Marinades are a simple, easy, and mostly-hands-off way to add flavor to proteins and vegetables.But you're putting several ingredients into something that's just going into the trash after an hour or two.Luckily, marinades can be used as a sauce for meat, tofu, or vegetables. But it does require taking precautions.During the marinating process, problematic pathogens that could make you and your dinner guests terribly sick.You'll need to cook the marinade first to eliminate bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli.You can use a food thermometer to make sure your sauce maintainsboiling temperature (212°F).If you've marinated vegetables, you don't have the same safety concerns as you do with a meat marinade. .These foods rarely carry pathogens that could make you ill, so feel free to use the leftover marinade as a sauce as is