Halal Guys White Sauce
Dont want to hear the backstory? Jump straight to the recipe. .
For the last six years, I have been obsessing over halal cart chicken and rice. I got my first taste of it at a cart in Arlington, Virginia and quickly was getting it for lunch multiple times per week. There was something that drew me to the juicy chicken and spiced rice, but it was mostly all about the white sauce. My standard order was chicken over rice with a side of chickpeas extra white sauce with a little bit of harissa. People in my office became obsessed as well and home recreations were a pretty common discussion point.
I travel to Manhattan for work five or six times a year, and I always make it a point to get some late night halal cart. Each one is a little bit different in their own way, but they all serve the magical sauce. However, most people will tell you that the best in town is the original Halal Guys cart on 53rd St and 6th Ave. They always have a line, but they move quickly and always serve you with a smile and generous portion of their white sauce.
A few years ago The Halal Guys took their concept to a franchise and a store opened just a couple of miles from my house. I could now get the sauce whenever I wanted. One thing that I loved was that they would give you the sauce on the side, in a packet. The ingredients were definitely something that I was not expecting.
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Why You Should Try This Recipe:
The different parts come together SO well. The rice is buttery and full of flavor- I think its the best rice Ive cooked at home. I got the rice part of this recipe from Serious Eats.
The chicken is tender and juicy and full of flavor from the marination, I loosely based this off the chicken in my very popular oven chicken shawarma recipe, and the white sauce is a creamy and just a little sweet.
I couldnt stop eating this! I think its among the best chicken recipes Ive ever made at home and my husband agreed.
How To Make Halal Cart White Sauce:
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What Is Halal Guys Chicken And Rice
Its a famous dish that originated from a street cart in NYC. My husband and I actively sought out the food cart on our honeymoon! The chicken used in the NYC cart is halal so it became a flocking point to Muslim locals, tourists, then basically anyone wanting great street food. The definition of a great street food meal, every component of this dish works together so well. Its comprised of:
and additional toppings like shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and wedges of pita or gyro bread.
What Hot Sauces Are Similar To Halal Guys
No hot sauce can match the flavor of Halal Guys sauce. However, Blairs Beyond Death Hot Sauce, Da Bomb Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce, and Melindas Naga Jolokia Pepper Sauce are similar in Scoville ranking.
Lets go over the few sauces to try if youre craving for the Halal Guys sauce but cant get your hands on one. While theyre not the same in terms of flavor, they have similar SHUs.
- Blairs Beyond Death Hot Sauce: This hot sauce isnt quite up to Halal Guys ranking, but at 99,760 SHUs, youll still feel the heat.
- Da Bomb Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce: This hot sauce is made with pure habanero pepper and has 119,700 SHUs. Definitely does not match the flavor of Halal Guys but has a strong burning sensation.
- Melindas Naga Jolokia Pepper Sauce: This hot pepper sauce registers at 128,450 SHUs. Its a Ghost pepper sauce and is sure to fix your spicy craving.
Remember that if its a similar heat as the Halal Guys youre looking for, youll need to bypass the typical restaurant hot sauces.
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Faqs About This Recipe:
Prep TimeTotal Time
Homemade Halal Cart White Sauce tastes just like the stuff you find in the famous NYC chicken and rice bowls. This simple white sauce comes together with ingredients like lemon juice, dried parsley, white vinegar, sour cream, and mayonnaise. It tastes just like the stuff from Halal Guys!
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream
- cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons EACH: water, lemon juice AND sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
What Is The White Sauce Recipe From Halal Guys
The Halal Guys is a famous restaurant chain in New York City, serving delicious Middle Eastern cuisine to hungry locals and tourists alike.
One of their most popular dishes is the chicken and rice platter, served with a tangy white sauce.
The sauce is so beloved that many people try to replicate it at home, with varying degrees of success.
While the exact recipe is a closely guarded secret, we can give you a few tips on making a delicious white sauce that tastes just like the real thing.
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The Halal Guys: That Famous Hot Sauce
Sitting down at a The Halal Guys table, you can always count on a few things: 1) the irresistible aroma of American Halal food, cooked freshly for you 2) the agonizing decision of what sauce or sauces to adorn your platter with. While we will devote a blog or several! sometime soon to the most famous sauce of all , we now want to put the spotlight on our equally impressive Hot Sauce.
Behind the Sauce:
Hot Sauce is measured in SHUs, or Scoville Heat Units. The Halal Guys Hot Sauce is SERIOUSLY HOT, registering 100,000-130,000 on the Scoville scale. To put this into perspective, a jalapeño registers at 3,000- 10,000, while comparable sauces, Cholula or Siracha, top out at 1,000-3,000
a mere 100th of The Halal Guys Hot Sauce! Most fans request somewhere between just a few drops and a few lines on a full platter or sandwich it really all depends on how heat resistant you are.
While Vice even voted it as scorching the competition in the fast-casual industry, some intrepid guests continue to underestimate its lethality, thinking they can handle the spice and paid the consequences for it! However, if youre feeling like a true daredevil, a select few The Halal Guys fans have made it to the legendary Wall of Flame by completing the flammable The Hot Sauce Challenge. This involves consuming a platter with 20 lines of sauce in just 10 minutes with no water, and then surviving an additional five minutes before chugging a refreshing glass of water!
The Truth About The Halal Guys Famous White Sauce
The Halal Guys, a food cart that has served New York City for over 25 years, is famous for its secret white sauce used over platters of lamb, chicken, and rice. People have been trying to get the recipe for decades to no avail. However, you can now find the ingredients when you buy a meal at the cart, thanks to a change in packaging. They have replaced the old squeeze bottles and the sauce now comes in plastic packets that have the ingredients printed on them for all to see.
âEveryone had their own idea of how we make our sauces now we are pointing you in the right direction without giving away the recipe,â the manager of Halal Guys told the Daily News.
The packets list soybean and/or canola oil, egg yolk, vinegar, water, salt, sugar, natural flavors, black pepper, disodium EDTA, xanthan gum, and sodium benzoate . The first three ingredients make up mayonnaise and the last three ingredients are common food additives to maintain freshness. The Halal Guys have not revealed what the natural flavors are, and the recipe itself remains secret.
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How To Make Halal Guys White Sauce
If youve never had halal cart-style chicken, the basic concept is taking both chicken breast and chicken thigh, slathering them in a marinade, layering them over a spit, and slow roasting until the meat is juicy and tender.
The chicken is then served over a plate of rice or rolled up in pita bread along with iceberg lettuce, onions, tomatoes,hot sauce, and copious amounts of halal white sauce the mysterious star of the show.
The Halal Guys recently released an ingredient list for their white sauce containing egg yolk, confirming the use of mayonnaise as part of the base, but the rest is a tightly guarded secret.
Its suspected that Greek yogurt, vinegar, and lemon juice play a role, along with natural flavors and black pepper. Though we may never know the exact ingredients its still worth making on repeat!
This white sauce comes together in under 5 minutes and then rests in the fridge for 30 minutes to thicken. Best of all, it can be served with so much more than Halal Guys chicken!
Halal Cart Chicken And Rice Moribyan
If you find yourself craving some authentic NYC food, then youll do well to try out this chicken and rice dish, guaranteed to bring the taste of the city to your own home.
This recipe will demonstrate how to make some lovely yellow rice, fantastic chicken shawarma, as well as the signature white sauce. Add a couple of drops of Halal Guys hot sauce and feel how this recipe brings the Halal Guys to your own home.
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Cracking The Ingredient Code
The Halal Guys are rightfully guarded about their secret sauce, revealing only that its mayonnaise-based. I hounded them to tell me if they at least make their own mayonnaise, and after several attempts, got an answer: No, we dont.
That made my task slightly easier. I now just needed to buy vats of mayonnaise and mess around with it. Just another Wednesday at the Thrillist Test Kitchen.
Aside from that one major clue, I also had their brand-new sauce packets ingredient list as a starting point: soybean and/or canola oil, egg yolks, vinegar, water, salt, sugar, natural flavors, black pepper, xantham gum, and sodium benzoate. The first six ingredients are mayonnaise. Theres no added dairy, because that would have to be stated. The natural flavors is where the magic is.
I went crazy at my favorite spice shop, buying all kinds of packets and bottles, and in the end settled with four: caraway, turmeric, cardamom, and sumac. Lemon juice and sumac give the sauce its strong citrus flavor. Caraway brightens it up, giving it that refreshing note. Cardamom provides the flowery aroma. Turmeric enhances all those flavors and gives the sauce an ever-so-slight yellow tint, which matches the white sauce perfectly. I watered down the mayonnaise first, because the flavor needed to be subdued, then used xantham gum to thicken it back up. I think it comes pretty damn close.
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Tips And Tricks For A Better Sauce
First of all, use high-quality mayonnaise for the best flavor.
- If you dont have sour cream on hand, you can use plain yogurt instead.
- White vinegar gives the sauce a tangy flavor, so dont substitute another type of vinegar.
- Use whole milk for a richer flavor, or skim milk if youre watching your calories.
- Garlic powder and onion powder add savory depth of flavor, so dont omit them.
- A touch of paprika lends a beautiful color to the sauce.
- Cayenne pepper is optional but adds a nice bit of heat.
- Be sure to combine the ingredients until they are completely combined.
- Store the sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Finally, when ready to use the sauce, simply drizzle it over your favorite dishes.
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From The Halal Street Carts That White Sauce Drizzled On Everything
The condiment of choice for chicken or meat at halal street carts is a thick drizzle thats simply called white sauce. Jamal Rasoully, whose parents fled Afghanistan about 30 years ago and opened a restaurant in New York, said that they made such a sauce based on an old Pashtun recipe. Now, Mr. Rasoully has bottled the condiment, calling it Spin Sauce. The traditional sauce is yogurt-based, but this one has mayonnaise written all over it and certainly delivers all-purpose potential. Theres a spicier version and a fierce cayenne hot sauce, too: Spin Sauce, $11.99 for three 12-ounce bottles, spinsauce.com.
Is The Halal Guys Hot Sauce Spicy
The Halal Guys hot sauce is extremely spicy, and you should use it with caution. The Executive Chef has even referred to the sauce as an insane blend of fiery chilis. Just a few drops will spice up any meal.
This hot sauce is so spicy that even the Halal Guys CEO is too scared to try it. He said in a Food Insider YouTube video that its because he doesnt like spicy food:
So, if spicy isnt your thing, you may want to steer clear.
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The Halal Guys Famous White Sauce Recipe Has Been Revealed Sort Of
Here are some things that, in the two decades its been around, intrepid food writers and recipe tinkerers have determined were a part of the Halal Guys famed white sauce:
Powdered heroin.And from just last week, tahini.Liberally dispensed from squeeze bottles daily, it has remained a street-cart trade secret on the order of the KFC Original Recipe the Times most recently said co-owner Mohamed Abouelenein allows that theres mayo in it the rest is silence until now. An observant Halal Guys-going reporter at DNAinfo noticed the white sauce had moved mediums and now comes in packets instead of from squeeze bottles, possibly to lay the groundwork for that global fast-halal chain they envision. The official ingredients are:
Soybean and/or canola oilXantham gumSodium benzoateThe first three are mayonnaise , but outside of the preservatives necessary for packaging and some givens , the veil of mystery largely remains intact notably, yogurt and milk dont seem to be among the ingredients. Heres to another two decades of theories it looks like unicorn tears are still a distinct possibility.
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The Halal Guys Product Launches Home Delivery Of Its Signature White Sauce
The Halal Guys, famous for our platters, sandwiches, and signature sauces, recently celebrated the opening of our 100th store. Its undoubtedly a significant milestone for any restaurant establishment to survive, let alone thrive in todays semi-post-covid-climate. But, while most restaurants are happy simply surviving, we continue to look for ways to raise the bar. Thats why what were cooking up now is sure to please the hundreds of thousands of our loyal guests and fans nationwide!!!
Since our inception, The Halal Guys began elevating the tastebud bar by introducing New Yorkers to a uniquely flavorful taste that satisfied even the most finicky, selective appetites. As a result, we quickly gained a massive fan following that continues to rapidly expand to this day. According to fans, one of the most distinctive characteristics that made our food so unforgettably good is that creamy, savory, flawlessly seasoned white sauce.
A fan-inspired slogan soon followed that perfectly summed up what guests unanimously said about this mildly tangy, velvety-smooth condiment that many believe should go on everythingand its hard to disagree, because indeed, Its all about the sauce!
Today, The Halal Guys are excited to announce the home delivery of our signature white sauce! Beginning April 1st, 2021 members of The Halal Guys Rewards will be able to receive weekly home delivery of The Halal Guys white sauce!
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Dishes To Serve With Homemade Halal Guys White Sauce Recipe
Here are eight great recipes that go perfectly with this flavorful sauce:
- Grilled chicken: This white sauce perfectly complements juicy, grilled chicken. Simply drizzle it over your chicken before serving.
- Roasted vegetables: Roasted vegetables are a healthy and flavorful side dish that taste even better when dipped in this creamy white sauce.
- Falafel: Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern dish often served with a dipping sauce. The Halal Guys white sauce is the perfect partner for crispy falafel balls.
- Hummus: Hummus is a delicious and healthy dip made from chickpeas, tahini, and olive oil. Its often served with pita bread or veggies, but it also goes well with the Halal Guys white sauce.
- Rice: This creamy white sauce is the perfect way to dress up plain rice. Simply spoon it over your rice before serving.
- Salad: TheHalal Guyswhite sauce makes a great salad dressing simply whisk it together with some olive oil and vinegar, and youre good to go!
- Pasta: Whether youre making a simple pasta dish or a more complex one, this white sauce can take it to the next level. Simply spoon it over your cooked pasta before serving.
- French fries: Who doesnt love dipping their fries in a creamy sauce? The Halal Guys white sauce is the perfect partner for crispy French fries.
