70's Recipe With Cream Cheese Worcestershire Sauce
Jump to Recipe
I am about to share with you what is literally the best sauce to pour over cream cheese.
This retro appetizer we grew up knowing as red sauce (full name: cream cheese and red sauce) is an easy to make sweet and sour sauce that is sheer perfection when poured over a block of cream cheese and then spread onto your favorite crackers.
Fans of retro appetizers, you might also want to set up your appetizer table with a port wine cheese ball or another of our favorites growing up, poppy seed ham and cheese sliders.
For browsing for holiday entertaining, check out this round up for New Year's Eve parties.
Here are all of my appetizer recipes in one place.
Watch my best cream cheese appetizer recipe web story here.
Why You Need to Make This Recipe
Honestly, friends, this truly is the most delicious cream cheese appetizer out there.
Make this recipe because it's easy to make, it relies almost entirely on pantry and refrigerator staple ingredients, and it is the tangiest and most mouthwatering sauce to pour over a block of cream cheese, period.
This is a recipe that some mom in our neighborhood must've gotten from a magazine in the 1970s, and for decades, it isn't a party in that neighborhood unless there's red sauce!
It is ketchup based.
It's sweet and sour and one of the tangiest sauces ever.
It's unapologetically neon red, just a tiny bit spicy and so very moreish that there is rarely any left once I get started.
In fact, once you make this, I dare you to only eat one cracker spread with it and say "I'm done." I dare you.
How to Make This Cream Cheese Appetizer Sauce
Ingredients and Substitutions
As I said, it's made up of staples. And while they sound pretty unlikely, trust me.
This sauce is delicious.
Here's what you'll need:
- Ketchup: I grew up with Heinz, and it's still my favorite, so that's what I recommend. But any tomato ketchup will work here
- Honey: A mild honey works best. The ketchup and honey are the two main ingredients, and that combo brings the sweet and tangy. The rest of the ingredients bring the magic!
- A1 Steak Sauce: There is something about A1 that gets me right in the salivary glands. It's a little sweet, spicy, and tangy all by itself. I keep a bottle on hand specifically to make red sauce
- chopped onion: Sweet or yellow onion will work. You need about 1/2 cup. I generally don't measure, so it kind of depends on how much you like onion. And it does add little "chunks" to the sauce, so if you like smooth sauces, consider pureeing it after you make it
- minced garlic: some fermented garlic honey would be great here, but any garlic will do, even pre-minced. I often use freeze-dried, and more than the recipe strictly calls for
- salt: A generous, heavy pinch. Or measure out 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt. Use a bit less if you're using fine table salt
- black pepper: Freshly ground is my preference. The recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon, but if you love that black peppery bite, use more.
- vinegar: I like apple cider vinegar here, but any vinegar will do. Stay away from balsamic–it's too sweet, I think. Go with red wine vinegar or white vinegar if you don't have ACV
- yellow mustard: It's weird, but plain yellow mustard is best in this recipe. Standard hot dog mustard. I've made it with Dijon before, but even though there's only 1 1/2 teaspoons of mustard in the recipe, I could tell the difference and prefer plain yellow mustard
- lemon juice: I always use freshly squeeze lemon juice, but you could use bottled in a pinch and nothing bad would happen.
Procedure
Right?
I know it sounds like a crazy list of ingredients.
All it takes is simmering all these ingredients together for 10 minutes to make the best sweet and sour, hard to stop eating, most delicious sauce ever to be poured over a (very lucky) block of cream cheese.
I wish I could explain to you how much I love this stuff. I know it sounds kind of odd what with the ketchup and A-1 and mustard and all, but man is it good!
How To Serve Cream Cheese and Red Sauce
For a party, you're supposed to pour red sauce on a block of cream cheese so it cascades down the sides.
The best crackers to eat with it are ones that have a fairly neutral flavor like Ritz or Captains wafers or any sort of butter cracker.
I only had Triscuits, and they work fine to get it to your mouth, but the crunch and assertive wheatiness of them tend to fight with the sauce.
Buy some unassuming crackers to play Barbara Hershey to the red sauce's Bette Midler, and get yourself to the kitchen to whip up a vat.
If you want to go with homemade crackers, you might like my spent grain crackers. They have good flavor on their own, but the texture and flavor won't fight with the tang of the sauce.
Q & A
How long will this sauce keep in the fridge?
Even though it's based on almost all shelf-stable ingredients, once cooked, I wouldn't keep it for longer than about a week in the fridge. It won't last that long, I promise.
Can I double (or half) the recipe?
Absolutely. No need to do fancy math, just multiply or divide by 2, and you're good to go.
What can I use instead of honey?
Honestly, the honey is part of the flavor profile, but if you can't have honey for some reason, I would substitute liquid agave. It has a neutral flavor, so your finished sauce won't taste the same, but if you've never had it before anyway, you'll never know!
Can I make it spicier?
Sure. Mince up some pickled jalapenos and/or add some pepper flake to the mix. Use as much or as little as you like to get the amount of heat that works for you.
More Tasty Stuff to Spread on or Pour Over Cream Cheese
Cream cheese makes the perfect canvas for almost anything you'd like to put on top of it, really.
It works with sweet ingredients like fresh fruit or mixed berry jam or cranberry orange jam.
It works well with savory ingredients like slices of cured meats, bacon jam, tomato jam, and plum chutney.
I can even eat cream cheese just plain on crackers, but with so many options, including the ridiculously addictive red sauce, why would I?!
Questions?
If you have questions about this post or recipe, don't hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.
If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I'm asleep.
If you make this recipe and/or have enjoyed or learned from reading this post, I'd appreciate it if you could share this!
I have Convenient share buttons that float to the left on desk top and on mobile which invite you to share on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Yummly.
If you make the recipe, please consider rating it a rating and a review. You can do this via the recipe card in the post.
Reviews really help sell the recipe, and negative reviews help me tune into what people really want to have explained better, so any ratings and reviews are helpful!
Also feel free to tag me on Instagram at @onlinepastrychef with #pcorecipe so I can find your creation. Thank you!
What's your favorite retro holiday appetizer that you couldn't get enough of as a kid (or now)?
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 Tablespoon A-1 Steak Sauce
- 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
- 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
- Simmer 10 minutes, then cool.
- Serve chilled over cream cheese with crackers.
Notes
You can play with this recipe if you want, changing up proportions or trying it with Dijon mustard, but I implore you to try it exactly as written. I am telling you; it is perfect.
You can easily double this recipe, and you will not regret it.
Nutritional Information is based on a serving size of approximately 2 tablespoons. Expect to eat much more than that. The nutritionals only reflect the calories in the red sauce and not in the crackers or cream cheese.
Nutrition Information
Yield 16 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 49 Total Fat 0g Saturated Fat 0g Trans Fat 0g Unsaturated Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 177mg Carbohydrates 13g Fiber 0g Sugar 12g Protein 0g
The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only.
Thanks for reading, friends, and I hope cream cheese and red sauce finds its way onto your holiday appetizer list this year.
Want new and updated recipes to show up in your inbox? Make that happen by clicking here to sign up for my newsletter!
Take care, and have a lovely day.
70's Recipe With Cream Cheese Worcestershire Sauce
Source: https://pastrychefonline.com/cream-cheese-and-red-sauce/