Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (2024)

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Just try it, and you’ll never go back to the bottle.

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (1)

As you all know, I’m a big fan of making your own salad dressing. Why shell out three bucks for a bottle full of unpronounceable ingredients, when you can whip up a delicious poppy seed dressing or cilantro lime ranch from real, fresh ingredients in a couple of minutes?

But why stop at salad dressing? Lots of things that come in a bottle at the store can also be made in your own kitchen. It’s cheaper, healthier…and usually not as hard as you think.

Take tartar sauce, for instance. This is the must-have condiment for all kinds of seafood dishes, from fried clams to salmon burgers. But what is it, really? Just a dressed-up version of mayonnaise. What could be easier to make yourself?

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (2)

My Homemade Tartar Sauce recipe shows how easy it is to do. It has everything you’d find in a really fancy bottled tartar sauce, including onion, pickles, lemon, and capers. (If you don’t have capers at home, go out and grab a jar. They’re pricey, but they’re super packed with flavor, so a tiny spoonful goes a really long way. And they keep practically forever.)

And what do you do with all these fancy ingredients? Just mix them with the mayo and refrigerate it. I’m serious…that’s it!

Homemade Tartar Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup of Mayonnaise
½ teaspoon Lemon juice
½ teaspoon Dill Pickle juice
½ teaspoon Capers, chopped
½ teaspoon Lemon zest
¼ teaspoon Onion, minced
2 teaspoons Dill Pickle relish
as desired Salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together, leaving salt until the end. Taste for seasoning regarding how much salt you’d like to add. Refrigerate until cool and the ingredients combine!

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (3)

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Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (4)

5 from 3 votes

Homemade Tartar Sauce

My Homemade Tartar Sauce recipe is a super easy recipe and I bet you already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen now!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Serves:4

Hover over “serves” value to reveal recipe scaler

Calories:136

Author:Corey Valley

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup of Mayonnaise
  • ½ teaspoon Lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon Dill Pickle juice
  • ½ teaspoon Capers chopped
  • ½ teaspoon Lemon zest
  • ¼ teaspoon Onion minced
  • 2 teaspoons Dill Pickle relish
  • as desired Salt

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together, leaving salt until the end. Taste for seasoning regarding how much salt you’d like to add. Refrigerate until cool and the ingredients combine!

Save this recipe for later! Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your recipe box!

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 136kcal (7%)Carbohydrates: 6g (2%)Protein: 0.3g (1%)Fat: 12g (18%)Saturated Fat: 2g (10%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 9mg (3%)Sodium: 507mg (21%)Potassium: 21mg (1%)Fiber: 0.1gSugar: 2g (2%)Vitamin A: 44IU (1%)Vitamin C: 1mg (1%)Calcium: 4mgIron: 0.1mg (1%)

Nutrition Disclaimer

Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.

Course:dip

Cuisine:seafood, seasoning

Keyword:creamy sauce, homemade

Did you make this recipe?Tag me on Instagram at @familyfreshmeals or leave me a below.

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12 Comments

  1. Janet says

    Do you use sweet pickle or dill? I usually use dill in my recipe.

    Reply

    • Corey says

      I use dill, but have a friend who tried it with sweet and loved it too. I guess it just depends on your taste. Do you usually prefer one of the other for other things?

      Reply

  2. Angela says

    Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (7)
    Gee, I never thought to add capers to my tarter sauce! I wish that I had your recipe yesterday, since I made a bowl of tarter sauce to have with our clam rolls last night. I’ll definitely add some capers next time. Otherwise, my ingredients were pretty much the same as yours. BTW, do you prefer using sweet pickle relish or dill pickle relish? I suppose it’s a matter of preference. Also, I always use Hellman’s mayo (for everything), but some folks prefer Miracle Whip Salad Dressing for tarter sauce. What do you use?

    Reply

    • Corey says

      I use dill, but have a friend who tried it with sweet and loved it too. I guess it just depends on your taste.

      Reply

  3. Donnie Killeen says

    Your recipe calls for pickle juice ..do you use dill or sweet juice ??? It doesn’t say .

    Reply

    • Corey says

      I use dill Donnie 🙂

      Reply

      • Donnie Killeen says

        Thank you . 🙂

        Reply

  4. Ken Plank says

    Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (8)
    Pickle relish? Sweet or Dill?

    Reply

    • Corey says

      I use dill, but have a friend who tried it with sweet and loved it too. I guess it just depends on your taste. Do you usually prefer one of the other for other things?

      Reply

  5. Jessie says

    Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (9)
    What is the shelf life of this homemade tartar sauce?

    Reply

  6. Cheryl says

    Is the relish sweet or dill? I can’t wait to try this.

    Reply

    • Corey says

      Cheryl, I use dill, but have a friend who tried it with sweet and loved it too. I guess it just depends on your taste. Do you usually prefer one of the other for other things?

      Reply

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is cream of tartar sauce made of? ›

Tartar sauce is a mixture of pickles and mayonnaise, basically, that is meant to be served with seafood. It looks creamy, but actually has no real cream in it. Tartar sauce comes in small jars, usually, and looks likes mayonnaise with chopped pickles in it.

How many days is homemade tartar sauce good for? ›

How long does homemade tartar sauce last? This easy sauce lasts for about a week when stored in the fridge. We love making a double batch to enjoy it throughout the week.

What is a good substitute for tartar sauce? ›

Instead of tartar sauce, use a garlicky aioli with or without a little dill or chopped pickle.

Does tartar sauce contain vinegar? ›

Some of the pickle juice is added to thin the sauce, but feel free to use the same amount of lemon juice. Most recipes call for white vinegar with some sugar added, I like to substitute rice wine vinegar, taking care of both needs there.

What is the real name of tartar sauce? ›

Tartar sauce (French: sauce tartare; spelled tartare sauce in the UK, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries) is a condiment made of mayonnaise, chopped pickles and relish, caper, and herbs such as tarragon and dill.

How do you make James Martin tartare sauce? ›

To make the sauce, whisk the egg yolks and mustard, slowly drizzling in the oil until thick. Then, mix in the vinegar, herbs, capers, shallots, gherkins, lemon juice, salt and pepper. To serve, place the goujons on a plate and spoon the tartare into a ramekin.

Is tartar sauce good or bad for you? ›

Tartar sauce is relatively high in fat—especially when compared to other condiments served with fish, such as ketchup or vinegar. There are 4.7 grams of fat in a serving of tartar sauce. About 0.9 grams is saturated fat. About 1 gram is monounsaturated fat and 2.5 grams are polyunsaturated fat.

How to make cream of tartar at home? ›

How to Make Cream of Tartar. One can't actually make cream of tartar at home (but a little lemon juice or vinegar will work some similar cream of tartar magic in your baked goods), as it is quite literally a byproduct of the winemaking process.

What's the difference between cream of tartar and tartar sauce? ›

In reality, the two have nothing to do with one another. Cream of tartar is a powdery baking ingredient that you'd find in sweets like cookies or meringues. Tartar sauce, on the other hand, is super savory, rich, and tangy. It's typically served with seafood, but trust me – this delicious condiment can do so much more.

Why does tartar sauce taste so good? ›

The inclusion of lemon juice, dill pickles, and capers ensures that tartar sauce offers an unbelievable kick of tang, above and beyond what sour cream offers. That makes the flavor of the baked potato more dynamic, which is perfect when you want to get a little something more out of a weeknight meal.

Can you freeze homemade tartar sauce? ›

Can you freeze tartar sauce? It's not the best sauce to freeze because mayonnaise “breaks” when it is frozen. Instead, store leftover tartar sauce in the fridge for up to a week. Get creative with leftover tartar sauce.

Is it OK to eat tartar sauce that was left out overnight? ›

Opened containers of mayonnaise, tartar sauce and horseradish should be kept in the fridge. If they are kept at a temperature of 50 °F or more for longer than eight hours, they should be thrown away, according to FoodSafety.gov.

Why is my tartar sauce runny? ›

Tartar sauce will thicken a bit when it's chilled. If you find that your tartar sauce turns out runny or too thin, try reducing the lemon juice next time. Make sure you always drain the pickles well. If it's still too thin, try adding a bit more mayonnaise.

Is tartar sauce healthier than mayo? ›

No.

The classic seafood condiment tartar sauce continues the trend that creamy sauces belong toward the bottom of the list. But, it has less than half the calories per tablespoon as ranch and one-quarter the fat content of mayonnaise.

What is Captain D's tartar sauce made of? ›

What is Captain D's Tartar Sauce? Captain D's Tartar Sauce is a creamy and flavorful condiment that adds a delicious touch to your favorite dishes. It contains simple-to-find ingredients like mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, minced onion, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and optional chopped capers.

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