Dipping sauces incorporate flavor and add an interactive touch to many dishes. According to Mintel Menu Insights, the top sauces used for dipping include marinara sauce, ranch dressing, cocktail sauce, barbecue sauce and honey mustard sauce. Such sauces frequently provide restaurants with the opportunity to expand their menu flavor profiles. Some restaurants may serve a meal with two or three sauces, so that the consumer can choose the desired flavor.

Many dipping sauces are accented with the spicy and sweet flavors of pineapple, chipotle pepper, wasabi, ginger and orange. The restaurant 34 New Street in Huntington, N.Y., serves fried calamari tossed in a glaze of garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, orange zest and a bit of crushed red pepper, with an orange-ginger dipping sauce. T.G.I. Friday’s serves a cool cucumber-wasabi dipping sauce alongside its crispy green bean fries.