Homemade tartar sauce takes just a few minutes to make, but that small bit of effort can completely change a plate of crispy fish. Creamy mayonnaise, crunchy pickles, briny capers, fresh lemon, Dijon mustard, and herbs come together in a cool, tangy sauce that is especially good with fried, baked, or grilled seafood.
There is no cooking required. Simply chop the ingredients, stir everything together, and give the sauce a little time in the refrigerator so the flavors can blend.
The recipe is also easy to adjust. Make it more tart with extra lemon, add fresh dill for a brighter herbal flavor, stir in horseradish for some bite, or add hot sauce when you want a little heat.
🥣 Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Chill time: 30–60 minutes
Total time: About 40 minutes
Yield: About 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Salt, to taste
🥒 Chop the Pickles and Capers
Finely chop the dill pickles so you get small bits throughout the sauce rather than large chunks in only a few bites.
Drain the capers and chop them as well. Capers have a concentrated salty, briny flavor, so chopping them distributes that flavor more evenly through the mayonnaise.
If your pickles are particularly wet, blot them lightly with a paper towel before adding them. Excess pickle liquid can thin the sauce more than you want.
🍋 Mix the Tartar Sauce
Place the mayonnaise in a medium bowl. Add the chopped pickles, capers, parsley, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.
Stir until everything is thoroughly combined.
Taste the sauce before adding salt. Capers, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, and mayonnaise already contribute saltiness, so you may need only a small pinch—or none at all.
At this stage, the sauce is ready to eat, but it becomes noticeably better after a little time in the refrigerator.
❄️ Chill Before Serving
Cover the tartar sauce and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, or preferably about an hour.
Resting gives the lemon, pickles, capers, herbs, and mustard time to season the mayonnaise more evenly. The sauce tastes more cohesive after chilling than it does immediately after mixing.
Give it another stir before serving and taste once more. Add another squeeze of lemon, a little black pepper, or a touch more Dijon if needed.
Serve the tartar sauce cold.
🥒 Dill Pickles or Sweet Pickles?
Dill pickles produce a bright, savory tartar sauce with plenty of acidity, and they are an excellent choice when serving the sauce with rich fried fish.
Sweet pickles or sweet relish create a more traditional sweet-and-tangy variation. If you prefer this style, replace the chopped dill pickles with the same amount of sweet relish.
You can also combine the two. A spoonful of dill pickle with a smaller amount of sweet relish gives the sauce just enough sweetness without making it taste sugary.
If using relish, drain away excess liquid before adding it so the tartar sauce stays thick and creamy.
🌿 Add Fresh Dill
Fresh dill and seafood are natural partners, so it is one of the easiest additions to homemade tartar sauce.
Add about 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill along with the parsley. You can also replace the parsley completely with dill if you prefer its stronger flavor.
Dried dill works when fresh is unavailable, but use considerably less because dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon, stir, and adjust after the sauce has rested.
🌶️ Make Spicy Tartar Sauce
For a tartar sauce with a little heat, stir in a teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce.
Sriracha creates a slightly garlicky, chile-forward sauce, while a cayenne-based hot sauce adds heat without changing the texture very much.
Horseradish is another excellent option. Add about 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish for a sharper, more pungent kick that works particularly well with fried fish and crab cakes.
For even more texture, finely chopped jalapeño can be stirred into the sauce.
🍋 Make It Extra Tangy
If you like a tart tartar sauce, increase the fresh lemon juice gradually.
Start with the tablespoon called for in the recipe, taste after chilling, and then add another teaspoon if you want more acidity.
You can also add a small amount of finely grated lemon zest. The zest increases the citrus aroma without thinning the sauce.
A teaspoon of pickle brine is another option, but add it cautiously. Too much liquid can quickly turn a thick tartar sauce runny.
🥄 How Thick Should Tartar Sauce Be?
Good tartar sauce should be thick enough to cling to a piece of fish rather than running immediately onto the plate.
The pickles and capers provide texture, but the sauce itself should remain creamy and spoonable.
If it is too thick for your preference, stir in a teaspoon of lemon juice or pickle brine.
If the sauce becomes too thin, add another spoonful of mayonnaise.
Remember that tartar sauce often loosens slightly after resting as salt and acid draw moisture from the chopped ingredients, so avoid making it too thin when you first mix it.
🐟 What to Serve with Tartar Sauce
Crispy battered fish may be the most familiar partner for tartar sauce. The cool, acidic sauce balances the richness of the fried coating while pickles and capers complement the mild flavor of white fish.
It is equally good with baked cod, haddock, pollock, tilapia, rockfish, and other mild fish. Spoon it alongside the fish or serve it in a small bowl for dipping.
Tartar sauce also works with crab cakes, salmon cakes, fish sandwiches, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, scallops, and other seafood.
For fish tacos, use tartar sauce as a creamy base and add shredded cabbage, fresh lime, cilantro, and salsa for a quick variation on the usual taco crema.
🍟 Tartar Sauce Isn’t Just for Seafood
Although tartar sauce is strongly associated with seafood, there is no reason to limit it to fish.
Try it as a dip for French fries, roasted potatoes, onion rings, or crispy vegetables. The combination of mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, and herbs works anywhere you might otherwise use a creamy dipping sauce.
It can also be spread onto sandwiches and wraps. A spoonful on a crispy chicken sandwich or vegetable burger adds creaminess and plenty of tang.
You can even use a little tartar sauce as the base for a quick potato salad or as a dressing for a cold seafood salad.
🥪 Make a Fish Sandwich
Homemade tartar sauce is particularly useful when making a crispy fish sandwich.
Spread the sauce generously across a toasted bun, then add a fried or baked fish fillet, shredded lettuce or cabbage, and a squeeze of fresh lemon.
Pickles can be added to the sandwich as well, although you may not need many because the tartar sauce already contains them.
For a lighter sandwich, use grilled fish with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce instead of breaded fish.
🧂 How to Adjust the Flavor
One advantage of homemade tartar sauce is that you can easily adjust it before serving.
If it tastes too rich, add lemon juice. If it needs more savory flavor, add a little Dijon mustard or another teaspoon of capers.
For more crunch, add extra pickles. For a fresher flavor, increase the parsley or add dill.
If the acidity becomes too sharp, another spoonful of mayonnaise will soften it.
Make changes gradually and taste after each addition. Ingredients such as capers, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and pickle brine can quickly become dominant.
🥛 Can You Make Tartar Sauce Without Mayonnaise?
Mayonnaise gives traditional tartar sauce its rich, smooth consistency, but you can replace some or all of it if needed.
Plain Greek yogurt creates a lighter, tangier sauce. For a balanced texture, try using half mayonnaise and half Greek yogurt.
Sour cream can also replace part of the mayonnaise, although it gives the finished sauce a noticeably different flavor.
When making substitutions, you may want to reduce the lemon juice initially because yogurt and sour cream already contain more tang than mayonnaise. Taste first and add additional lemon as needed.
⏰ Can You Make Tartar Sauce Ahead?
Yes. Tartar sauce is actually a good recipe to prepare ahead because resting gives the flavors time to blend.
Make it several hours before dinner, cover the bowl or transfer the sauce to an airtight container, and refrigerate until serving.
It can also be prepared the night before.
Stir it well before putting it on the table because a small amount of liquid may separate during storage.
🧊 How to Store Homemade Tartar Sauce
Transfer leftover tartar sauce to a clean airtight container and keep it refrigerated at 40°F or below.
For best quality, plan to use homemade tartar sauce within about 5 to 7 days, particularly when it contains freshly chopped herbs and other additions.
Always use a clean spoon when serving it from the container. If tartar sauce has been sitting alongside seafood at room temperature for an extended period, it is better not to return that portion to the storage container.
Perishable foods should generally not remain at room temperature for more than two hours, or one hour when temperatures are above 90°F.
❄️ Can You Freeze Tartar Sauce?
Freezing tartar sauce is not recommended.
Mayonnaise-based sauces tend to separate after freezing and thawing, leaving the sauce watery or grainy rather than smooth and creamy.
Because this recipe takes only about 10 minutes to prepare, making a fresh batch is usually a better option.
If you consistently have leftovers, simply cut the ingredient quantities in half and make a smaller batch.
💡 Tips for the Best Homemade Tartar Sauce
Use fresh lemon juice rather than bottled juice whenever possible. Lemon is one of the main flavors in the sauce, and fresh juice gives it a brighter finish.
Finely chop the pickles and capers so every spoonful contains a little of everything. Large chunks can overwhelm the sauce and make it difficult to spread or dip.
Taste before salting. Several of the ingredients are already salty, and it is much easier to add salt than to correct a sauce that has too much.
Finally, do not skip the chilling time when you can avoid it. Even half an hour in the refrigerator allows a very simple mixture of mayonnaise and condiments to become a much more balanced tartar sauce.
🐟 A Simple Sauce Worth Making from Scratch
Homemade tartar sauce is proof that a good condiment does not need a complicated ingredient list. Mayonnaise gives it a creamy base, pickles and capers bring crunch and briny flavor, Dijon adds a little sharpness, and lemon keeps everything bright.
Mix it in minutes, let it chill while you prepare the rest of dinner, and serve it beside crispy fish, shrimp, crab cakes, or whatever seafood is on the menu.
Once you know the basic proportions, it is also easy to make the recipe your own. Add dill, horseradish, hot sauce, extra lemon, or a little sweet relish until you have exactly the tartar sauce you like.
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