Tartar Sauce
This homemade Tartar Sauce is one of my favorite condiments to make at home. It’s ready in 5 minutes and has all of the classic flavors of store-bought or restaurant tartar sauce using just 7 ingredients!
Easy Homemade Tartar Sauce with Horseradish
This tart and tangy dipping sauce, also known as tartar sauce, is a personal favorite. It’s simple to prepare, uses very few ingredients, and pairs well with so many different recipes.
Once you start whipping this sauce up at home, you’ll stop buying the jarred stuff. In just 5 minutes, you can have a restaurant-quality condiment ready-to-go.
Enjoy with fish and chips, Alaskan salmon, crab cakes, fries, you name it.
Tartar Sauce Ingredients
- Mayonnaise: Use your favorite variety of jarred mayonnaise for this recipe.
- Dill: We’re adding that tangy dill flavor using fresh dill and dill relish.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh is best, but bottled will work in a pinch.
- Horseradish: If you don’t have horseradish on hand, you can also use stone ground mustard.
- Granulated Sugar: Offsets the tangy, spicy flavors with a little bit of sweetness.
- Black Pepper: For an extra kick of heat.
How to Make Homemade Tartar Sauce
Scroll to the recipe card below for full instructions and ingredient amounts!
This quick and easy tartar sauce recipe could not be easier to make. Just mix and serve!
- Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until blended.
- Serve or store in the fridge.
Tips and Variations
- Refrigerate before serving. If you’re working with some extra time, I recommend sticking the tartar sauce in the fridge for 30 minutes or so before serving it. This gives all those yummy flavors time to meld together!
- No horseradish? You can swap it out for stone-ground mustard instead. It won’t have quite the same taste, but it will still be delicious.
- Make it without sugar. I do love the subtle sweetness the sugar adds to the sauce, but it is optional.
- If you want to add a little bit of sweetness without the granulated sugar, try swapping the dill relish out for sweet relish.
What Do You Eat Tartar Sauce With?
Tartar sauce is a pretty versatile condiment. It’s often enjoyed with fish and chips, but can absolutely be served with other foods too.
Here are a few of my favorite recipes to make when I have a batch of tartar sauce in the fridge:
Storage
Leftover homemade tartar sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Is Tartar Sauce Different from Mayonnaise?
Yes! Tartar sauce has a mayonnaise base, but it’s mixed with other ingredients to give it a unique tart and tangy flavor.
Tartar sauce is often served with seafood, but can also be served with other proteins, fries, veggies, and more. It’s flavorful, but plenty versatile too!
What is Tartar Sauce Supposed to Taste Like?
Tartar sauce has a rich, slightly tangy taste and can be a bit spicy from the heat from the horseradish and black pepper. It depends on how much horseradish and black pepper you use.
Many store-bought and restaurant versions are on the sweet side due to added sugar or corn syrup.
Is Cream of Tartar in Tartar Sauce?
Nope! Tartar sauce does not actually contain any cream of tartar. It’s a mayo-based sauce flavored with ingredients such as dill and horseradish.
More Homemade Condiments to Try
Like This Recipe?
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Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise, not Miracle Whip
- ½ cup dill relish
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon horseradish, or stone ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl until well mixed. Serve immediately or refrigerate.1 cup mayonnaise½ cup dill relish1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice1 teaspoon horseradish1 teaspoon granulated sugar¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Scroll up and see the post for tips, FAQs, and storage options.
Your recipe is really nice and easy to make
Thank you for commenting and rating the recipe Karin!
Made this as written and served with fresh deep fried halibut…everyone loved it, just delicious!
Thank you Karen! Fried halibut sounds delicious. Thank you again for commenting and rating the recipe. Have a lovely day 🙂
I left out the sugar because we prefer little to no sweetness in our tartar sauce. This is by far the best I’ve had in a long time, beats frisch’s by a mile. I’m never buying tartar sauce again, this is delicious!
Thank you Kirsten! Kim and I are glad you enjoyed the tartar sauce. I understand not caring for the sweetness. Thank you again for commenting and rating the recipe. Have a lovely day 🙂