Easy Tartar Sauce Recipe

One of the most popular pairings for anything Seafood related is a classic Tartar Sauce. This famous Sauce that is Fried Fishes best fried consists of a Mayonnaise Based Sauce that’s flavored with tart and acidic ingredients to help cut through the fattiness and richness of the Fish. You can buy Tartar Sauce off the shelf but it’s often not the best quality and has a weird texture. In this recipe we’ll show you how to simply make an Easy Tartar Sauce at home

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What are the Ingredients in a Homemade Tartar Sauce

The baseline ingredient in our Easy Tartar Sauce is Mayonnaise. Now, because this is a simple recipe we’re not suggesting that you make your own Mayonnaise from scratch. Look, you can if you want, but it’s going to take a lot more effort, and requires you to aggressively whisk Olive Oil and Eggs until you produce that amazingly creamy, velvety Mayonnaise texture

To save a load of time, for our recipe we recommend simply buying some off the shelf Mayo. Now, the brand of Mayo that you buy is important, as the flavor and (most importantly) sweetness of different Mayonnaise brands will have a massive difference to the flavor of your Tartar Sauce

Tartar Sauce with good Mayo — A good quality Mayonnaise is going to make the best tasting Homemade Tartar Sauce

What brand of Mayo do we recommend for the best Tartar Sauce?

You cannot go past Hellman’s Mayo. It’s the most popular brand of Mayo in the world and works perfectly in our Easy Tartar Sauce recipe. It carries all those hallmark characteristics of a classic Mayo and is perfectly balanced. Not too tart, not to sweet

You can try other types of Mayo if you like but just bear in mind the flavor of your Tartar Sauce is going to be altered drastically. We love Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise here at Dinnertime Somewhere and for fun we tried a variation of this recipe using this popular type of Mayo. It was sweeter, and didn’t really end up tasting like a classic Tartar

Therefore, I recommend sticking with the classic Hellman’s Mayo and you cannot go wrong. For this recipe we’ll be using 4 heaped tbsp. of Mayo, which will yield enough for 4 Fish Sandwiches, or enough dipping sauce for a generous portion of Fries

We’ve got the Mayo, what else going into the Tartar Sauce?

Because Mayonnaise is naturally sweet, the remaining ingredients that will go into a Tartar Sauce are there to balance out the sweetness. So, acidic and tart ingredients are what’s called for. These flavors are important in a Tartar Sauce as they help to accentuate the flavors of the dish the Sauce is being paired with (typically a piece of Fried Fish)

The same way a piece of Seafood comes alive when you add a fresh squeeze of Lemon Juice to it is what we’re looking for with balancing flavors in our Tartar Sauce. So, of course Lemon Juice is a primary component to the Sauce

The trick with making Homemade Tartar Sauce is to try and maintain the creamy, thick texture of a Tartar Sauce. You may end up creating something too runny and unappealing if you add too many additional liquids to the Mayonnaise. Therefore, add the Lemon Juice in small quantities and mix it through, tasting as you go

Easy Tartar Sauce with Capers and Pickles — Capers and Pickles add a wonderful flavor and texture to our Easy Tartar Sauce

Capers and Pickles are then added for flavor and texture

The famous briny flavors in a Tartar Sauce are introduced through the inclusion of Capers and Pickles. For both ingredients you will need to dice them finely, as we don’t want big chunks of Capers or Pickles to be present in the sauce

It’s ok to keep the Sauce a little bit chunky, as it adds a quaint rustic charm to the dish. So, give both ingredients a dice with a sharp knife (no need for a food processor) and mix them into the Sauce. Just like the Lemon Juice, I recommend tasting as you go and adding the Capers and Pickles in smaller quantities to avoid overpowering the Sauce with either flavor

Finally, I like to add a touch of Pickle Juice to the Tartar Sauce. It adds a wonderful sharpness to the Sauce which again, counterbalances the sweetness of the Mayo. Just remember to manage the thickness of the Sauce when mixing in the Pickles. If it gets too thin, just add a bit more Mayo to get the desired texture

You can make loads of great dishes with this Tartar Sauce recipe, including an amazing Homemade Filet-O-Fish Sandwich

Dishes to enjoy with Homemade Tartar Sauce

Naturally a good piece of Fried Fish is going to be amazing with this Easy Tartar Sauce recipe. First, we highly recommend giving our Beer Battered Fried Fish recipe a try. The Beer Batter gives the Fish a beautiful crispy coating, and dipping the Fish into the Tartar Sauce is so amazing

For something a little bit different you can also try making your very own Homemade Filet-O-Fish. The classic McDonalds Fried Fish Sandwich can easily be made at home and it isn’t complete without a generous topping of Tartar Sauce!

Recipe Details

Servings

2- 4 people

Prep time

5 minutes

Cooking time

Total time

5 minutes