Once you learn how to make tartar sauce, you'll never buy it at the store again! This lightened-up version is super creamy, tangy, and delicious.
When I told Jack I was working on a homemade tartar sauce recipe, he replied, “Oh, are you using cream of tartar?” I immediately burst out laughing, but I really can’t blame him for his mistake. I mean, tartar sauce is creamy. It kind of makes sense, right?
In reality, the two have nothing to do with one another. Cream of tartar is a powdery baking ingredient that you’d find in sweets like cookies or meringues. Tartar sauce, on the other hand, is super savory, rich, and tangy. It’s typically served with seafood, but trust me – this delicious condiment can do so much more. Lately, I’ve been using it as a dip for my crispy air fryer cauliflower, and the leftovers never go to waste. We slather the sauce on sandwiches, pile it onto baked potatoes, and dollop it onto grilled veggies. You’ll find more serving suggestions in the post below. But really, anytime you feel like a dish needs a rich, tangy pop of flavor, you can make this tartar sauce recipe to brighten it up.
Tartar Sauce Recipe Ingredients
Mayonnaise is the primary ingredient in traditional tartar sauce, but I lighten mine up by using a mix of mayo and Greek yogurt. The yogurt makes this recipe for tartar sauce extra-tangy and creamy. These other key ingredients amp up the flavor even more:
- Lemon juice – It makes the sauce nice and bright.
- Capers and diced dill pickles – They add salty, briny flavor.
- Dijon mustard – It adds extra tang and a peppery bite.
- Fresh garlic and onion powder – For sharp, savory depth of flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Tartar Sauce
Ready to cook? Here’s what you need to do:
- First, prep the ingredients. Dice the pickles, mince the capers, grate the garlic, and measure the mayo, yogurt, onion powder, and mustard.
- Then, mix it all together! Add the ingredients to a small bowl, and stir until everything is thoroughly combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with fresh chives, and enjoy.
That’s it!
Homemade Tartar Sauce Serving Suggestions
Tartar sauce is traditionally served with seafood dishes like crab cakes and fish and chips, but in our house, we eat it with veggies instead! Here are a few of our favorite ways to enjoy it:
- With crispy baked (or air fried) veggies. I’d take crispy veggies over fish sticks any day! I love serving my air fryer cauliflower, air fryer French fries, and baked zucchini chips with homemade tartar sauce for dipping.
- On a crudité platter. Serve it as a dip with your favorite fresh veggies and pita bread.
- With grilled or roasted veggies. Dollop the sauce onto grilled corn, grilled zucchini, roasted cauliflower, roasted broccoli, or grilled veggie kabobs.
- On a sandwich. It’d be excellent in all sorts of sandwiches, but I especially love it in place of the remoulade sauce in this Crispy Cauliflower Po’ Boy.
- In a baked potato. Move over, sour cream! A scoop of this sauce is fantastic inside a piping hot baked potato.
How do you like to use homemade tartar sauce? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Sauces and Spreads
If you love this recipe, try one of these yummy sauces next:
- Homemade Caesar Dressing
- Tzatziki Sauce
- Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Cashew Sour Cream
- Green Goddess Dressing
- Creamy Chipotle Sauce
- Romesco Sauce
- Tahini Sauce (4 ways!)
Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced capers
- 1 tablespoon diced dill pickles
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Chives, for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the mayo, yogurt, lemon juice, capers, pickles, mustard, garlic, onion powder, and pepper. Season to taste with pinches of salt.
- Garnish with chives, if desired, and serve using any of the suggestions in the post above.
Terrific recipe! I agree with you that it will lift more than fish and chips (which I make every once in a while for a weekend treat and made this to go with my recent batch). It’s delicious with roasted veggies. I’ve never commented on your recipes but wanted to tell you how much I love your site. We’re omnivores but eat a lot of veg-based meals and I think your recipes and ideas are thoughtful, creative and joyful, but also so useful. Thank you for sharing them all!
Hi Nicole, I’m so happy to hear you’ve been enjoying the recipes!
I used kew pie Mayo and skipped the capers since I was out. Still delicious. Trying to recreate Paia fish market tartar. Definitely a keeper. Can’t wait to try with capers. Thanks for the great recipe!
This was too liquidy for me.
Hi Anna, what type of yogurt did you use?
I love tarter sauce on French fries!!