Try this homemade tartar sauce, and you’ll never want store-bought again. This has amazing flavor and texture with every bite. It’s perfect as a dip for fish sticks, crab cakes, or a spread for seafood sandwiches.
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Homemade Tartar Sauce
I was frustrated with store-bought tartar sauce; one disappointing can after another. Solution: homemade tarter sauce. Making your own is really easy. It’s fresh and amazing for these salmon cakes fish sticks or breaded fish fillets.
My Aunt Anna taught me how to make this Tartar Sauce recipe – she learned it in culinary school, and this is the recipe they made in their restaurant. I’ve probably made this a hundred times, and my fishstick-loving teenage son makes it regularly. It’s our go-to because it’s so easy to make, has simple ingredients and keeps really well in the fridge.
See those fish sticks in the photo – yeah, those are from Costco. Maybe one day, I’ll make my own fish sticks, but for now, these are really good (the Trident brand). Sometimes, I find that I eat more tartar sauce than fish sticks (sounds gross, but this sauce is THAT GOOD!). This recipe stays fresh in the fridge for a few days.
Tartar Sauce Video
Watch my easy video tutorial, and you’ll have this recipe memorized in no time!
Ingredients for Tartar Sauce
- Real Mayonnaise – you can use your favorite storebought mayo or homemade mayonnaise
- Dill pickles – I prefer baby dills for extra crunch since they have more surface area.
- Dill (or) Parsley – you can use fresh or frozen – it adds freshness.
- 1 tsp lemon juice – freshly squeezed is best
- 1 tsp sugar – this balances the sauce, but you can add it to taste
- Pepper – freshly cracked smells and tastes the freshest
- Onion – it’s 2 Tbsp of chopped onion, and it’s optional (I usually skip it when I’m feeling lazy to chop an onion).
How to Make Tartar Sauce
This is really complicated, so pay attention. Are you ready?…
1. Combine everything in a mixing bowl and give it a good stir. Done!
Serve Tartar Sauce With
There are so many great uses for Tartar Sauce, from a dipping sauce to sandwiches. Outside of fish sticks, we love it with:
- Crab Cakes
- Shrimp Cakes
- Fish Tacos
- Salmon Patties
- Onion Rings
- Air Fryer French Fries
- Grilled Salmon Sandwich
Storing Tartar Sauce
Homemade Tartar Sauce keeps really well in the refrigerator. Transfer to an airtight container or jar and refrigerate. It is best enjoyed within 1 week but can last up to 2 weeks.
Tartar Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise*
- 1 cup dill pickles, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp dill, fresh or frozen, OR 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped, optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
- Add more lemon juice or pickles if desired.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
This is a great recipe especially now that the store bought brand we like is almost $8!
I made too much though. How long will this keep refrigerated?
Hi Stephanie, good to know that you enjoyed this! The tartar sauce keeps covered and refrigerated for 5 to 7 days
Fried some fish today and forgot the tarter sauce 😡 googled best tarter sauce recipe and boom 🤯 I’m never buying store brand again the onions surprisingly adds a great texture to the sauce 10/10 for sure loved it
I’m so glad you found this recipe, Darren! Thank you for sharing.
Adding minced garlic to see how it kicks it up a notch 😂 I have fresh cod running it through beer batter. I’ll follow up with comments.
I’m looking forward to your feedback, Robbie!
Used Dill relish and made great fish tacos with a couple other things. Well be much easier to eat more fish with this. Thanks again
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Charlie!
I cut the recipe in half. It was so easy and so yummy! No need for store bought again!
Yay! That’s great feedback, thank you for sharing.
I’m not a fan of tartar sauce, but this recipe is excellent. I used sweet pickles, since that’s what I had on hand. Dried dill and minced fresh onion. It is a tasty complement to the Salmon cakes.
I’m so glad you gave it a try and loved it, Donna! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Thanks so much by using bread and butter pickles it goes towards the sweeter side and makes an incredible tartar sauce for those who prefer it sweeter.
That sounds like the perfect combination, Jeffrey! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
I usually make tartar sauce without a recipe but I decided to try this. Excellent! My daughter just said it was amazing. Definitely would use this now as my go to recipe. Thanks!
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Omg. Hubby brought home fresh pike and made a beer batter. Made this tartar sauce and DELICIOUS!!! Had to share with friends down the road, because it was SO DELICIOUS. Definitely our now go to recipe.
That’s wonderful feedback, yay! Thank you for sharing, I hope your family will enjoy all the recipes that you will try from my website.
Was looking for a simple but good tartar sauce recipe. I have used some of your previous recipes and liked them so tried this one. Loved it!!!! I just added some Dijon mustard for an extra kick. Will keep
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Yasmeen!
Hi Natasha,
I can’t wait to try your Salmon cake recipe. And for the tartar sauce-I am not a Pickle lover, so I was wondering if there could be a substitute for the pickles? Thank you
I have not tried a substitution but someone else shared this comment “Delicious. I used relish instead of pickles. I added mustard.” I hope that helps.
Pickles are kind of an essential part of tartar sauce. Otherwise, it’s just mayonnaise.
We love it! Had blackened halibut one night then used it next day for halibut tacos with homemade coleslaw. Delish. Also used on fried shrimp.
Sounds great! Good to know that you enjoyed this recipe!
It definitely needs to rest for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. It tasted way too sweet when first mixed and I almost threw it out. So glad I didn’t! I do like my tarter extra briney, so I also minced up some capers and added a little of the juice as well. Overall, pretty yummy, but next time I will be reducing if not omitting the sugar all together.
I made this to go on the Salmon patty recipe you have..it was really great. I did 1/3 of the recipe, because we didn’t need that much, but think I added too much sugar :/ oh well, it was still good, will 100% make again!
Wonderful! Thank you for the feedback, Crystal. 🙂
I’ve found that adding onions tends to enhance tarter sauce, however I know many folks don’t like the texture of raw onions. So, to have the best of two worlds, I grate onions for almost all my sauces. To add a bit of zip, try adding horseradish (to taste)!
Thank you for the feedback, Nikki! 🙂
Best ever! Will never buy tarter sauce again. Did I read a response that said this could be frozen?
Hi Cheryl! So glad you enjoy this recipe. The tartar sauce keeps covered and refrigerated for 5 to 7 days but I have not tested freezing. I am trying to see if there are any comments/feedback about freezing this but I cannot find them…
I’ve made this a handful of times and it always turns out great. The consistency is right on and I can make it in small batches since I’m the only fish and tartar sauce lover at home. Thanks!
So glad to hear that, Robin.
This was delicious! I added a splash of pickle juice, which upped the wonderful dill flavor. This recipe is a keeper.
That’s a great idea, thank you for sharing that with us!
Made this tonight and my husband loved it (me too!). Thank you for the recipe. It’s a keeper for sure.
Awesome! I’m glad to hear that.
I will never buy tartar sauce ever again! The best tartar sauce I’ve ever tasted in my life. Absolutely delicious!!! 😋 Thank you for sharing this recipe
I’m so happy you loved it as much as we did! Thank you for your fantastic review, Lee!