This easy Homemade Tartar Sauce flavored with lemon and dill is the perfect condiment for seafood. Creamy, fresh, and ready in 5 minutes!
Although I’m not one to knock a kitchen shortcut, buying bottled tartar sauce just isn’t worth the couple of minutes it takes to mix up this easy Homemade Tartar Sauce recipe. And, friends, this sauce kicks the store bought variety to the curb! When it comes to tartar sauce, fresh is definitely best.
Ingredient Notes
- Mayonnaise – Skip the light mayo and use regular or a healthy fat mayonnaise for the best flavor. My favorite healthy fat mayo of the moment is olive oil mayo. I can’t distinguish the difference in taste from regular and it has half the fat and almost half the calories.
- Sour cream – Either light or regular sour cream work well. I always have light sour cream on hand so that’s what I use.
- Pickles – Use diced bread and butter, sweet, or dill pickles or pickle relish. If you have pickle chips in your fridge, there’s no need to go out and buy relish. Just dice them and it works perfectly. I like this Homemade Tartar Sauce best with bread and butter pickles. They are sweet but not too sweet and add such great flavor.
- Onion – Use a cheese grater to grate a sweet yellow or white onion. This is a great way to add onion flavor to sauces and condiments without adding the crunchy texture of raw diced onion.
- Dill – Dill adds that classic flavor that pairs so well with seafood. Either fresh or dried dill works great.
- Lemon – You’ll need the juice from half of a lemon to cut the dairy and add fresh, bright flavor.
- Salt and pepper – A little salt and pepper is all you need. There is no need for other seasoning that might compete with the lemon and dill.
How to Make Homemade Tartar Sauce
- Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl.
- Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
I think the flavor improves after it chills so I like to make it an hour or two before serving.
Storage
Transfer the Homemade Tartar Sauce to an airtight plastic storage container or a small mason jar and refrigerate it for a week or more. For the best quality, I recommend using it in under 2 weeks.
Serving Suggestions
Homemade Tartar Sauce is an excellent served with most seafood dishes. These are some of my favorites.
- Air Fryer Fish Sticks (+Oven Directions)
- Blackened Mahi Mahi
- Crispy Baked Fish
- Oven Roasted Maple Salmon
Tartar sauce made from scratch is creamy, fresh, and SO much better than store bought!
Homemade Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup mayonnaise, I use olive oil mayo
- ¼ cup light or regular sour cream
- ¼ cup diced pickles or pickle relish, bread and butter, sweet, or dill
- 1 tablespoon grated white or yellow onion
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. I think the flavor improves after it chills so I like to make it an hour or two before serving.
Notes
- Mayonnaise – Skip the light mayo and use regular or a healthy fat mayonnaise for the best flavor. My favorite healthy fat mayo of the moment is olive oil mayo. I can’t distinguish the difference in taste from regular and it has half the fat and almost half the calories.
- Sour cream – I always have light sour cream in my fridge and we can’t distinguish a difference in taste from regular. Both light and regular work well.
- Pickles – Use diced bread and butter, sweet, or dill pickles or pickle relish. If you have pickle chips in your fridge, there’s no need to go out and buy relish. Just dice them and it works perfectly. I like this Homemade Tartar Sauce best with bread and butter pickles. They are sweet but not too sweet and add such great flavor.
- Onion – Use a cheese grater to grate a sweet yellow or white onion. This is a great way to add onion flavor to sauces and condiments without adding the crunchy texture of raw diced onion.
- Dill – Dill adds that classic flavor that pairs so well with seafood. Either fresh or dried dill works great.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
As a native of the Pacific Northwest, I am a snob when it comes to fish and the accompanying sauces that go with it. We live in the desert (Las Vegas) and I find it hard to find good fish and chips in restaurants. I now make my own at home when we get the itch but it’s always so messy frying fish. (though I do it out on the patio) BTW one of our favorite fishes to splurge on is halibut.
I am so pleased to find your recipe for air fried. Your breading and your tartar (always dill, NO sweet) are essentially the same I use but the air fryer idea is brilliant.As always, stellar recipes. Thank you!
Hi Valerie. Thank you so much for the recipes. I’m really going to make these . They look delicious..
You’re welcome! Hope you love it 🙂