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Homemade Tartar Sauce is so easy to make, you’ll never go back to store bought again. Made with simple ingredients and taking just a few minutes, this is the best tartar sauce recipe ever!
Serve this homemade tartar sauce with all kinds of fish, from Grilled Salmon Kabobs and Grilled Fish Tacos to Air Fryer Fish Sticks and Fried Shrimp.
Tartar Sauce Ingredients
Just 5 ingredients is all it takes to make a quick tartar sauce. This is a super forgiving recipe; you can keep adjusting the flavors until you’re happy with the result. You probably even have all of the ingredients on hand!
- Mayonnaise – I use real mayonnaise, but you can use Miracle Whip if you’re into that.
- Pickle relish – My preference is relish, but if you don’t have that you can finely chop some dill pickles and add a little bit of pickle juice.
- Fresh dill or dried dill
- Fresh lemon juice
- Black pepper
How to Make Homemade Tartar Sauce
See the recipe card below for full, detailed instructions
Now here’s the kicker…the instructions are super complicated. Are you ready?
- Combine ingredients together in a bowl.
- Serve with fish.
Yup, that’s it! Easy peasy, right?
FAQs
Some people seem a little scared to try tartar sauce and I’m not really sure why because it’s delicious. It’s creamy, has a subtle crunchy from the dill pickle, and a nice tang from the lemon juice, with a fresh bite from the dill. The mayo makes it super creamy, but if you’re not a fan you could also swap in plain yogurt or sour cream.
This creamy, tangy sauce is ideal for topping all kinds of fish, but it can be spread on burgers and sandwiches, or even used in stir-fries.
Serving Suggestions
A good tartar sauce recipe can really enhance all kinds of seafood dishes. It’s creamy and tangy and pairs well with fish sticks, breaded fish fillets, and is a must for classic Fish & Chips, Salmon Patties, and Crab Cakes.
And a few more ideas:
- Sheet Pan Salmon, Asparagus and Potatoes
- Sheet Pan Lemon Dill Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes
- Shrimp Foil Packets
- Air Fryer Shrimp
- Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich
Storage
Storage: Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. I highly recommend making this dip a few hours or even a day in advance. It gives the flavors time to blend together.
Freezing: Mayo doesn’t freeze well, so freezing is not recommended.
Recipe Tips
- I prefer chopping dill pickles for my homemade tartar sauce recipe, but you could also just use dill relish. With pickles, make sure to finely chop them.
- Dill pickles go best with this recipe in my opinion, but if you’re a fan of sweet pickles, you can use those instead.
- Feel free to play around with the ingredients, adjusting the amounts as you wish.
- Fresh is best – use fresh lemon juice and fresh dill.
More Delicious Sauces to Try
- Cocktail Sauce
- Homemade BBQ Sauce
- Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
- Mole Sauce
- Alfredo Sauce
- Chimichurri Sauce
- Honey Mustard Sauce
Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup real Mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles or pickle relish
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl.
- Serve with all kinds of seafood recipes, like salmon patties, fish sticks or fish tacos.
- Store in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container – lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Fab!! Added a bit of salt…
Thank you Cait!
I love this recipe. It is so easy and no more wasting money on store bought tartar that would go bad in the fridge.
Nice! Thanks for the feedback Leann!
Five Stars!! Always my go to when we have fish.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Becky.
Sounds good might try it
Was absolutely delicious
This is wonderful Tartar Sauce. Easy as can be!
Thank you!
You’re so welcome Kathie! thank you so much for stopping by!
This tartar sauce is amazing, I didn’t even follow the recipe and it tasted great! I just threw in the ingredients and WOW!?
Thanks A.J! thank you so much for stopping by!
This is really a great recipe! I recently started making all of my sauces such as mayo, ketchup, salad dressings, etc. because I want my food to be as pure as possible without all of the preservatives and other filler crap they put in foods now. Well I had some salmon and realized that I didn’t have any tartar sauce. So I googled this one (used my homemade mayo) and my goodness was this the bomb! Absolutely scrumptious!
That’s awesome Sonja! So glad you enjoyed it! thank you so much for stopping by.
Delish! I have made tartar sauce from scratch before but I don’t recall using dill…well duh the added dill was what put this over the top! So much so I added a little more and the family devoured it for fried fish fri. I’d say mission accomplished.
Nice! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe Sherry!
This looks wonderful! I love making my own sauces. Thanks.
I just tried this recipe for tartar sauce and absolutely love it!
Thank you Trude! Thank you so much for stopping by!
I add a little bit of liquid from my pickled jalapenos. Yum!
I tried the tartar sauce with fresh baked salmon and it’s delicious! I will forever use this recipe!
Thank you!
That’s awesome Theresa! Thanks for stopping by.
Hubby loved it! Easy peasey!
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Naomi.
The family loved it! No more store bought! Thank you
Right?! So easy!
It is a very good Tartar Sauce. No more store bought for me. I had no lemons so I used pickle juice instead and it was great. Next time, I’ll have lemon for a fresher taste.
This is fantastic!! I highly suggest to make a hour ahead of time to let the mayo absorp all the flavors. This is the best tartar sauce I have ever had! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Thank you Dneudm1! and thanks for sharing your positive feeback.
My kids and I loved it! I added a touch more dill but other then that it was perfect!
Thank you Wendi! So glad you enjoyed it!
I also add just a pinch of granulated garlic or garlic powder, a dash of onion powder and about a tablespoon of finely minced onion.
Awesome tartar sauce!! I will never buy store bought again. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Thanks Debra! Thank you so much for stopping by!
The best tasting and easiest to make!!
Thank you Carlee! Thanks for sharing your experience!
This was awesome Thank You. Made it today.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Cindy
Just found your website and love the simple recipes and how it is set up to print them out!!
Thank you Jean, I hope you enjoy!
This tartar sauce is soooo f*%!ing GOOD! My girlfriend hates mayonnaise, so she’s not really big on tartar sauce and even she absolutely LOVES it! We had fish (halibut) and chips and she forgot to buy tartar sauce and I was kinda’ annoyed, but I googled this recipe and we both fell in love! She asks me to make this whenever we have fish.
Thanks Calvin! So happy that you and your girlfriend loved this recipe!
Dill seed or weed?
Dried dill weed.
This is an amazingly simple but very tasty recipe! It went well with my from scratch Salmon sticks. Thank you!
Thank you Tony! and thanks for sharing your experience!
I mixed this up after realizing I hadn’t made any fish in a long while because store-bought tartar sauce really is gross. NEVER again will I buy it!! This was utterly delicious and so dang easy to make. Loved it. The fresh dill really makes it perfect. Can’t wait to make another fish dish so I can eat it again!
Thank you Tanya! and thanks for sharing your feedback.