This 4-Ingredient Tartar Sauce Recipe requires only a handful of ingredients but it’s packed with so much flavor. Creamy mayonnaise is blended with bright lemon juice and crunchy pickles that makes for an amazing combination of flavors.
This sauce is often paired with seafood like crab cakes, salmon cakes, and fish sandwiches but it’s also good on salads and plenty of proteins. It also is a different way to garnish your fish tacos.
The next time you are looking for a bright, creamy sauce that’s incredibly easy to make, check out this easy tartar sauce recipe.
Common Questions about Tartar Sauce
What is tartar sauce?
This creamy condiment is a mayonnaise-based sauce made with pickle relish and lemon juice. Sometimes it also has capers and herbs.
How is tartar sauce made?
Tartar sauce is easy to make — just combine mayonnaise, pickle relish, and other ingredients. Serve immediately, or store it for when you need it.
What can I use tartar sauce on?
This sauce can be used on a variety of foods. It is often served with seafood, but it can also be used on sandwiches, burgers, fries, and veggies.
Storage
You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it until you need it.
Refrigerator – Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Freezer – We do not recommend freezing this sauce.
Tips
This delicious sauce is so easy it hardly needs any tips to get the best results.
- Use high-quality ingredients. Since there are only a few ingredients, you want to make sure that they all shine to create the best flavor in the sauce.
- While fresh lemon juice is always best, you can use lemon juice from a store-bought bottle, too.
Ingredients
Just grab these basic ingredients out of your fridge (or find them easily at the grocery store) and quickly put together a delicious seafood sauce.
- Mayonnaise
- Dill pickles – finely chopped
- Fresh dill – finely chopped
- Lemon juice
- Salt and pepper
Kitchen Supplies You’ll Need
A bowl and a whisk are all you need.
How to Make Tartar Sauce
It couldn’t be more simple to make this creamy tartar sauce.
- Add all ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together until completely combined.
- Sprinkle in salt and black pepper to taste.
- Cover with plastic wrap or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
What to Serve With Tartar Sauce
There are tons of dishes that are made better with this tasty condiment.
- Seafood – Crab cakes, scallops, fish sticks, fish fillets, and other seafood dishes pair perfectly with tartar sauce.
- Shrimp salad – Substitute tartar sauce for plain mayonnaise when making shrimp salad.
- French fries– Tartar sauce can be a great dipping sauce for french fries (or onion rings!).
- Vegetables– Offer this on the side as a dipping sauce or spoon it over top.
- Sandwiches – Tartar sauce can be a delicious sandwich spread.
- Salad– You can use this as a creamy, bright salad dressing over any green salad.
Why You Should Make Tartar Sauce
If you like a zesty, creamy sauce to pair with seafood (or other dishes) this sauce is for you.
- Easy– It’s a super simple recipe made with simple ingredients you’ll likely have in the fridge.
- Customizable– You can make all sorts of changes or additions to make it your own signature sauce.
- Long-lasting– It stays fresh in the fridge for a while so it’s perfect for meal prep.
Variations and Add-ins
There are plenty of ways to add excitement to tartar sauce.
- Zest– Add lemon zest to increase the citrusy flavor.
- Pickles– For a sweeter flavor, use sweet pickle relish, and for a more dilly flavor use dill pickle relish — you can also just use your own chopped pickles if you don’t have relish handy. Also, you can add a splash of the pickle juice from the jar.
- Worcestershire– For more depth of flavor, add Worcestershire sauce.
- Mayo substitute– For a tangier sauce, try replacing some or all of the mayo with sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
- Old Bay seasoning– To add a bit of spice that complements the seafood well, try shaking in a little Old Bay.
- Herbs– Use fresh herbs from your garden or add dried herbs — dried dill is a great way to boost the flavor in this sauce.
- Spices– Experiment with adding onion powder or garlic powder.
- Mayonnaise – Instead of purchasing it, try making your own homemade mayonnaise.
If you love this easy tartar sauce recipe, you’re going to love these other condiment and sauce recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
Other Savory Sauces
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Best 4-Ingredient Tartar Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup dill pickles finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon dill fresh – finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium-size bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, pickles, dill, and lemon juice.
- Add the salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
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