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Homemade tartar sauce is so easy to make yourself. With freshly squeezed lemon and chopped dill, it tastes so much better than anything you can buy.
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This Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe turns even boring oven baked fish sticks into a delicious meal! I came up with this recipe to go with our delicious homemade Fish and Chips. I knew that I wanted to make a tartar sauce that tasted fresh and flavorful. After testing the ingredients I came up with the exact flavor and consistency I was looking for. Now it’s the only tartar sauce our family will eat. I’ve tried so many store-bought and restaurant served tartar sauces over the years, and I definitely prefer the zesty flavor of this homemade version. It’s all about using the freshest ingredients for this recipe. Believe me, it makes all the difference! Plus, this recipe is so easy to make and costs much less than most store bought brands. Give it a try for yourself; it’ll be the best tartar sauce you’ve ever tasted!
Ingredients in Homemade Tartar Sauce
From fresh herbs to fresh lemon juice, using quality ingredients turns the most basic condiment into the most delicious dipping sauce ever! You only need a few ingredients, For this easy tartar sauce recipe, less is more. All you need is Mayonnaise (Best Foods or Hellmann’s are my favorite), fresh lemon juice, chopped baby dill pickles, dill weed, black pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Additional Ingredients to Try
While tartar sauce is a creamy condiment with a mayonnaise base (for a lower fat option, plain Greek yogurt or light sour cream can also be used as a base) you can add all sorts of spices and ingredients to the base to make a tangy and tart dip for fish, shrimp and other favorite seafood dishes. I also love dipping French fries and Veggies in it, and using it on fish sandwiches. Here are some ideas:
- Dill relish
- Sweet pickles or butter pickles
- Onion powder
- Chopped onions
- Garlic
- Teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Capers
- Fresh Parsley
- Chopped olives
- Horseradish
- Shallots
- Fresh chives
- Tabasco Sauce
- Tarragon
How to Serve Tartar Sauce
A good Tartar Sauce Recipe is essential when preparing fish or seafood recipes. The creamy, tangy taste perfectly complements crab cakes, fish and chips, salmon cakes, or fish that is baked, grilled, or fried. But it can also be a delicious dip for veggies or crackers.
Fresh Ingredients are Best
- For the very best flavor, use fresh squeezed lemon. There’s just something so fresh and light about using juice from a real lemon. For maximum juice, roll it on the counter for a few seconds before slicing in half and squeeze cut side up, to avoid getting seeds in the sauce. Or you can microwave your lemon for about 10 seconds, which really gets those tangy juices flowing.
- Use fresh dill. Dill weed loses its freshness quickly, so if you’re purchasing dill, use it with a day or two of purchase. If you grow dill in your garden, pick it just before you plant to use it in a recipe. The dill leaves will wilt and lose their flavor if kept in the fridge too long.
- Don’t worry about too much dill overpowering the dish. The dill weed has such a mild flavor that you can add quite a bit if you choose.
- When chopping fresh dill leaves, remove the feathery fern-like leaves and stems from the thick center stem. Discard the stem, then use a sharp chopping knife to mince the leaves to the desired consistency.
- If you don’t have fresh dill available, you can use dried dill. Be sure to crush the dill leaves between your fingers before adding to the tartar sauce, which will bring out more of the flavor.
- Use a good quality mayonnaise; it makes a huge difference in the taste of the sauce. We really love Best Foods or Hellman’s Mayo, but use whatever you prefer.
- If you want to make tartar sauce without mayo or miracle whip, try using plain Greek yogurt. It’ll also give it a boost of protein.
- Some people use a dill pickle relish but for the best taste I highly recommend chopping your own dill pickles.
How to Make Homemade Tartar Sauce
Simply stir all the ingredients together in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Give it at least an hour to chill, but if you can let it chill longer so the ingredients get stranger. I prefer to make it a day ahead for the best flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tartar Sauce
Homemade tartar sauce will stay good for up to two weeks, as long as it’s kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
You can freeze this sauce for up to a month. Just make sure it’s in a freezer safe container, and only fill it about three quarters of the way full.
Yes, tartar sauce does not contain any gluten.
READ NEXT: Top 10 Shrimp Recipes
More Delicious Seafood Recipes
We have lots of tasty fish and seafood dishes that you are going to love! There are so many great ways to cook up fish and use this homemade tartar sauce. Try a few of our favorites.
Tartar Sauce Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise Best Foods or Hellmann’s
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (juicing a real lemon tastes best)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons dill pickle finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons dill weed finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl, combine mayo, lemon juice, chopped dill pickles and dill weed, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper.
- Stir until thoroughly combined. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. The longer, the better. Flavors will get stronger with more time.
- Stir before serving. Great as a dip or dressing with seafood!
Notes
Recipe Tips:
-
- For the very best flavor, use fresh squeezed lemon. There’s just something so fresh and light about using juice from a real lemon. For maximum juice, roll it on the counter for a few seconds before slicing in half and squeeze cut side up, to avoid getting seeds in the sauce. Or you can microwave your lemon for about 10 seconds, which really gets those tangy juices flowing.
-
- Use fresh dill. Dill weed loses its freshness quickly, so if you’re purchasing dill, use it with a day or two of purchase. If you grow dill in your garden, pick it just before you plant to use it in a recipe. The dill leaves will wilt and lose their flavor if kept in the fridge too long.
-
- Don’t worry about too much dill overpowering the dish. The dill weed has such a mild flavor that you can add quite a bit if you choose.
- Some people use a dill pickle relish but for the best taste I highly recommend chopping your own dill pickles.
-
- When chopping fresh dill leaves, remove the feathery fern-like leaves and stems from the thick center stem. Discard the stem, then use a sharp chopping knife to mince the leaves to the desired consistency.
-
- If you don’t have fresh dill available, use dried dill! Be sure to crush the dill leaves between your fingers before adding to the tartar sauce, which will bring out more of the flavor.
-
- Use a good quality mayonnaise; it makes a huge difference in the taste of the sauce. We really love Best Foods or Hellman’s Mayo, but use whatever you prefer.
-
- If you want to make tartar sauce lighter (without mayo), try using plain Greek yogurt. It’ll also give it a boost of protein.
Good recipe! This is the second time I’ve made it. Goes nice with my fried pollock.
Delicious! My whole family loved it with our Salmon! Thanks for posting this recipe I’ve searched and searched for the perfect Tartar Sauce and this one is it.
I tweaked it a little bit, add a little more pepper, dill weed and lemon juice.
We LOVED it!
So easy to make, no reason to ever buy tartar sauce again.
One of the best tartare sauce that I have tried. It is so easy to make and so simple. I will never use storebought tartar sauce again. Thank you!
This recipe was a total life saver! I forgot to pick up our usual bottled version and was in a pinch. Let me say, I will no longer being needing the store bought kind anymore. Loved it!
It’s delicious! Can’t ever compare homemade to store bought! 🙂
This is a really good dill dip and is great on fish sandwiches
I add fine chopped onion in mine also
I love tartar sauce! This looks so delicious and yummy! Can’t wait to try this!
Love how easy this recipe is. It’s perfect for our family!
We go through tartar sauce like it was going out of style in this house, so I’ll definitely make this one, so creamy and so EASY!
This is such an easy tartar sauce recipe!! I actually never made it at home before because I thought it was hard – but now I will be making it all the time. Love it with my fish sticks!
Have tried so many tartar sauce recipes. This one is the best!
This is the best tartar sauce I have ever made. Everyone commented on how good it was. Easy. The dill weed gives it the added flavor.
This recipe is so easy and tastes amazing. Love it!
I forgot the 5 star rating in my posting!
Wow. Super easy since I typically have these ingredients on hand. I can make as tart and spicy to suite my family and guests tastes. Definitely a keeper.
So glad you liked it! Thanks Rachel!
Yum!! Who doesn’t love tartar sauce? I made this but w just a couple of changes. I used dill pickle juice in place of the lemon juice and omitted the minced pickle (prob cuz I’m lazy-ish). I also added about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp minced dried onion. Fresh would be good but again, I’m lazy-ish. Turned out quite yummy. Can’t wait for dinner tonight. Thanks for sharing great recipe.
This is a great recipe! I think it would be fine “as is”, but I did add minced onion, a touch of garlic onion, and a splash of hot sauce. Used everything else in the recipe, too. Super yummy!
My comment should say “garlic powder”, not “garlic onion.” LOL
Been looking for a good tartar sauce recipe! Thank you so much. Cannot wait to make this at home.
So excited for you to try it! Let us know what you think!
OMG ! I don’t know if you Know that Hellmans stopped making there tartar sauce( My Fav ). But they have. I called them and it has been De listed. Which means they no longer make it. I have been trying all other brands none to my liking. Well I came across your site and what a find ! It is Soooooo Gooood ! Did use Dill relish and drained the juice out. Also used Dried Dill. Let it stand over night. WoW ! Had that with my Panko Breaded Cod and Steward tomatoes. Thank You !
Thank you so much for sharing! We have never had the Hellman’s tartar sauce before but I am glad this is a good substitute for it! Thanks for letting us know!