Homemade Tartar Sauce

5 from 64 votes

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.

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

Total Time10

Course: Dip

Cuisine: Seafood

Keyword: Tartar Sauce

Servings:

Calories: 96kcal

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!

For the very best flavor, use fresh squeezed lemon.
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.
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.
Some people use a dill pickle relish but for the best taste I highly recommend chopping your own dill pickles.
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.