the blended sauce into the pasta and stir on medium heat until everything is combined.
- Sprinkle fresh dill, and serve with crumbled vegan feta cheese.
Tip:
- To boost the flavour, roast the garlic in advance.