5 Essential Clean Eating Sauces {Paleo, Whole30, Vegan}
Here are 5 essential clean eating sauces to help you meal prep that are paleo, whole30, gluten free, and vegan. Never be without one of these condiments for a healthy meal or snack.
Sunday is my meal prep day. I usually make a few dishes to have at the ready for the week. Included in my Sunday batch cooking is always a few clean eating sauces. You can typically find a homemade dressing, vegan pesto, or healthy dip in my fridge. So I decided to share with you my 5 essential clean eating sauces for paleo, whole30 or vegan cooking.
Having a homemade condiment at the ready means a healthy snack or meal isn't far behind. You can simply cook up your favorite protein and then top it with any one of these clean eating sauces.
I'll cook greens for any meal of the day, add protein, and then top with my lemon tahini sauce. I throw my creamy, vegan tzatziki on fish or dip cucumbers right into the container.
I also think you need a go-to salad dressing. While I like a basic lemon vinaigrette, I LOVE my lemon ginger turmeric dressing. Not only does it taste super zippy, it also has a ton of health benefits.
So pick your favorite clean eating sauce, or make them all, and watch your basic dinner and snack routine get healthier and tastier.
5 Essential Clean Eating Sauces
{Paleo, Whole30, Vegan, Gluten Free, Sugar Free}
1. Guacamole
I love guacamole a little more than I'm probably allowed. There are always avocados in my house. I eat an avocado nearly every day so having guacamole in the fridge is a no-brainer.
Guacamole is a nice addition to so many dishes:
Vegan spicy black bean burgers
The classic home for guacamole is on tacos
There are many different ways to make it depending on how spicy you like it, but the essential guacamole ingredients are avocados, cilantro, lime, garlic, and fresh cilantro. You can omit the garlic if that's not your thing, and swap in celery salt, or chipotle.
Guacamole Recipe
Ingredients
1 large avocado
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, de-stemmed and chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon hot sauce
Juice of ½ lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!
2. Lemon Tahini Sauce
This garlic lemon tahini sauce is a versatile and adaptable clean eating condiment for many different meals. It's great on veggies. It's great on meat. It's great on meat and vegetables.
I've drizzled this lemon tahini sauce over:
Lemon Tahini Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until mixed. Season with salt and pepper. You can adjust the consistency by adding or reducing the water.
3. Vegan Pesto
Pesto is definitely an essential clean eating sauce for me. All you need is fresh herbs, some nuts or seeds, a little garlic, and some olive oil.
Being dairy free, I don't use cheese as some do in pesto recipes, but honestly, I don't think it needs it. The pesto takes on the taste of whatever herbs you use. And it is a condiment after all, so its job is the supporting actor of a dish versus starring.
My vegan spinach mint pesto might be my favorite because I love the fresh taste of mint so much. It's also a rare day when I don't have spinach in the house, so this recipe comes together effortlessly. There's also seaweed pesto that takes advantage of nutrient-dense seaweed.
I'm a big believer in avoiding food waste, so one day after buying carrots at the farmer's market, I lopped off the carrot top greens to make pesto. I've also made seasonal pumpkin kale pesto to add to zoodles for Halloween, though it would taste good any day of the year.
So what to do with all of these different kinds of pesto?
You can also use pesto as a sauce on your favorite gluten free noodle like spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, or shirataki.
You get the idea yet? There are so many types of pesto and unique uses for pesto!
4. Vegan Tzatziki
Did you know that you can make a creamy, dairy free tzatziki? And you don't need to use nuts or tofu. The secret ingredient? Coconut yogurt.
Coconut yogurt can do anything cow's yogurt can, but often without allergic reactions! I'm all for that given I have a casein allergy, as do many others. I like New Earth coconut yogurt, as well as Coconut Cult. They don't have the additives and fillers that others have, but their yogurt is loaded with great probiotics, so it's healthy and tasty.
I do eat the coconut yogurt straight up or sometimes with berries and a little cinnamon. If I can tear myself away from the jar, I'll make this vegan tzatziki recipe. Dill is another spice fave, and this combination is so nice on fish, salmon, and cucumbers, or in one of these recipes:
5. Lemon Ginger Turmeric Dressing
And last, but not least, I want to round out your essential clean eating sauces with a good salad dressing. I have some basic lemon, mustard, oil vinaigrettes on salads like this Mediterranean Cauliflower mix, but I wanted to leave you with something just a little more special. Enter spice darling turmeric.
Turmeric adds a lot of zip and some bold color to this dressing. Of course you can add it to any salad, but it is also nice on fish or roasted vegetables. Here are a few recipes for you to test it on: