Use recursion. Fixed: asynchronousCache.get("id:3244", function doThing(err, myThing) { if (myThing === null) { asynchronousDB.query("SELECT * fro

Use recursion. Fixed: asynchronousCache.get("id:3244", function doThing(err, myThing) { if (myThing === null) { asynchronousDB.query("SELECT * from something WHERE id = 3244", function(err, myThing) { // We now have a thing from DB, do something with result doThing(err, myThing); }); return; } else if(err !== null) { // Handle error. return; } // We have a thing. });