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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.
See those fish sticks there – 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 stick (sounds gross, but this sauce is THAT GOOD!). This recipe stays fresh in the fridge for a few days.
Ingredients for Tartar Sauce:
1 cup real Mayonnaise
1 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 Tbsp dill (fresh or frozen), OR 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion is good too, but optional (I usually skip it)
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.
Tartar Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup real 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
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hi! Greetings from Brazil! The land of barbecue parties, sunny beaches and great carnival balls! I do love american recipes.
Is there any sour cream recipe? Unfortunately in Brazil there is no sour cream ready to use and we do have to prepare it at home. Can you Help me? Thanks a lot, Mucio
Hi Mucio. Sour Cream is a fairly simple recipe including whipping cream and buttermilk. I would recommend a simple google search for a recipe. I hope this helps.
Looks like something to make tonight.
Awesome! Enjoy!
Has anyone tried this recipe with sweet pickles instead of dill pickles? I would leave out the sugar if I used sweet pickles.
Yes! Some of readers reporting this working great with sweet pickles!
Holy moly this is good. I left out the sugar since I like my tartar sauce more on the tart side and used my own homemade mayo. I’m a tartar sauce on everything kind of girl and now that I can make it at home makes me so happy. Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you for the wonderful review!
Thank you so much for the tartar sauce recipe! I will never buy store bought again. It’s easy and fresh, and the onion gave it that certain something! I will be subscribing and following your blog so that I don’t miss a thing!
I’m so happy you discovered our blog. Welcome! 🙂
I loved your recipe so much, I saved it on the computer. Then my hard drive went belly up. I had to search for it again by telling it I wanted a recipe that used 1 cup dill pickles. Best recipe ever. I use a spice grinder to finely chop the dill pickle.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for that great review!
Really a good base. Then I added a splash of Worstershire, both dill AND parsley, celery salt, paprika and a few red pepper flakes . Yummy!
Sounds amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I had salmon cakes on vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tn. last wk. They used a cucumber, dill dip for the cakes. It was so good!
mmm that sounds so good! Thanks for sharing that with us, Pat.
Didn’t have the pickles for the tartar sauce so I substituted a 10 oz jar of dill relish. Already chopped! Drained the dill relish for a couple of minutes with a small strainer. Easy peasy. Tasted wonderful!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
..LOL… I was just going to ask Natasha if she thought I could substitute pickle relish for the pickles. Thanks for the post!
I canned 70 quarts of pickles last year. Wish we lived close
This is such an amazing recipe! Thanks so much for sharing, I added a little bit of chopped green apple as well and it was to die for!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jen!
I love making my own sauces, and tartar sauce is no exception. My recipe is similar to yours. I love a bit of tang to my tartar sauce, so I use dill relish, skip the sugar and add a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche.
I love your recipes; you are an inspiration! Thank you.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Maeve. Thank you for sharing that with us & for the wonderful compliment!
Just recently found Duke’s and am waiting to open it. Good to see a positive review on it. I am fussy about mayo and wonder why some folks don’t realize Hellman’s is mayo and Miracle Whip is salad dressing and has sugar in it..
Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
I usually make my own tartar with just mayonnaise and pickle relish but this sound so much better. Thanks for sharing this and all of your great recipes.
I meant “tartar sauce”
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Christine!
This is an awesome tartar sauce recipe. My husband, who hates pickles, loved it with his baked salmon. I use it as a veggie dip as well and always get raves for it.
Awww that’s the best Dianne! Thank you so much for sharing that with me :).
I like the dip idea. I’m going to try it with dill potato chips and knock my own socks off!
We have made this a few times and we love it easy it’s very good. thanks
You’re welcome Bobby! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing your great review!
I love that you use dill pickle instead of sweet. I would probably substitute dill relish (no mustard, straight relish) to make it even easier.
Great suggestion Theresa, thanks for sharing!
Hullo, ran across this post on Pinterest. Your recipe is very similar to the one my grandma taught me back in the early 70’s, except that it is missing the very thing that makes it “tartar” sauce – 1/2 teaspoon powdered cream of tartar. It adds a certain something (tartness perhaps?) that brings it up a notch. Try adding it the next time you make this and see.
Oh, also if it is too thick, use a bit of pickle juice to thin. And if you have access to farm fresh eggs, homemade mayo is a snap to make with a stick blender. If you REALLY want awesome tartar sauce, good homemade mayo really takes tartar sauce to the next level.
Yum! These are all great tips and suggestion Dee, thanks for sharing with other readers!
Have you used dried dill over fresh or frozen? Would the amount be used according to taste?
Hi Nevanka, I haven’t tried this with dried dill but with dried dill, you would only use about 1/3 of what is called for in the recipe and also give it time to soften in the tartar sauce before serving it. So if a recipe calls for 1 Tbsp of fresh dill, use 1 tsp of dried dill instead.
Just made this and it was delicious! Soo creamy and the crunchy pickle really adds a nice crunch! Took no time to make and it tastes great with fish. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Taylor! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe, thanks for sharing your great review!
Sometimes I just add a tbspn of green relish instead of the dill pickles, and chives for the onion flavour.
Oh ya, that sounds great! Thanks for sharing your tips Patricia!
I dont add sugar or fresh herbs. It’s mayo diced dill pickles, lemon juice and horseradish. Amazing everytime!
I’ll have to try that myself sometime, thanks for sharing Jessica!
Great recipe. Mind blown from the great taste. I will never buy tartar sauce again. All items were on hand in my kitchen & it was super easy. Next time I’ll use homemade mayo. Ty
I’m glad you love the recipe Marjorie! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!