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If you don’t know what Fry Sauce is, you are missing out! Just mix a few simple ingredients and you will never dip your fries in anything else again!
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If you walk into a restaurant in most states and ask for fry sauce, you are likely to get either a strange look or a handful of ketchup packets. Trust me. I know from experience. And no, it’s not Thousand Island Dressing either. This fry sauce is so yummy and really easy to make, I can’t explain how just a few simple ingredients can take the potato world by storm, but they have and they do. I grew up on this stuff. To be honest, it’s probably the first “recipe” I ever made. Try it. You will love it. You will never go back to eating fries with plain old ketchup again.
This is just one of many delicious dips and sauces we love! Try dipping breadsticks in our homemade alfredo sauce, drench chicken with our yummy homemade barbeque sauce, or serve fish and chips with this easy-to-make tartar sauce.
What is Fry Sauce?
For the most part, this tasty condiment can be found in Utah, Idaho, and parts of Oregon. At its most basic level, a fry sauce recipe is just a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise. Put a couple of spoonsful of each in a bowl and whisk until you get a glorious pink color. However, as you’ll see when you read our recipe below, there are several ways to create this iconic dipping sauce. Once it’s made, the options for what to dip into it are endless. Make sure to store it in the fridge, and the batch will last up to a week.
Restaurant Variations
Now as you will see in the recipe below, there are all kinds of variations you can make to the original fry sauce. We have included three different variations including Red Robin campfire sauce, In-In-Out fry sauce, or blooming onion sauce. These all have main ingredients with a mixture of ketchup, barbecue sauce, mayo, and mustard. The combinations are endless!
Red Robin Campfire Sauce
BBQ sauce replaces ketchup in Red Robin’s Campfire Sauce. It tastes great with onion rings, fries, and chicken strips or nuggets. This is a sweet and savory sauce that is delicious with a variety of recipes to dip it into. The perfect combination for thick fries!
In-n-Out Fry Sauce
This version has a pickle relish in it. The relish gives it more of a dill flavor and the little chunks of pickles give it some texture and crunch. A great way to add a sweet and tangy taste in every bite. Mix together in a small bowl and get ready for loads of flavor!
Outback Steakhouse Blooming Onion Sauce
A little horseradish and brown mustard give this fry sauce some kick. It gives onion rings and French fries a richer, more mature, taste. A sweet, savory, and spicy dip is the perfect combination for dipping in sweet and salty recipes. Enjoy this blooming onion sauce with your friends and family!
More Tasty Fry Sauce Ideas
You can mix and match or substitute the flavors above or come up with your own. They are all the same basic idea and they are ALL so tasty in their own way.
- Add a little pickle juice to the mayo and ketchup for an extra tangy flavor.
- For a little kick, toss in a dash or two of hot sauce, cayenne pepper and paprika.
- Add any spices you like to a basic ketchup and mayo mixture: garlic powder, salt, black pepper, onion powder, or grill seasoning.
- A teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce will give the fry sauce a deep flavor that tastes delicious on a burger.
- Stir in a splash of apple cider vinegar to the ketchup and mayo.
What Tastes Good with Fry Sauce?
There are some people who will tell you that pretty much anything tastes better with fry sauce. But there are several things for which this condiment is best. Our delicious Baked Potato Wedges are one of the first things that come to mind. You could try one of these Fry Sauce versions on our Loaded Cheesy Potato Skins. Or, the next time you pick up takeout french fries, whip up some of this amazing dipping sauce and see how much better even the best restaurant french fries can taste.
If you’re looking to dress up the average hamburger, fry sauce is an excellent way. Give it a try on our White Castle Sliders Copycat Recipe and let us know how it tastes!
How to Make Fry Sauce
Fry Sauce – made 4 ways
Video
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 2/3 cup mayonnaise
Variations:
Red Robin Campfire Sauce
- 1 cup Fry Sauce (see above)
- 1/3 cup BBQ Sauce
In-N-Out Fry Sauce
- 1 cup Fry Sauce (see above)
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1/4 cup dill relish
Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onion Sauce
- 1 cup Fry Sauce (see above)
- 1 tablespoon brown mustard
- 1 tablespoon creamy horseradish (or to taste)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients until smooth.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Eat with fries or chicken nuggets.
Thank you so much! I always tried, but could never figure it out. I would love it if you could figure out what Jumbo Burger (in Farr West, Utah) fry sauce is made of!? I have been trying for about a decade to figure it out. I’ve tried seasoning salt added to ketchup and mayo, but that’s as close as I could get, but it’s still not right. Please help!
We’ve never been there, but if we go we will try it!
I made mine with Whataburger Spicy Ketchup and it was the bomb!
I used the Red Robin version of the Fry Sauce and it was wonderful. Thank-you for this recipe.
I also used the fry sauce when I made grilled cheese sandwiches. I spread it the inside of each slice of bread then add the cheese and fry it up with butter or margarine.
Have used these sauces for years…Am still trying to match Texas Roadhouse sauce served with the catfish…
great great sauce
My ex husband said the basic ingredients for the fry sauce is french salad dressing when you don’t have any, but i didn’t like it on lettuce
Fry sauce is thicker, and to me tastes different. It’s not as tangy as French salad dressing – but, maybe that’s just me. In either case, the fry sauce is delicious on French fries!
I have been making the basic fry sauce (though I didn’t have a name for it) for at least fifty years and spooning it over lettuce wedges. I’m a Texan, born and raised in Houston.
Fry Sauce is nothing more than Mayo, Ketchup, & whatever else you choose to add into it – depending upon your palate, and on what you’ll be eating it with. IMO, add in whatever you desire. OMG, it’s NOT a recipe which is chiseled in stone, so go with your personal taste buds. It’s REALLY not a big deal for most of us.
These are marvelous!!!! I love to dip roasted broccoli in the fry sauce too – SO GOOD!
I can not wait to try each and every one of these fry sauces! I can’t decide which one to try first as they all look and sound incredible!!
This is SO GOOD! Made the Outback steakhouse version to go with tater tots and my family went nuts over it. Thanks for the recipe!
This fry sauce is a game-changer! DELICIOUS!
My mom was manager at A & W. I remember sitting on a bucket in a corner out of the way watching her make fry sauce by the buckets, using mayo, catsup and mustard.
Delicious…
A&W has such yummy fry sauce! Their fries are so good too 🙂 Yum!
What a fun memory! My favorite at A&W is the Root Beer freeze. The fry sauce is also delicious there!
This stated modifications are nothing like Red Robin’s Campfire sauce. Just to list some of the things Red Robin’s sauce has: soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, chicken, ancho pepper, whiskey, hoisin sauce, etc. It has a lot more depth of flavor and is not really BBQ sauce flavor.
If you like spicy try three parts ketchup and two parts sriracha sauce. It’s not too spicy but has a really nice flavor.
Thanks Lori!
We’ve gotten a little more adventurous in our old age. To the original we’ve added chipotle chilies with a little adobo sauce. Adds a nice kick.
We LOVE fry sauce! We lived in Okinawa for a few years. My youngest was in kindergarten at the school on the military base. They had all day kindergarten and ate lunch in the classroom. One day he was mixing mayo and ketchup and his teacher was shocked to see him doing that she told him he shouldn’t waste the mayo and ketchup. He told her he was making fry sauce. She was totally grossed out. When she told me about it I told her it was a Utah thing. She still thought it was gross. We still loved the teacher.
Writing from England, we call it Marie Rose sauce and usually use it on prawns/shrimps in a prawn cocktail or on a sandwich. But yes, truly delicious. Try adding a bit of Tabasco or Worcester sauce!
I live in Utah, but travel to New Jersey a lot to visit family. And was excited that Bobby’s burger Palace out there has amazingly good, slightly spicy, fry sauce! It’s so good that I always bring home a couple of bottles 🙂
I live in Puerto Rico and that sauce is used here practically on everthing especially with tostones and mofongo. It’s the best sauce ever,here it’s called mayo ketchup.
Try replacing the Ketchup in any of the above recipes with Chili Sauce (Heinz for example) generally one of the methods when making thousand Island as well. Fry sauce is basically thousand island. For texture and thickening, try blending a hard boiled egg or even just the yoke into the sauce. Can even make deviled eggs and blend one into your sauce.
Sounds delicious!
When I lived in Henderson, NV from 1970- 1978, their was a little restaurant w/a drive-thru that served that with fries. I just called it “secret sauce” and I’ve been making it ever since. It was a great place. You could get a HUGE paper bag of fries for $1, with the secret sauce. Chili’s made something similar for it’s Blooming Onion, only it had Horseradish and something else I couldn’t identify in it. Of course they wouldn’t tell. I guess it was their secret, too. They said is was a base of Thousand Island salad dressing, but that has relish in it, so I know that’s not right. I’m happy with my home-made secret sauce, and it’s so easy to make!
I just read the comments above mine, and I realized that it was Arctic Circle, too! I had forgotten the name, but as soon as I saw it, I remembered. Good memories.
Great with fries, onion rings, tater tots, burgers, chicken nuggets….. I will dip pretty much anything in fry sauce!
I worked for Arctic Circle in the days when each stand made their own fry sauce. I’ve made a LOT of the stuff. This recipe is pretty close–the catsup shouldn’t be quite as heavy..around 4:1..mustard 6:1..til the color is right. Add a sprinkle of chile powder, and a sprinkle of onion powder and..you’ve got it.
I love Arctic Circle fry sauce. Thank you for sharing the inside scoop!!!
What? that isn’t even close to the recipe. Arctic Circles recipe for fry sauce was very simple. Just three ingredient. Buttermilk, mayo and ketchup. 2 cups mayo, 1/2 cup butter milk and just enough ketchup to turn the sauce pink. That is it. Got the recipe from two old ladies that worked at the original stores in Utah, where I’m from. Home of fry of sauce. And fry sauce is never ever just mayo and ketchup. It is always has pickle juice or buttermilk otherwise it isn’t frysauce.
I live in Canada and I have had fry sauce in Maine. I make my own as well but I add a little garlic powder and cayenne pepper to the ketchup and mayo. I try to get others interested in trying it, but I get strange looks when they try it.
Also try putting seasoning salt on your fries instead of regular salt
Yummy!!!!!
I live in Vermont and I went to Utah this summer, (I tend to go every 5 years.) and the one thing I missed was Fry Sauce!!!! that was the ONLY thing I ordered out there when I went to Arctic Circle(another place we don’t have on the east coast.) and when I came back to VT I went to a mcdonals and I asked for fry sauce forgetting that they don’t have it, and they all gave me these strange looks, as if I was going crazy, and then I had to explain to them what it is and they looked all grossed out on me, so I just laughed and explained that it was soooooooo good!
I have yet to meet someone that doesn’t love fry sauce! Fries just aren’t as good without it!
McDonald’s has a fry sauce 20 years ago. That was the first time I had ever had it.
We had it in bottles at Texas Fuddruckers, but covid put them out of business.
I grew up in boise and there was a place called “good times” my favorite place. Well they just shut down there and was wondering if anyone knew how to make thier fry sauce it was the BEST!!
Montana is a fry sauce state too- the Fuddruckers in Missoula has it! I was born in Boston, and I am not sure how I ever lived with it before. The Some Dude’s Fry Sauce isn’t as good, in my opinion… back East, people call mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together french dressing 🙂 maybe because a lot of Europeans ask for both ketchup and mayonnaise and swirl together. I like mine with some BBQ sauce too!
I don't know if Robin will ever see this, but Rocky Mountain Drive In down in Provo still carries Iron Port soda in its fountain…. my husband just tried it last night for the first time.
My dad makes this and he uses a little bit of lemon juice in it. Also he uses it for shrimp, amazing!
Wow, this sauce will be great on tater tots. I thought barbeque and mayonnaise was good.
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I worked at Artic Circle when fry sauce got its start. It was originally made with mayo, catsup, and buttermilk. I don't know how much of each, but if you want the authentic stuff that is what it had.
I was raised in Utah and the hubs stationed in Las Vegas with the air force. So, every time I go to Utah, I almost squeal when I get to eat fry sauce. Seems like just ketchup and mustard don't quite cut it though… I heard restaurants sometimes use vinegar and/or pickle juice to make it just right. Although I do LOVE the BBQ sauce version, especially that of the Training Table!
I had to LOL on the fry sauce. I'm from Ohio, & actually don't like fry sauce, even though I now live in Utah. *ducks from tomatoes* lol Many of my friends mixed the mayo & ketchup for their fries back east, but it was mayo & ketchup. The only fry sauce I like is Ab's here in Utah. &, wanted to say, LOVE your blog!!!!! Fab recipes I can't wait to try. 😉 Thanks! =)
I find that if you combine ranch dressing and ketchup you get a frysauce with zing! I live in utah and yes the stuff is everywhere but my daughter and I when she was two came up with a sauce we love more ranch and ketchup. If you like fry sauce you might find this a pleasant change.
I had the unfortunate experience of trying it and one of your "Utah Resturants" last time I was there. I think you have to be raised on it – I didn't like it. Arizona is a NON-Frysauce State.
But I'm glad to know what's in it now.
Red Robin sauce is great! Leatherbey's (Don't think I spelt it right…) in Taylorsville, UT uses onions in theirs and it's good too. It can also be found in Utah supermarkets it's called "Some Dude's Fry Sauce". Grew up on it and don't eat fries with anything else!
I'm pretty sure it's not just Utah. It's all over the west coast. It's the east coast that look at you like you're stupid if you order it.
I’m from Connecticut and never heard of fry sauce as an actual thing, I do however make something similar for my fries. I use mayo, ketchup, hot sauce ( just a splash) and seasonings like black pepper and celery seed or celery salt. For onion rings I do the same only add spicy mustard and a splash of lemon juice.
I was born and raised in NM and fry sauce was something we always made too! I believe it is popular because of the old time car hop type places. I used to work at a doughnut shop and we made it there! So good! Great blog!
I love the fry sauce at A&W in Logan… I think it has relish in it too, soooo yummy!
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Red Robbin's every where have fry sauce. However, if you are asking for it outside of Utah you have to ask for campfire sauce instead of fry sauce.
When I was young we lived in two states that had fry sauce !! In Oregon the Arctic Circle had it for the tater tots and in Blackfoot Idaho they had fry sauce at Humpty's Dump a drive-in that also sold a soft drink called "Iron Port" which you can't get anymore !! 🙁
I introduced my daughter to fry sauce in Utah about 5 years ago and she will eat anything with fry sauce on it !! !!!
Not sure where you live now but in Logan, UT there is a place called Juniper Takeout that has iron port soda on tap. If you’re ever in Utah you’ll have to go there.
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Oh yeah, they have fry sauce everywhere here in Idaho. It is so great, I hate having to mix my own when I am out to eat.
Oh yeah baby.
I fell in love with fry sauce as a student at BYU. When I married and moved to Washington, I had to come up with my own version. I add worcestershire sauce to mine. You are right, once you are hooked, plain ketchup just isn't enought on fries.
good idea!
I used to work at Frontier Pies and their version was BBQ Sauce, Cheese sauce, and mayo.
Oooh that sounds good!
I found your blog because I googled something a while back and I just love it. I live in Idaho and it is the same with the whole fry sauce thing. I didn't know that people everywhere didn't have it until I asked in some other state when I was a teen. I love it and my brother had me add jut about a teaspoon of dill pickle juice along with the mustard and it is really good. Thanks for your great blog.
To me, it seems that Artic Circle had thousand island dressing mixed with ketch-up and maybe mayo.
I remember the fry sauce had small chucks in it. Maybe relish.
Thanks! I had no idea that Idaho was a fry sauce state.. I won't be afraid to ask for it next time I drive through! Thanks for the comment!