Dill Pickle Tartar Sauce packs in tons of dill pickle flavor with only 5 simple ingredients. It is the perfect condiment with any seafood dish.
No fish fry is complete without the perfect tartar sauce – and boy do I have you covered with this one. My Dill Pickle Tartar Sauce recipe is packed with tons of dill pickle flavor but only calls for 5 simple ingredients.
What is tartar sauce?
You may have heard of “tartar sauce” and thought, “Well, what exactly is it?” Fair question! With a funny name like tartar, it can definitely raise curiosities. Simply put, tartar sauce is a creamy condiment most commonly used with seafood dishes. Tartar sauce pairs well with fried or breaded seafood, such as fish and chips, shrimp, or crab cakes.
The consistency of tartar sauce is creamy and features a mayonnaise base. While the exact recipe can vary, the most common additions include pickles, capers, lemon juice, and/or herbs. All the ingredients are typically mixed together until well combined, and the sauce is chilled before serving.
Why should you use dill pickles in your tartar sauce?
Dill pickles have a distinct flavor that pairs so well with fish which is typically what tartar sauce is consumed with. The combination of tanginess, sourness, and a hint of dill with the savory fried fish flavor… mouthwatering I tell ya! When you add dill pickle flavors to tartar sauce, it truly enhances the overall taste and creates a more complex and interesting flavor.
As for my recipe, I decided to amp up that pickle flavor and make it even more pickle-y by adding a whole cup of finely diced dill pickles. The result is a creamy tartar sauce that’s bursting with pickle flavor. It’s great with my Lemon Pepper Fried Catfish or any fried catfish, for that matter. Heck, it’s good with any fried fish at all. It’s even good on fish sticks, french fries, and hush puppies. Who am I kidding? This stuff is even good on potato chips! You simply can’t go wrong with this amazing sauce!
A few things to note:
Grated onions: My recipe calls for grated onion, which I prefer, but finely minced onion will work as well. I grate my onion by cutting it into chunks and running it over a box grater. A small food chopper will work, too.
Mayo base: When it comes to that mayo base, y’all know that there’s only one brand of mayo at my house, and that’s Duke’s.
Chill before serving: This recipe benefits from some time in the fridge to let all the pickle and onion flavors combine with the mayo. An hour or so should be enough time; just be sure to stir it up well before you serve it. And if you use another brand of mayo, a little salt and pepper and maybe a splash of vinegar might be needed then as well.
Store in the fridge: This keeps for about a week in the fridge, but again make sure you stir it well before serving.
Recipe Card
Dill Pickle Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup finely chopped dill pickles, well drained
- 2 tablespoons grated onion
- 2 teaspoons dill pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir the ingredients together until well combined. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to develop. Keeps for about 1 week.
Nutrition
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Peggy
The family love this recipe
Thanks, Peggy!
Cindy
How long will the sauce keep in the fridge?
I typically keep it for no more than 5 days. Just be sure to give it a good stir before serving.
Gary
Way I have always made it but with the addition of a little lemon juice and a dash of horseradish.
Those sound like great additions!
Michele Ragan
Question – I made this and of course I use dukes Mayo. Does the overwhelming Mayo taste go away once fridge for an hour or so?
The flavors should certainly meld together after some time in the chill chest.
Carrie-Ann
This is the only tartar sauce we eat, it is our absolute favourite! ❤️
Love hearing that!!
Nadia
Haven’t tried this yet but will this week! Is there anything I can sub or use instead of the Dijon? Don’t want to have to run out this week when our temps hit the single digits 😉
A smaller amount of yellow mustard might work – or you could just leave it out altogether. Hope you enjoy it! Stay warm!
Carol Ann Baughman
My husband and I have been married 34 yrs and I have prepared and served fish exactly three times. And the only reason I served fish at all was because our kids asked for it.
Then, early in August my husband learned that he has substantial plaque buildup in the arteries, leading to his heart. Although my general health is fine and my cholesterol results were very good, I decided to immediately begin changing “our” unhealthy eating habits.
Neither one of us like the taste of fish…any type of fish. However, because our friend have always recommended that we try salmon, I was determined to at least try a few recipes. The day after we received his diagnosis, I picked up a couple small (6oz) Salmon steaks…thinking, we wouldn’t be wasting much if we didn’t eat it.
I was so worried about serving the fish to my husband, that I decided to find a recipe for tarter sauce, hoping it would help mask the flavor. After searching the Web, I found southernbite.com, and this tarter sauce recipe. After chilling the tarter sauce for a couple hours, I grilled the salmon in our George Foreman Grill, using a sprinkle of lemon pepper.
When I served my husband his plate, he stared at the salmon for a minute or so, then he gave me a blank stare. I said, “Just try a bite with a little tarter sauce. If you don’t like it I’ll run out and pick up a hamburger for your dinner. He continued staring at me until I took a bite of my salmon, with a dollop of your tarter sauce. And, I loved it!! I gave my husband a big smile and again suggested that he take “just one bite.” It took several nudges to get him to try that one bite. But he finally gave in, after I asked him if he’d considered yet, what type of wood I should request for his casket, after he passes away.
He frowned for a minute, then he took a bite of his salmon…with a healthy dollop of tarter sauce.
He then took another bite. And, before I had a chance to finish my dinner, he was asking for more salmon.
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe! I’m sure without the tarter sauce my salmon experiment would have surely failed.
We have had salmon three times since that evening. And, I’m sure we’ll have it many times in the future. I just need to make sure there is plenty of tarter sauce in the fridge!
Thanks so much for the laugh, Carol Ann! The comment about the wood for the casket tickled me! I’m so glad to hear you both enjoyed it!
Kristy
I make my tarter sauce very similar. I mince a couple green olives to add with the pickles. I wish I could say it was my ideal, but it was what a tavern/restaurant that was extremely popular for their fish made to serve with their fish. It is still the best I have ever eaten.
Love the green olive idea! I’ll have to try it!
Bruce
What kind of onion?
Any kind will work, but I typically like the flavor a sweet onion, like a Vidalia, gives the sauce.
John Kamansky
I make this almost the same. I leave out the mustard and add a squirt or two of lemon juice, and I also can eat it by itself! Lol. Next time I’ll try it with the mustard too, since I like mustard also! Thanks!!
Thanks, John! I’m like you – could just eat it all by itself!
Kim
I add lemon juice and paprika. Yummy
Sounds great!
Wayne Deacon
Tried this recipe with some catfish last night. Very good flavor. I could and did eat it by the spoonful. Definitely a keeper. Thank you.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!!