Every kebab shop in Britain gets the same question a few hundred times a week: “What sauce?” The answer used to be chilli, garlic or both. It still is for most customers, but walk into a busy grill in Birmingham, Bradford or east London now and you will see Algerian, Samurai and Andalouse on the squeeze bottles next to them.
Sauce is where a kebab shop makes its name. Meat and bread are broadly similar from one shop to the next; the chilli sauce is what people argue about. Getting the sauce range right, and serving it in the right format, is one of the cheapest ways to stand out on a street with four other doner signs.
This guide covers the kebab shop sauces UK customers expect, how to serve each one, and the newer sauces worth adding. Everything named is stocked by BurgerPro and available in single tubs from the online shop for anyone who wants to try them at home.
The heart of the menu. Kebab shop chilli sauce is typically tomato-based, sharp with vinegar, sweetened a little and carrying anything from a gentle warmth to a serious kick. Most shops run a house chilli and, increasingly, a hot version for the customers who ask for “extra, extra”.
If you want a chilli sauce with real character, Harissa Du Cap Bon is the traditional Tunisian chilli paste, sold in 2kg tubs, and it is what gives a lot of the best doner shops their depth. Loosen it with a little oil or water for a pourable sauce, or use it neat as a paste for marinating.
For a Thai-style sweet chilli that suits chicken, Nawhal’s Chili Thai sauce comes in 950ml squeeze tubs and a 5L bibox. Our explainer on what Chili Thai sauce is covers where it fits.
For a peri peri heat scale, the DEL Premium range in 5L jugs runs from Mozambican Mild through Hot to Extra Hot. Grilled chicken shops in particular should have at least one on the counter.
The cooling half of “chilli and garlic”. A good garlic mayonnaise is thick enough to hold a line on a doner, garlicky enough to taste over the meat, and not so heavy that it swamps the salad. “Garlic mayo” is searched over 4,000 times a month in the UK, which tells you how many people are trying to work out what makes the kebab shop version taste the way it does.
The base is a proper mayonnaise, though some shops cut it with Greek yoghurt for a lighter finish. Nawhal’s Mayonnaise and the richer Mayo Traiteur both come in 950ml tubs and 5L biboxes. Colona’s Mayonnaise Premium is available by the 10L bucket for shops that get through it fast. Add fresh or dried garlic, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt, and you have a kebab shop garlic sauce that customers will come back for. Once you have added fresh garlic, treat it as a fresh product: keep it chilled, label it and use it within a few days.
Some shops serve garlic mayo and call it white sauce; others mean a yoghurt-and-cucumber sauce closer to a tzatziki. The second version is lighter, cooler and very popular with chicken and lamb shish.
Nawhal’s White Sauce with Fresh Cucumbers is exactly that: a creamy white sauce with real cucumber pieces, ready to squeeze. It comes in 350ml and 950ml tubs, a 5L bibox and a 10L bucket, and it is one of the fastest-moving sauces on a kebab counter. Run it alongside garlic mayo rather than instead of it; they serve different customers.
Between chilli and garlic sits the sauce built specifically for a pitta: typically a yoghurt or mayonnaise base with garlic, spices and a sharp note of lemon or vinegar. Nawhal’s Pita Kebab sauce is a creamy, lightly spiced sauce designed to go on doner and shish without fighting either the meat or the salad. Drizzle it over wraps and pittas or serve it in a dipping pot. It comes in 500ml and 950ml tubs and a 5L bibox, and Colona makes its own Pitta Kebab version in 850ml, 10ml sticks and 10L buckets.
Putting a named “kebab sauce” on the menu, rather than only chilli and garlic, gives undecided customers an easy answer and gives regulars something to switch to. It is also the sauce to pack in delivery bags as the default, because it suits nearly everything on a kebab menu.
Here is where kebab shops have changed most in the last few years. The snack sauces of Belgium and northern France, which grew up in frites shops and kebab houses over there, have crossed the Channel and are now asked for by name.
The biggest of them. Sweet, tangy, gently spicy, with onion and pepper notes, Algerian sauce was created by Nawhal’s and is the most searched Belgian sauce in the UK by a wide margin. It goes on doner, chicken, chips and burgers equally well. Start with the 500ml tub and move to the 950ml or a bibox once you see how fast it goes. Our full guide to Algerian sauce explains its background.
Hotter and sharper than Algerian, built on mayonnaise with chilli and a peppery finish. Samurai is the one for customers who find Algerian too sweet. Nawhal’s Samurai and Colona Samourai are both stocked. See what Samurai sauce is for more.
Mild, creamy and slightly sweet, with tomato and pepper. Andalouse is the gateway Belgian sauce for anyone who does not want heat. Nawhal’s Andalusian and Colona Andalouse both work well on chicken shish and chips. Our Andalouse sauce post has more.
Once the first three are on the counter, the next tier is worth a look. Colona Hannibal is sweet and savoury, made with tomato and roasted onion, and has a cult following (our Hannibal sauce guide explains it). Moroccan sauce is warm and spiced rather than hot. Tunisian sauce leans on harissa flavours. One or two of these as a rotating “sauce of the month” gives regulars a reason to look at the board.
Squeeze bottles at the pass. Ladling from open tubs is slow, wasteful and dries the sauce out. Nawhal’s and Colona Tubbies are squeeze-ready; buckets and biboxes should be decanted into labelled squeeze bottles. Our guide to sauce formats for takeaways covers the arithmetic.
Sticks for delivery. Ten-millilitre sticks of Algerian, Samurai, Andalouse, mayonnaise and ketchup from the Colona Stick Collection or the Nawhal’s Stick Collection travel without leaking and let you charge for extras.
Name them on the menu and on the app. “Chilli, garlic or Algerian?” is a better question than “sauce?”, and named sauces on a delivery listing get chosen more than “spicy sauce”.
Keep the heat scale honest. Put a simple mild, medium, hot marker next to each sauce. Customers who get burned once do not come back; customers who get exactly the heat they asked for do.
Rotate stock and refrigerate opened tubs. Follow the pack guidance for opened sauces and date every squeeze bottle when it is filled. If you make your own chilli or garlic sauce in-house, it usually tastes better after a day in the fridge, but keep it chilled, labelled and used within the week.
The classics are chilli sauce, garlic mayonnaise and a white yoghurt or cucumber sauce. Many shops now also offer Belgian snack sauces such as Algerian, Samurai and Andalouse, plus a dedicated kebab sauce.
Typically a tomato base sharpened with vinegar, sweetened slightly and spiced with chilli. Harissa, a Tunisian chilli paste, is the base many of the best versions are built on.
Depending on the shop, either a garlic mayonnaise or a lighter yoghurt-and-cucumber sauce. Nawhal’s White Sauce with Fresh Cucumbers is a ready-made version of the second style.
A sweet, tangy, mildly spicy sauce with onion and pepper notes, created by the Belgian brand Nawhal’s and now one of the most requested sauces in UK kebab and burger shops.
Nawhal’s states that its sauces are certified vegetarian and halal compatible, and Colona holds halal certification for its range. Check the individual product page for the sauce you are buying. Our post on halal burger sauce essentials has more detail.
Squeeze tubs (500ml to 950ml) for the counter, sticks for delivery, and a 5L bibox or 10L bucket only for the one or two sauces that go through fastest, decanted into squeeze bottles.
Yes. Every sauce mentioned here is available in single tubs from the BurgerPro online shop with UK delivery.
BurgerPro supplies Harissa, Pita Kebab sauce, White Sauce with Fresh Cucumbers, mayonnaise, peri peri and the full Nawhal’s and Colona Belgian range from one warehouse in Birmingham, delivered anywhere in the UK and dispatched within 1 to 2 working days. Browse the sauces range, or if you run a kebab house, grill or takeaway, complete the wholesale enquiry form for trade pricing and case quantities.
