This easy homemade tartar sauce is better than anything you can buy at the store. It’s extra creamy and perfect for serving next to your favorite seafood dishes.
My homemade tartar sauce is quick to make and so flavorful. One of our readers said it’s “the best ever,” and “comes out exactly like a restaurant.” I bet you already have almost everything you need already sitting in your kitchen!
This tartar sauce tastes better than anything sold in the jars at the store, and I cannot wait for you to try it. I love it with so many of my favorite seafood recipes, like our homemade fish sticks, Maryland-style crab cakes, poached salmon, and this perfect shrimp cocktail.
Key Ingredients
- Mayonnaise provides our creamy base. You can use store-bought mayo or for the best tartar sauce, try making your own mayonnaise. While I prefer the richness of full-fat mayo, you can substitute the mayonnaise for light mayo or plain yogurt for a lower calorie sauce.
- Pickles add crunch and flavor to the sauce. We use dill pickles and particularly enjoy these homemade pickles or the refrigerated Claussen pickles for this. For a sweeter style, try bread and butter pickles instead.
- Fresh lemon juice is essential for the best tartar sauce. It thins out the sauce making it the perfect consistency for dipping, and adds a fresh zesty flavor.
- Capers add texture and so much flavor to our tartar sauce. I think this is one of those ingredients that really makes this sauce better than what you can find at the store.
- Fresh or dried dill is a must for us. If you don’t have dill, parsley is a good alternative.
- Worcestershire sauce is an unusual ingredient, but it brings the sauce together. We only add a dash. We add Worcestershire sauce to dressings and sauces quite a bit. We even use it to make this homemade ranch.
- Dijon mustard adds extra flavor and tang. I love it.
How to Make Tartar Sauce
If you can chop and stir a few ingredients together, you can make tartar sauce. I’ve always been disappointed with store-bought tartar sauce, so taking a few tips from our favorite seafood restaurants, we devised a recipe of our own. I’ve never looked back.
You’ll add everything to a bowl and stir them until well blended. Just a few seconds of stirring turns the sauce into a creamy and delicious sauce. Then, I place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes since this does get better overtime.
For more homemade sauce recipes like this one, see our creamy honey mustard sauce, homemade ketchup, or this classic mignonette sauce, which is incredible with oysters!
Best Homemade Tartar Sauce
- PREP
- TOTAL
I love this tartar sauce recipe so much! I’ve always been disappointed with store-bought tartar sauce, so I was so excited when we figured out a way to make it at home. When I have it in my fridge, I love using homemade mayonnaise for this recipe. For an egg-free option, substitute the mayonnaise for vegan mayo.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1/2 cup mayonnaise, try homemade mayonnaise
1 small dill pickle, chopped very small (3 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon capers, chopped, optional, but recommended
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, optional, but recommended
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Combine the mayonnaise, pickles, lemon juice, capers, dill, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard in a small bowl and stir until well blended and creamy.
2Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Taste then adjust with additional lemon juice, salt, and pepper. For the best flavor, cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3Keep, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for one week.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Tartar sauce lasts for about a week when stored in the fridge. We love making a double batch to enjoy it throughout the week. Past that, and you lose the fresh flavor from the lemon.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Delicious. We were pan frying pickerel and I discovered we were out of our usual brand of store bought tartar sauce. So glad we were! I started with a more basic tartar sauce recipe I found online but I was looking for some zip, so I found this one and adapted the other (essentially the same ingredients as this minus the capers, worchestershire sauce and dijon). What a difference! I will always make this from now on – bye bye store bought – and for any fussy family members, and I now know that eliminating the capers, worchestershire sauce and dijon makes a lovely mild version.
Growing up in Houston, the best tarter sauce was made using capers so I was spoiled from day 1! This is a great recipe ! I do add finely chopped onion to mine. Try it if you like onion ! Thanks so much for publishing this!
Super easy and delicious, it was kind of spur of the moment thing, you know where you make fish and want tartar sauce and realize well you don’t have any. I had all the ingredients on hand except capers. I made it exactly as it said. DELICIOUS is all I can keep saying.
Wow!! Even my picky-eater son said, Thats good!. We love it! Didn’t have capers, to use and still loved it!!
It was good, however the pickles were quite a distraction for us. IMHO…otherwise, good!
Maybe pickles are more of a personal preference. Next time, try leaving them out and let us know what you think. Thanks for coming back!
BEST EVER! Super fast and easy, even someone who does not like making stuff can make this. It comes out exactly like a restaurant. Far superior to any other recipe. I think the capers and the mustard are what make all the difference. Bookmarked and will be used from here on out!
This tartar sauce recipe is the best thing ever! I’ve never made by scratch before and now I won’t have it any other way. The only thing I added was two crushed cloves of garlic and now it’s perfect! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Quick and simple recipe that is oh so yummy!