Cajun Honey Butter Sauce Recipe

Cajun honey butter sauce is melted butter with garlic, honey and Cajun seasoning, a glaze for wings, shrimp and corn. Melt half a cup of butter over low heat, cook two chopped garlic cloves in it for a minute, whisk in three tablespoons of honey, a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika and cayenne, and finish with lemon juice. It makes three quarters of a cup.

What makes the honey butter sauce Cajun

Cajun seasoning is a blend, and blends differ from one jar to the next. The heat is the constant: Wikipedia's article on Cajun cuisine names cayenne and Louisiana-style hot sauce as its primary sources of spice.

Read the label of the blend before the sauce is salted. If salt is the first ingredient, the sauce needs no more. If the blend is unsalted, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt with the spices.

Recipe

Cajun Honey Butter Sauce

Melted butter with garlic, honey, Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, cayenne and lemon juice. About 3/4 cup, six servings of two tablespoons.

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Prep

3 min

Cook

5 min

Total

8 min

Serves

6

Cuisine

Cajun

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant but not browned.
3. Whisk in the honey, the Cajun seasoning, the smoked paprika and the cayenne and let the sauce simmer gently for 1 minute.
4. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the lemon juice.
5. Use the sauce warm, and whisk it again just before it goes onto the food.

Nutrition

Calories:

175

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

A Cajun seasoning from the spice rack

Without a bought blend, mix this; it makes the tablespoon the sauce needs, with a little over.

• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Low heat, and a whisk at the end

• Low heat. Honey scorches and garlic turns bitter over high heat. The sauce should barely bubble.
• Lemon juice off the heat. It goes in last, so that it stays sharp.
• Whisk before using. Butter and honey separate as the sauce stands: the fat floats and the honey sinks with the spices.

What to put it on

• Wings: toss 2 pounds of baked or fried wings with the whole batch. Another butter sauce for wings on this site is on the cowboy butter chicken wings.
• Shrimp: cook 1 pound of peeled shrimp in 2 tablespoons of the sauce and spoon the rest over them.
• Corn on the cob: brush it on hot corn. A seasoned corn of its own is the Wingstop corn.
• Biscuits and cornbread: drizzle it over them warm.
• Salmon: brush it on for the last 2 minutes of cooking, so that the honey does not burn.

For a dry version of sweet heat, see the hot honey rub.

Hotter, milder, smokier

Double the cayenne, or add 1 teaspoon of Louisiana-style hot sauce, for more heat. Leave the cayenne out for less. A full teaspoon of smoked paprika makes the sauce smokier and darker.

A week in the refrigerator

The sauce sets solid in the refrigerator and keeps a week in a closed jar. Rewarm it over low heat, or for 20 seconds in the microwave, and whisk it. Cold, it spreads like a seasoned butter.