Tartar Sauce Recipe
This homemade tartar sauce is a 5 minute mayonnaise-based condiment with dill pickles, capers, yellow onion, and parsley folded in. I keep a jar in the fridge any week I am cooking seafood. It is tangy, briny, and ready for anything fried.
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup small diced yellow onions
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped capers
- 1/3 cup small-diced dill pickles
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoons minced fresh dill, optional
- Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
My suggestion is to keep the tartar sauce as simple as possible because it should complement the seafood, not mask it. A good tartar sauce should coat the fish in one smooth layer, and the moment the onion or pickle pieces are larger than a caper, the texture becomes more like a relish than a sauce. Trust me on this one: finely dice every solid ingredient to about the size of a brined caper, and you'll end up with a tartar sauce that coats every bite of fried meat exactly the way it should.
Skip the second acid: I don't add lemon juice or vinegar because the pickle and caper brine already provide all the acidity the sauce needs. Any extra acid would thin the sauce, and trust me, you don't want that.
Rest the sauce, 30 minutes minimum before service, and ideally a few hours ahead. The onion mellows, the pickle brine pulls into the mayonnaise, and the sauce tastes like one thing.
Adjust after the rest, not before: Season at the start with a light hand, taste after the chill, and adjust salt, pepper, or a splash more pickle brine then.
Keep the parsley same-day: I always chop the parsley the same day the sauce is served. Parsley chopped a day ahead goes dark in the bowl and tastes tired even when the rest of the sauce is sharp.
Make-Ahead: I make this up to 3 days ahead, and the sauce is at its best 24 hours after I mix it.
How to Store: I transfer the sauce into a glass jar with a tight lid and refrigerate for up to 7 days. I do not freeze tartar sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 97kcalCarbohydrates: 0.5gProtein: 0.2gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 141mgPotassium: 13mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 0.2gVitamin A: 60IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 4mgIron: 0.1mg