Your New Go-To Copycat Bojangles Bo's Special Sauce

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When Bojangles discontinued Bo's Special Sauce in 2022, some impassioned fans were so disappointed they canceled orders and called for a petition to bring it back. By 2024, Bo Sauce was back, and not just in the restaurant — Bojangles also brought a bottled version of the sauce to certain grocery stores. This beloved sauce is thick, creamy, tangy, and has a kick from the addition of horseradish, making it a unique fast food condiment that has undeniable popularity. It's best enjoyed on fried chicken and other meats, but this versatile sauce is also great on burgers, sandwiches, fries, grilled veggies, and any foods you'd love to slather with mayonnaise-based sauce.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for a copycat version of Bo's Special Sauce you can make in the comfort of your own home. You can whip up this sauce in less than five minutes, so it also couldn't be easier to make. Start with mayonnaise and horseradish and mix in herbs, spices, roasted red pepper, sugar, vinegar, and lemon juice, and voila — a delicious, fresh tasting, homemade sauce with the signature flavor of the original, but without without high fructose corn syrup and additives like emulsifiers and preservatives. Make the sauce ahead if you can and let it rest to allow the flavors to meld and deepen.

For this recipe, you will need a few herbs and spices: onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Make sure you have a roasted red pepper, mayonnaise, prepared horseradish, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice as well.

Place the onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, oregano, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl and stir to mix well. Set aside.

Puree the roasted red pepper in a small food processor or with an immersion blender.

Measure 1 tablespoon of the puree and place it in a medium bowl. You can add more if you want the sauce to have a stronger pepper flavor. Reserve the remaining pepper for another use.

Add the mayonnaise, horseradish, sugar, vinegar, and lemon juice to the roasted pepper and whisk to combine.

Add the spice mixture to the mayonnaise mixture and whisk until evenly combined.

Serve the sauce as desired or refrigerate for up to 1 week.

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If you don't love horseradish, you may like this sauce anyway, as the flavor is balanced and the kick from horseradish is subdued. It's definitely not like eating horseradish plain or with minimal other ingredients, like in cocktail sauce, so the power of horseradish to clear your sinuses isn't properly unleashed.

Horseradish is the key ingredient that helps makes Bo's Special Sauce what it is. But, if horseradish really isn't your thing, you can leave it out or replace it. A version made without it will be a little different, but the result will still be delicious. If you don't want anything spicy, just leave it out and don't make a substitution. Otherwise, you could use Dijon mustard instead.

On the other hand, if you love horseradish but don't have any on hand, you can substitute a few other things to get a similar sauce. First on the list is wasabi. You've probably never tasted real wasabi, which is rare and expensive because the Japanese plant is hard to grow, so what many people think of as wasabi is actually horseradish, mustard powder, and coloring. You could also substitute hot mustard, mustard powder, or ginger, although ginger will have less of a kick.

This recipe follows the original ingredients closely, but you can customize the sauce in a few ways to make it your own. While the original has roasted red pepper, some people like to use ketchup instead for the red element. Ketchup is sweet, so you can reduce the amount of sugar you use. If you're a fan of heat, you can spice up this sauce beyond the kick horseradish provides. Just stir in some cayenne pepper or red chili pepper. Half a clove of crushed garlic would add punch beyond what the garlic powder provides.

You can switch up the herbs and spices according to your taste. Add some dried parsley or thyme with or instead of the oregano. Try smoked paprika instead of the sweet version, or, for a spicy note that's more subdued, some mustard powder or ground ginger. If you don't have turmeric, don't worry. It adds color but doesn't contribute much flavor. If you're watching your sugar, you can leave the sugar out and the sauce will still taste great.

Full-fat mayonnaise is recommended for the copycat version, but you can make a lighter version if you'd like to reduce the fat content. Use light mayonnaise or sub half the mayonnaise with sour cream or even Greek yogurt.

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