15 Best Taco Sauces (+ Easy Recipes)

Get ready to elevate Taco Tuesday with these tempting taco sauces!

From fish taco sauce and lime crema to sauce for chicken tacos and shrimp, you’ll want to try them all. This list will help you expand your taco sauce horizons. 

I’ll introduce you to some of the richest, most flavorful options. There are even fun creations like boom boom sauce and bang bang sauce. 

Plus, some of them only take about 5 minutes to whip up. As a bonus, you can use these taco sauce recipes for other Mexican dishes like burritos and quesadillas, too.

Best Sauces for Tacos

The following are my picks for the 15 best sauces for tacos. How many have you tried?

1. 5-Minute Fish Taco Sauce

Are you a fish taco aficionado? If so, you’ll love this 5-minute fish taco sauce. It features the bold flavors of chipotle adobo, garlic, and lime juice. 

It’s bright, smoky, and peppery, with a citrusy finish. It livens up any taco, whether or not you use fish as the primary source of protein. 

You can also use it on fajitas, black beans, corn, and more. It tastes great and pairs well with most Mexican food. 

2. Chipotle Cream Sauce

You can never go wrong with a simple creamy chipotle sauce. This recipe is jazzed up with some fresh cilantro and garlic salt. 

It’s a silky smooth sauce that’s borderline addictive. It’s a sauce you’d rather lick off your fingers than waste on a napkin. 

3. Lime Crema

Lime crema is a simple mixture of sour cream, lime, salt, and garlic. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare, most of that just zesting the lime!

It’s bright and refreshing and tastes fantastic on everything. Try it on tacos, nachos, and even French fries! 

4. Ultimate Green Taco Sauce

Green taco sauce is a fresher, smoother, more peppery version of salsa. This recipe is also a bit spicier than most garden-variety salsas. 

It’s the perfect choice if you like heat and peppery flavor. And don’t worry, lime lovers! There’s a hint of a citrusy finish. 

5. Taco Bell Diablo Sauce

Speaking of heat, we can’t overlook Taco Bell’s famous Diablo Sauce. It’s a pepper-heavy, tomato-based sauce containing at least 15 dried chiles! 

There are also red pepper flakes, jalapeno powder, chipotle peppers in adobo, and more! This copycat sauce isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to enjoy heat to appreciate it. 

6. Easy Homemade Taco Sauce

This sauce is your average, run-of-the-mill (but still delicious) taco sauce. It’s a little spicy, a little smoky, and hugely flavorful. 

Compare it to Mateo’s Gourmet Taco Sauce or Ortega’s Original Taco Sauce. 

7. Chicken Taco Sauce

This six-ingredient sauce is perfect for chicken tacos. It’s a bright, tangy white sauce containing all your favorite South-of-the-Border ingredients. 

You start with a base of sour cream. Then, add lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. It comes together quickly with very little fuss. 

8. Taco Sour Cream Sauce

This sauce has just three ingredients, no cooking time, and is ready in about 2 minutes. 

Use store-bought taco seasoning, or check out my recipe for Taco Bell seasoning. Either way, you’re sure to appreciate the result. 

9. Birria Consome

Birria consomé is a flavorful, rich broth that often complements birria.

In short, it’s the liquid left behind after you slow-cooked the meat. It’s clear, concentrated, and ridiculously flavorful. 

Use it on your tacos, burritos, nachos, or other dishes. Or simply set it out with some freshly baked tortilla chips for dipping. 

10. Ranchero Sauce

I love this bright orange ranchero sauce. It involves some cooking and takes longer than other sauces. But its smoky, veggie-packed flavor is well worth the effort.

It’s spicy without being too hot. Plus, it features a bold flavor from the onions, tomatoes, paprika, peppers, etc. 

11. Bang Bang Sauce

While not as common as ketchup or mustard, bang bang sauce has become pretty popular over the last few years. This is thanks to dishes like bang bang shrimp and bang bang chicken. 

It’s so easy to make at home. You need mayo, honey, Sriracha, and Thai sweet chili sauce. 

Whisk them together, then pour the sauce over your tacos, veggies, chicken, shrimp, and more.  

12. Shrimp Taco Sauce

Shrimp taco sauce features Sriracha, garlic, lime juice, mayo, and sour cream. It’s spicy, zesty, and not too heavy. 

And the great thing about this recipe is it also includes steps for making the shrimp tacos! Of course, you can use the sauce on whatever tacos you’re eating. 

It tastes delightful on other Mexican dishes, as well. 

13. Avocado Crema

Lime crema may be the go-to condiment for tacos, but have you tried avocado crema?

It looks and tastes similar to guacamole but has a smoother, creamier consistency. You mix the avocados with sour cream, hence the creaminess. 

The other ingredients are standard: lime juice, garlic, salt, and cilantro. As long as you like guacamole, you’ll love this avocado crema. 

14. Boom Boom Sauce

Though less well-known than bang bang sauce, boom boom sauce tastes just as terrific. It contains sweet chili sauce, mayo, and Sriracha.

However, there’s a bit more to it than that. You also add garlic, ketchup, onion powder, salt, and pepper. 

It gives the sauce a sweeter, more herby flavor than bang bang sauce. You can have it ready in about 5 minutes, with no cooking involved. 

15. Taco Salsa (Street Taco Sauce)

There are tons of homemade salsa recipes out there. I have 25 of them right here! But this one is one of my favorites. 

It has everything a good salsa needs: Roma tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, garlic, chiles, lime juice, cilantro, etc. 

It’s chunky, fresh, refreshing, and delicious. Use it on tacos or anything else. I even like to put it on my grilled chicken breasts for extra yumminess!