Savory Rhubarb Sauce (V, GF)

Need a quick and easy sauce to amp up your weeknight pasta dinners, grilled fish or veggies, sandwiches, to stir into soups and more? Then look no further than this colorful savory Rhubarb sauce made in less than 20 minutes from only a few pantry ingredients.

This particularly fragrant with herbs Rhubarb Sauce effortlessly adds a rich herby and tart flavor to your everyday dishes and you can keep a batch in your fridge to pull out for your weekly meal prepping.  

Cooking with rhubarb is really fun as you start with a tart bright pink vegetable and turn it into something colourfully sweet or savory. #teamsavoryalltheway.

What is Rhubarb

Rhubarb is the colorful and rather tart spring vegetable that can be used in either desserts, salads, savoury recipes and even drinks like this Rhubarb Mojito.

Why You’ll love This Recipe

• You can easily double or triple this recipe to feed a crowd
• It is made from every day ingredients inless than 20 minutes.
• It is highly customisable with herbs and spices.
• It is easy to make ahead and serve up when needed.
• Great for using leftover rhubarb.
• It is suitable for vegan and gluten free diets.

Ingredients Notes

• Onions – white or red are fine.
• Garlic – minced garlic or use already pureed garlic.
• Rhubarb
• Water – you could experiment with low sodium broth too.
• Balsamic Vinegar – adds a rich flavour, but you can use other vinegars too.
• Maple syrup – just use your favorite brand.
• Basil – but do experiment with other herbs to your taste

The honey mellows the tartness of the rhubarb sauce, whilst the balsamic vinegar and basil add their very own beautiful extras. When served with some over some warm pasta with added basil or other herbs, it becomes a riot of flavour in your mouth. Believe me, you don’t want to miss out on this.

Want an easy recipe for Rhubarb Sauce? Then gather up your ingredients and let me show you…..

How To Make Rhubarb Sauce

Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

1. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat and sauté onions and garlic for about 8 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the rhubarb, basil, water, balsamic vinegar and honey, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes or until the rhubarb is completely broken down and the sauce has thickened.
3. Serve over pasta, grilled veggies or grilled meats etc.

Recipe Tips

• Cut your rhubarb into ½ inch pieces so they cook quicker.
• You can add a little more maple syrup (or honey) to your taste.
• If you prefer you can use lemon juice instead of balsamic vinegar to the sauce.
• If you want your rhubarb sauce to be chunkier cook for about 4-5 minutes less.
• You can change the water for some apple juice or pineapple juice to add some extra flavors.
• If you want a smoother rhubarb sauce, then you can simple blend it using an immersion blender to your taste.

Variations

• Add fruit – add raisins and sultanas in when you are cooking the sauce.
• Vary the herbs and spices – You can add other herbs like cilantro (fresh coriander), thyme as well as red pepper flakes etc if you wish.
• Use honey – How To Thicken Rhubarb Sauce
• Use sugar – If you prefer to make your rhubarb sauce with sugar instead then simply swap the honey for some sugar. I find that brown sugar adds a little extra depth to this sauce.

How To Thicken Rhubarb Sauce

To be honest this sauce is thick enough as it is. However if you want it even thicker, then combine 1-2 teaspoons of corn starch with 1-2 teaspoons of water into a paste, and stir into the sauce and cook until it reaches your desired consistency.

Storage

• Refrigerate – refrigerate in an air tight container for up to 5 days.
• Freeze – Let it cool down, then add to a labelled freezer bag, remove all the air, seal and keep for up to 3 months.
• Thaw – let defrost overnight in the fridge.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce And More Variations

If you prefer you can make the more dessert focused strawberry rhubarb sauce instead. To make this you would omit the oil, onions, garlic and basil.

• Add rhubarb, balsamic vinegar, honey, water and some strawberries to the pot.
• Bring to the boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender or completely broken down and the sauce has thickened.

This sauce is great served over vanilla ice cream (along with cream if you like it), in a rhubarb pie, with a lovely pound cake, over waffles and much, much more.

Sauce For Chicken

This makes a great Rhubarb Sauce for chicken. It works really great with chicken of any type, be it roasted, grilled, fried etc. Serve the chicken along with the sauce either hot or cold depending on the time of the year.

Rhubarb Bbq Sauce

This sauce makes a great rhubarb bbq sauce as is. However, if you want you can also add in some chilli and smoked paprika as you are cooking it. You can serve it alongside grilled meats, fish and even over grilled veggies. Just have fun with it.

FAQs

Serving Suggestions

Want to know what to do with rhubarb sauce. Well serve it with these treats

• Air Fryer Corn on the Cob.
• Instant Pot Corn on the Cob.
• Air Fryer Green Beans.
• Instant Pot Chicken Breast.
• Air Fryer Whole Chicken.
• Instant Pot Chicken Thighs.
• Instant Pot Whole Chicken.
• Air Fryer Salmon.

Thank you for reading my savory Rhubarb Sauce recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry.

Originally published April 2015

Get the Recipe For Rhubarb Sauce