Similar to Chinese sweet-and-sour sauce, but spicier and with more tomato in it like barbecue sauce, mumbo sauce (with a “u”) came to fame in the 50s when it migrated from Chicago to D.C.-area take-out restaurants to be used on practically everything from chicken wings to fried shrimp.

Washington D.C.-area entrepreneur Arsha Jones created the currently most popular version of the sauce and originally called it Capital City Mumbo Sauce. But the name was already taken, and a 2013 trademark decision forced Arsha to slightly alter the name of her product—to Mambo Sauce.

Because the sauce is so good on fried chicken, KFC began testing Arsha’s sauce in several restaurants in 2021 for a potential chain-wide rollout, and now you can test out some uses for your own home version. This original hack recipe will take you just five minutes to make and will give you one cup of the iconic sauce to use on fried chicken, wings, shrimp, French fries, Chinese food, or anything that needs a good dose of great flavor.

Source: Hack That Dish by Todd Wilbur.