Copycat Chalet Sauce



Ingredients:

  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 tbsp vinegar
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp basil
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp water
Instructions:
  1. In a saucepan, mix together everything except the cornstarch and water (2 cups chicken broth, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 tsp salt, a/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1 tsp hot sauce, 1/2 tsp Worcestershire)
  2. Bring sauce to a low boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 min
  3. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp corn starch and 2 tbsp water until they are fully integrated, then add and mix into the sauce
Yield: 2 cups

Source: https://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/swiss-chalet-secret-sauce-copycat-recipe/#recipe

Description:

In Canada we have a restaurant chain called Swiss Chalet that specializes in chicken. They have a signature sauce that is delicious but my vocabulary fails to describe. I can tell it's savoury and vaguely reminiscent of gravy but it's thinner and with a more complex flavour. It goes great with chicken and perhaps even better with fries. For the longest time I took it as fact that it could only be obtained at Swiss Chalet, as if it were a fruit that can only be grown in a very specific climate.

One day, I bought a rotisserie chicken from Valu Mart. Near it were containers labeled "rotisserie chicken dipping sauce". Out of curiosity I bought one, and when I got around to trying it I instantly recognized it as Chalet Sauce. I was mindblown. It wasn't an exact match, but it was almost there, and unquestionably in the same category. This was the first time I'd ever seen an attempt to recreate the sauce outside its native Swiss Chalet.

Perhaps it was still something that could only be made on an industrial level, but this revelation was enough to spark a curiosity in me that perhaps I could make a homemade version. So I looked it up, and of course many people had tried to recreate the iconic sauce.

There was some variance in what people were using, but I went with someone whose ingredients were available in my spice library.

I thought it turned out pretty good. We bought a can of authentic Chalet Sauce and compared the two. They definitely weren't a direct 1-1, but much like the Valu Mart sauce, I had gotten it to a point where they were unmistakably in the same category. I'm not even confident that I prefer the authentic version, I might like the homemade one better. If anything, the homemade version wasn't lacking anything the real thing had, it had something extra. But again, words fail me in describing what that extra note could be.

It's definitely close. It was good enough that Lee-Anne said that in the future we could forgo going to Swiss Chalet all together.

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