Made with simple ingredients and with minimal effort, Homemade Tartar Sauce is an easy recipe that is bursting with pickles and dill, yet has the perfect consistency for dipping!
Tartar Sauce goes hand in hand with fried or baked seafood. When serving Fish Sticks, Fish Sandwiches, Crab Cakes, or Tuna Cakes, a side of tartar sauce for dipping is a must! Yet it also makes a fabulous dip with Homemade French Fries or Onion rings.
While you can easily find tartar sauce at any grocery store, just like so many other things, the flavor of homemade tartar sauce is better than anything from a jar. Thankfully this recipe for tartar sauce only takes minutes to whip up using ingredients you likely have on hand.
Ingredients for Tartar Sauce
- Mayonnaise: Use light or full-fat mayonnaise, but not fat-free, as the flavor will be compromised. If you would like to lighten up the tartar sauce, replace up to half of the mayonnaise with plain nonfat yogurt. I have made tartar sauce using only plain yogurt before and while good, it is not the same as using some mayonnaise in the recipe.
- Dill Pickles: It is important to finely dice the dill pickles so that they don't compromise the dipping ability of the sauce. As for how many pickles to add, the advantage of making the sauce at home is that you can control that yourself. I recommend using between ¼ cup to ½ diced pickles. It just depends on how chunky you prefer the sauce to be.
- Dill: Fresh dill is best, but feel free to use dried dill if that is all you have one hand.
- Worcestershire Sauce: This is my "secret" ingredient that really adds depth of flavor to Tartar Sauce. Feel free to omit it, but it does help to balance everything out well.
- Mustard: Mustard gives the sauce a great depth of flavor to the sauce. Use Dijon or spicy brown mustard, not yellow mustard.
- Lemon: To brighten up Tartar Sauce, a bit of fresh lemon juice is needed. Fresh is best, but if you don't have any lemons use a teaspoon of the dill pickle juice instead, as that acidity will work to perk up the sauce as well.
- Onion: This is an optional ingredient. A freshly minced onion will give the tartar sauce a bit more texture and tang. Personally, I prefer using onion powder over minced onion, as it is less overpowering.
How to Make Tartar Sauce
Making tartar sauce is as simple as mixing together the ingredients to combine.
Once the tartar sauce has been combined, it is best to chill the sauce for 30 minutes prior to serving to allow the flavors to fully combine together.
Storage
Tartar sauce can be refrigerated for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. This recipe can easily be halved or doubled, so I only make what I need for a week's time, as Tartar sauce can not be frozen.
Serving Suggestions
Whether served with seafood, fried food, or chicken, this creamy, tangy Tartar Sauce is the perfect compliment to any of the following dishes, or as desired.
If you tried this recipe for Homemade Tartar Sauce, I would love for you to leave a comment and review below.
Homemade Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons fresh dill minced (or ½ teaspoon dried)
- ½ tablespoon Dijon/Brown mustard
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼-1/2 cup dill pickles finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced onion or ½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
- Mayonnaise: Use light or full-fat mayonnaise, but not fat-free, as the flavor will be compromised. If you would like to lighten up the tartar sauce, replace up to half of the mayonnaise with plain nonfat yogurt.
- Pickles: It is important to finely dice the dill pickles so that they don't compromise the dipping ability of the sauce. Add the full ½ cup of pickles if you like a chunky tartar sauce and only ¼ cup for a smoother sauce.
- Salt: There is no need to add additional salt to this sauce. The Worcestershire sauce and pickles add plenty.
- Dill: Fresh dill is best, BUT feel free to use dried dill if that is all you have one hand.
- Mustard: Use Dijon or spicy brown mustard, not yellow mustard.
- In place of fresh lemon juice, use 1 teaspoon of the dill pickle juice as a substitute.
- Onions are completely optional. Use onion powder for a more kid-friendly sauce.
- Tartar sauce can be refrigerated for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Do not freeze.
- This recipe can easily be halved or doubled.
Liz
My husband loves fish & chips but I never thought about making my own tartar sauce! I've been working on making vegan crab cakes and this will be perfect with that, too!
Kristen Chidsey
Oh I would LOVE to see that recipe creation, sounds delicious!
Michelle
My husband has spent a lot of time fishing this summer to pass the time, so we've been frying a bunch of fish! I am glad I tried this tartar sauce, it was easy to make and perfect with our fried fish. Thank you for the recipe.
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed this sauce! And what a great use of all this extra time 🙂
Margie Pierce
The recipe says 1/2 mayonaise.....should we assume that should be 1/2 cup?
Kristen Chidsey
YES--fixing now. Sorry about that!