26 Delicious Recipes That Use Up Those Aging Condiments in the Fridge

We all have almost-empty bottles and jars of condiments languishing in our fridges, especially those one-offs we buy for specific recipes that we'll likely never use again or maybe items we simply overbought. Don't throw those little bits out, because there are plenty of ways to use them up in other recipes. If you've got leftovers such as hoisin, balsamic vinegar, Sriracha, or mustard to use up, check out these condiment-friendly recipes — perfect for when you're stuck at home as many of us are these days and trying to get creative without blowing the budget.

Related: 24 Condiments From Around the World to Add Zing to Any Meal

It's easy to collect a few half-used bottles of your favorite barbecue sauces in the fridge door. You can only do so many cookouts with barbecue chicken, so try these nachos instead. They mix ground beef with barbecue sauce and include bacon, cheddar, and green onions. 

Recipe: Delish

Skip the can of Manwich if you want to use up some condiments with your sloppy Joes. Make them from scratch using your favorite ketchup, mustard, peppers, onions, and seasonings. Leftovers are great in a grilled cheese sandwich, too. 

Recipe: Dinner Then Dessert

Adding butter to Sriracha mellows it out and helps it coat plump shrimp. This recipe uses 6 tablespoons of the rooster sauce for kick, then adds lemon zest and fresh chopped herbs for freshness at the end. 

Recipe: Bon Appetit

Pork and mustard are a classic combination, and this recipe adds balsamic vinegar for even more flavor. Whole-grain mustard, balsamic, olive oil, and fresh rosemary are combined and poured over pork chops before baking for a quick meal. 

Recipe: Jo Cooks

It's well-known that bloody marys include plenty of Worcestershire sauce, but this particular recipe is a condiment quadruple threat. Besides Worcestershire, it also contains prepared horseradish, mustard, and hot sauce. Who doesn't love a good excuse to have a drink on Sunday morning?

Recipe: Former Chef

Why bother with takeout when you can make so many Chinese-American recipes with just a few Asian condiments? Lo mein is always a favorite, and this version includes flank steak, bell pepper, and snow peas in a sauce made with soy, oyster sauce, and rice wine vinegar. 

Recipe: Epicurious

Related: 21 Takeout Meals Made Cheaper at Home

Ketchup and mayo make up the creamy pink base of Thousand Island dressing. And even if you don't like Thousand Island on a green salad, you can use it to turn a corned beef sandwich into a reuben. 

Recipe: Chowhound

Most meatloaf recipes use ketchup as a glaze, but you can punch up the flavor by using bottled steak sauce. By mixing it into the ground beef and brushing it on top as it bakes, you're sure to get a beefed-up loaf. 

Recipe: Dessert Now Dinner Later

Perfect for serving with fried or broiled fish, tartar sauce is a creamy, tangy condiment made up of other condiments. Mayo and pickle relish are the norm, but you can also spice it up however you want with a little hot sauce or olive brine. 

Recipe: Food Network

Practically everything is "Buffaloed" now, from pasta salad to meatballs. This recipe for Buffalo chicken quesadillas is genius: Who doesn't love cheesy, creamy quesadillas with a kick already? Adding Frank's RedHot and ranch is a natural progression. 

Recipe: Delish

Soy sauce and honey is a classic pairing of sweet and savory. It makes a fantastic topping for broiled salmon along with garlic, Fresno chiles, and scallions. Serve it with broiled asparagus and rice. 

Recipe: Epicurious

The picnic and cookout classic potato salad just happens to use a lot of condiments. The most common are mayonnaise, of course, along with bright yellow mustard and pickle relish. This recipe uses all three plus celery salt, hard-boiled eggs, and onions for a traditional flavor. 

Recipe: Allrecipes

Have some apricot jam that you didn't use up in last season's holiday cookies? It makes a great glaze for pork, along with tangy Dijon mustard and herbs. Leftovers make great sandwiches, too.

Recipe: Taste of Home

Classic deviled eggs are a great way to use up plenty of condiments, and they're always a crowd-pleaser at parties. This recipe is made creamy with a little mayonnaise, tangy with Dijon mustard and white wine vinegar, and just a little spicy with Frank's RedHot sauce. 

Recipe: Serious Eats

This recipe to make a showstopping ham is super easy, using only three ingredients aside from the ham. Pick an appropriate fruit jam or preserve you might have left in the fridge, such as peach, apricot, or pineapple, and mix it with mustard and red pepper flakes. Glaze the ham while it bakes — that's it. 

Recipe: The Spruce

If you happen to have sherry vinegar around that needs to be used up, try a traditional Spanish gazpacho. It's a smooth, chilled soup using only the ripest tomatoes and other garden vegetables. The sherry vinegar adds tartness and depth. If you're worried it'll be like drinking salsa, you needn't. The flavor is nothing like it.

Recipe: Bon Appetit

This variation on American potato salad uses quite a lot of vinegar in the dressing. It's not creamy, but there is mustard, sugar, bacon, and onions for a hearty, tangy, and healthier option to mayo-based salads. 

Recipe: Budget Bytes

If you've ever gone crazy over the oil and balsamic bread dip in an Italian restaurant, you know exactly what this recipe is all about. You can make it as simple — just olive oil and balsamic vinegar — or as complicated as you like. This recipe includes garlic, oregano and parmesan cheese. 

Recipe: The Food Charlatan

Tahini usually comes in large jars, but most recipes call for only a bit of it. With the leftovers, make hummus, the Middle Eastern chickpea dip flavored with garlic and lemon. This is also one of the best times to break out that really high quality extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on top. 

Recipe: Epicurious

Many people buy fish sauce for a particular recipe (maybe even pad Thai!) but then don't know what to do with the rest of the bottle. Pad Thai is a favorite around the world for a reason: It's simple, packed with flavor, and has a nice balance of flavors. Try this recipe if you have fish sauce and rice vinegar leftovers. 

Recipe: The Spruce

If you're not a big ketchup person, you might wonder what to do with the leftovers after you host a cookout and only a few people use it on their burgers. Try making a shrimp cocktail with a classic sauce using ketchup, horseradish, and chili sauce. Even folks who don't normally like ketchup enjoy the horseradish heat of cocktail sauce. 

Recipe: Southern Living

Most people put some kind of condiment on hot dogs, but Russian roulette dogs take that one step further. They mix together all kinds of condiments — ketchup, mayo, horseradish, relish — along with pimento and pepper into a hot dog sauce that's not too far off from Thousand Island dressing. 

Recipe: Better Homes & Gardens

Hoisin is sometimes described as an Asian barbecue sauce, but that doesn't make it much easier to use up. Here's a recipe for flank steak glazed with hoisin and served with a rice noodle salad dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, and sesame oil. It's a great meal during summer. 

Recipe: Cooking Light

Sambal oelek is a thick chile and garlic paste that you might have a half-jar of in your fridge. Try this recipe for broiled chicken thighs and broccolini with a peanut butter, sambal oelek, and sesame oil coating. It's one-pan and really fast. 

Recipe: Martha Stewart

If you're used to eating Indian mango chutney as a condiment, try using it instead as an ingredient in recipes. Adding it to a simple, creamy chicken curry gives the dish sweetness and evens out heat from the curry powder. 

Recipe: Taste of Home

If you picked up a tube of anchovy paste for a pasta recipe but don't know what to do with the rest of it, make some Caesar salads. While most homemade Caesar dressings call for whole anchovy fillets, you can use anchovy paste in place of any of them. This recipe also uses mustard and Worcestershire. 

Recipe: Once Upon a Chef