Easy homemade tartar sauce
My fiancé and I went out for lunch the other day, and I was very jealous of the tartar sauce he had with his fish and chips. I never see it served with anything other than fish, which is a shame because it’s one of my favourite condiments, and you don’t get vegetarian fish (well actually, there are some vegetarian fish-style products out there, but I’ve yet to find one that isn’t revolting, so let’s just ignore that).
Luckily I know a great, easy tartar sauce recipe, so instead of trying to find somewhere that would serve it to me alongside something other than fish, I decided to just make my own.
I learned this recipe when I worked in a restaurant a couple of years ago. The food we served was pretty rubbish, through no fault of our own – basically we were told to make pretty much everything in either the fryer or the microwave – but we did make our own tartar sauce, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I couldn’t stop myself from dipping a chip into it what seemed like every five minutes (don’t worry, I obviously took my own pot, I didn’t dip into the stuff we served to the customers!).
Tartar sauce is ridiculously easy to make, which I suppose is why we made our own at the restaurant, even though we served microwaved packets of risotto (yeah… I left very shortly after they started making us do that). This version only has four ingredients: mayonnaise, capers, pickled gherkins (I think that’s just plain old ‘pickles’ to you American folk), and raw onion. I know, it sounds a bit disgusting – who wants to eat raw onion?! But trust me, it works. In fact, it more than works – it’s incredible.
You can serve this sauce as soon as you’ve made it, but the raw flavour is a bit more toned down if you let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours first. It stays nice and tangy, but it’s just a bit less intense. I guess it gives the flavours a chance to really meld (I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I’m sure it happens).
Next time I’ll show you what vegetarian dish I decided to serve this with – it was a very good choice!
Easy homemade tartar sauce
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tbsp capers drained
- 2 tbsp pickled gherkins around 8 baby gherkins, or one large
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise I used light
Instructions
- Chop the vegetables quite finely. Combine the four ingredients in a bowl, and mix well. You can serve this sauce immediately, but it’s best after a few hours in the fridge.
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
OMG YES. I have never liked fish so I only tried tartar sauce for the first time recently when I ordered beer battered halloumi and chips as a vegetarian fish and chips alternative. (Which is basically the best idea in the world, and I don’t know why more fish shops and pubs have not cottoned on?!)
So glad to see you experimenting with ways for veggies to use it! It’s so ingrained in us as a fish accompaniment, I never even think about including it in my meals, which is silly since its so yummy.
THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE BEST THING EVER!!
I love tartar sauces and can’t wait to make fish again and this sauce to try with it. Pinned and SU it…
I am also a vegetarian who loves tartar sauce! It’s such a pain! Now my go-to recipe is this breaded, potato-chip-crisp eggplant recipe I got from Whole Living ages ago (when it still existed). I am so making some of your tartar to go with this a.s.a.p.!
That looks amazing! :)
I had never thought to make my own! Pinned!
xx Kait
wow this is very easy to make. it looks great!
I feel the same way about honey mustard. I love it so much but they never serve it with vegetarian food :(
Your recipe for tartar sounds perfect and I can’t wait to try this. Pinning it right away :D
i havent made tartar sauce but i surely love them.
You know that is so true, tartar is only normally served wish fish! The best veggie fish I’ve had is from wing yip oriental supermarket. Not too far from me, when you are at your folks place cone with me?
My dad will love your chip shop curry sauce. X
Love this sauce!