Tartar Sauce
Once you learn how to make this easy tartar sauce recipe, you'll never use jarred again! Its bright, creamy tanginess instantly elevates the humblest seafood such as fish sticks (check out my oven/air fryer recipe!) and fish and chips, but it’s also extraordinary on veggies, baked potatoes, sandwiches and more. Best of all, this tartar sauce recipe is incredibly simple to make with just a few pantry friendly ingredients that you probably have on hand right now such as mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, lemon juice, and herbs. It’s also make-ahead friendly and keeps for up to a week. So, ditch the store-bought jar for this homemade tartar sauce that’s 1000X better!
Servings 1 cup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup finely chopped dill pickle (or relish)
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped capers
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chives or ¼ tsp onion powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp EACH salt, pepper, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, preferable 30 minutes for the best flavor. When ready to use, taste and adjust to taste if desired with additional lemon juice, capers, pickles, salt or pepper. The only way it won’t taste right is if you don’t play with it to make it right for you.
- Storage: Keep, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Video
Notes
Ingredient substitutions and variations
This tartar sauce recipe is incredibly versatile. Here are a few ideas for mixing up the ingredients based on necessity or personal preference:- Use different pickles: For a sweeter style, try bread and butter or sweet pickles instead of dill.
- Make it lighter: Swap the mayonnaise for light mayo and the sour cream for Greek yogurt. You can also use all Greek yogurt.
- Swap in olives: Use finely chopped pimento-stuffed green olives in place of the capers.
- Make it lemony: As written, the sauce is brightened by the lemon juice but it doesn’t taste lemony. If you want more of a citrus kick, add lemon zest and additional lemon juice to taste.
- Use apple cider vinegar: If you don’t have lemon juice on hand, try using apple cider vinegar or you can use a combination of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.
- Add onions: Swap the chives for finely minced shallot or green onions.
- Mix up the herbs: Add additional herbs or swap some of the herbs for tarragon or parsley.
- Mix up the seasonings: Depending on what the sauce is being served with, you can add some pizzaz with Cajun seasonings, Old Bay seasoning, Italian seasonings, etc.
- Worcestershire sauce: Add 1-2 teaspoons for an umami, sweet and tangy blast.
- Spice it up: Add a pinch of cayenne or a few drops Tabasco sauce.
- Make it vegan: Swap the mayonnaise and sour cream for a vegan kind like Vegenaise to fit your needs.
- Keep it keto: Tartar sauce is already low carb, but if you’re following a keto diet, be sure to use mayonnaise that is free of soybean oil such as avocado oil mayo. Make sure to use dill pickles as opposed to sweet pickles.