McDonald's® Tartar Sauce Copycat

I HATE sweet relish and so I usually shy away from tartar sauce because of that reason so this one appealed to me in a big way. I like capers and typically have them on hand but was certain that Mickey D's would NOT use capers and this would not taste anything like their sauce. WRONG! Spot on! No, BETTER! The recipe submitter mentioned it turning out a little too runny and my solution to that was really smashing the relish against the jar before adding it to the recipe to eliminate some of the excess liquid. Hands down this is the best tartar sauce EVER and I am thrilled to be the first reviewer. I will make this often with my catfish. Thanks duboo!

I'm the submitter of this recipe and I think the flavor is spot on with Mickey Dees. However the last time I made it, it was runnier than I like it. I recommend that you squeeze out the relish before adding and blending. Lately, I've skipped the blending altogether and have mashed the relish and capers with a fork. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have.

I've tried several other recipes claiming to taste like McDonald's Tartar sauce -- one my Martha Stuart. None of them came close. Frankly, I had given up. Then I tried this one. It nailed it! It's obvious that the author really worked to duplicate the taste. If you too had given up, try this recipe. I think you will be surprised and love it.

EXCELLENT! I made this to go with tonight's dinner of crab cakes. Normally, I just mix mayo and relish so this really caught my eye. I love the addition of capers so I put in a little extra. I put the relish in a colander before adding to be sure it wouldn't be runny. The flavor is delicious and can only get better the longer it's refrigerated. The texture couldn't be better. There was no need to thicken or thin. I've never had the tartar sauce from McDonald's. All I can say after trying this is, "Look out McDonald's, duboo's in town!" Thanks for sharing duboo. I will use this recipe many times.

It's been quite a while since I've had a McDonald's fillet of fish sandwich, but I did remember trying them many years ago and being surprised to find myself liking tartar sauce for the first time. This being the Lenten season, fish is on the Friday menu now, so I thought I'd give this copycat recipe a try. I made it with no adjustments, except to skip the last step of adding part of the relish and onions unblended. I used my immersion hand blender and thought the consistency of the sauce was nice and creamy - not the least bit runny. The addition of capers was a nice touch. We liked this very much.

I've eaten no less than one bazillion fillet o' fish from McDonalds (my guilty pleasure). It's bang on....and maybe even a little nicer.

I love me some fried fish slathered with tartar sauce. I love me some Fillet O’ Fish sammiches with extra tartar sauce. I cannot buy good tartar sauce at the grocery store; in fact they’re all dismal. Too sweet or too gooey. Restaurant versions are weak too. McDonald’s sauce is my holy Grail. So I googled this up and heavens to Betsy!! Well done, my friend! Mind blown. Life changed. Home-made forever.

this is perfect. i love the flavor that adding the capers and using the dill relish and adding onion makes. i used to use sweet relish mayo and that was it, and really hated it because i think mcdonalds tartar is fantastic, and of course when you make tartar with sweet relish and mayo, it tastes nothing like mcdonald's tartar.... so i ventured out to find a copycat, had never even heard of capers, and never knew there was dill relish (i'm thankful for that in itself, because i hate sweet pickles but love dill pickles a lot), anyhow, it is exactly as it should be, i love it, and will never make it any other way. this is perfect. thanks!!!

As the recipe is it is GOOD. BUT Sometime I add 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried tarragon,2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves,1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice. I like to play with my food. Thank You...Grpa

Mmmm...so good. I've never had Mc D's tarter sauce to compare this to, but this was so good you could just eat it with a spoon and forget the fish. I didn't use a blender, I just finely chopped my capers and sweet onion. Just squirted in my dill relish from the bottle, didn't need draining. I mixed it all together with a spoon in a small bowl and it was the perfect consistency. I realized after I ate this that I forgot the sugar, didn't need it in my opinion, but sure the hubs would like the sugar. I did add a few turns of ground black pepper for my own taste preference. I've never added capers to my tarter sauce, sure does take tarter sauce up a notch. Thanks for sharing Duboo.

I served this with beer batter chicken and veggies and this sauce stole the show! I've never had McDonald's tartar sauce but am sure this is WAY better thanks to no added chemicals or nasty hidden stuff. I wanted a tartar sauce with both pickle relish and capers. OMG this was so good. I made my own pickle relish out of quick ingredients on hand so I got to have control over the liquid and had a thick "scoop it up" consistency. I love this stuff. I'll bet this would make a great condiment for a sandwich.... :-) Thanks Duboo for this recipe.

Excellent recipe. I loved the capers and it's easy to reduce the servings and still have plenty for 8 fish sandwiches. Thanks for posting. 9/2 - just used this on fresh fried shrimp and my hubs said it was really good. That's high praise from him, believe me!

You just need to follow the directions for this! I will not need to buy any tartar sauce from now on! Thanks, duboo!

I first tried this recipe a couple months ago, and could hardly believe how good it was then. The addition of capers is the ingredient I've been missing all this time. Just mixed up a fresh batch today to go with some fish fillets for tonight's dinner. I didn't add the sugar (I like tangy tartar sauce) but otherwise prepared per recipe. I have found this keeps very well in my fridge (I store it in a plastic bowl that has a screw-on lid). Just make sure you mix and refrigerate it a couple hours before you want to use it, as that really helps the flavors develop. This will be my go-to recipe for tartar sauce from now on -- it's really THAT good.

Without a doubt the closest thing to McD's tartar sauce. I followed the exact recipe but forgot to add the capers. I opted to use a spoon instead of a blender and it was perfect. I needed to add more sauce to a fish sandwich I had just purchased there and compared the two and it is identical! This will now be my go-to tartar sauce recipe.

Soooo NOT spot on. I made this recipe EXACTLY as posted and it most definitely does NOT taste like McDonald's.

This was very good. I used dried minced onion instead of fresh which really thickens it up, but you have to give the onions time to rehydrate so it’s best to make day ahead.

Oh this one’s a winner. I put it together a couple of days ago intending to use it on a fish dish we were having the next night, but I realized that the recipe I was using had a wine sauce with it and I didn’t think the tartar sauce would be necessary. I asked Hubs if he wanted to try it anyway and he turned his nose up. Well, that evening I caught him dipping Ritz crackers into this! Ha! Turned out he loves it and now wants to have it on fish. It seems to be keeping well in the fridge, so I’ll put fish back on the menu within the next few days. I made the recipe exactly as written, making sure to drain the relish and capers well. I didn’t use a blender at all, just finely chopped the onion and capers, which left it a little chunky. Wonderful! Thank you duboo!

This was a delicious condiment on some homemade filet of fish sandwiches. I might lower the relish a touch. Just my preference.

The best recipe yet

This is undoubtedly the best tartar sauce I have ever had outside of McDonalds. I followed the recipe exactly except I didn't have capers on hand. I read somewhere that green olives could be used instead, so I tried that. I can't imagine the capers would be better, but I will try that another time. Also, next time I will pulse all the ingredients except the mayo in the blender just to chop a little finer, then strain well before I stir in the mayo. It was even better the second day!

Excellent recipe! Just like McD's.

OMG...i HATE capers, but I bought them and made the recipe as instructed! IT IS SPOT ON! I will never buy tartar sauce again and will always make this one! Love it!! Forget stars...it gets five ??????????!

Best tartar sauce you can possibly make. We absolutely love it!! Thee only thing I changed was the process. Just mashed up the capers with a fork, and stirred everything together. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour, gave it another stir and let it sit till ready to use. Thank you for this recipe!!!

It turned out very good. I didn't have capers, so I used more relish. I really liked it.

This is really good. I don't like store bought tartar sauce, so this is perfect. And, it does taste like McDonald's, maybe even a little better.

This is perfect! Instead of milk to thin it out I used 1/2 teaspoon of the caper liquid. Kraft olive oil Mayo worked beautifully. Thank you so much!

This really is a great recipe. I wish Captain D’s or Long John Silvers would use this recipe. I never eat there because their tartar sauce is horrible. Bad tartar sauce can ruin a meal.

I’m not a fan of mayo or tartar sauce. I’ve never had the fish filet sandwich, but my husband loves it and tartar sauce. After trying the grocery store versions which we didn’t like, I tried this recipe and it’s hands down our favorite. Love this one, not too mayonnaisey. Have made it several times and it’s always good! Thank you for sharing!

I'm a big McDonald's fan! I tried this tartar sauce with Jalapeno cheeseballs (https://www.mcdelivery.com.bh/bh/browse/menu.html?daypartId=2&catId=3). So good!

Very nice we enjoyed it

Made it just as it'e written. Turned out great and will use it again.

3-15-18 - Still making this and loving it for flavor and simplicity of a good tartar sauce. Used a vegan mayo for egg free alternative (earth balance brand) tonight with no issues in flavor too! 9-27-17 - Made exactly as written and enjoyed this with fish fillet sandwiches. Didn't have an issue with it being too thin or too thick. Easy to make and so much better than store bought or actual McD's. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Outstanding

Excellent

Perfect!

Just made this today. It tastes spot on to the McDonald’s tartar sauce. The Filet-o-Fish is one of the two sandwiches i frequently eat from McDonalds and im obsessed with their tartar sauce. Im so happy that i found this recipe. This recipe has almost all of the ingredients in the McDonalds Tartar Sauce. The only ingredient missing is “spices”. Not sure what spices McDonalds use (as they only indicates spices in the ingredient list) but I added some black pepper and a pinch of salt and it worked perfectly. This will be my go-to recipe moving forward!!!!

Tasty. Consistency was perfect. I left out the sugar. It seemed like the ideal recipe which I’ll continue to use. Thanks you!

I followed the recipe exactly. So much better than the jar stuff bought at the store. Will make again as is.

Really loved this but due to the consistency (not near as thick,) not so much a copycat of MD tartar sauce which I've so loved since I was a girl. I didn't use dill relish and instead finely minced up dill pickles (without adding the extra juice,) but that good ole thickness just wasn't there. A good try though and would make again. Thanks for the post and enjoyed making it.

Not even close

This tastes just like McDonald’s tartar sauce. I did not make any changes to the recipe. My kids who are not big in fish sticks would eat the fish sticks just to have the tartar sauce. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

Very close to the real deal. Next time I will cut out the sugar totally for my taste and I will use sour pickles which are hard to find in my area. I think that the sour pickle will give some bite and I will increase the onion or use an onion with more bite. I only had sweet white on hand. Very good and I applaud you for getting so close to the secret recipe.

This is absolutely fantastic! Didn’t have capers so I diced a teaspoon of olives real fine also used a teaspoon of dried onion instead of the regular onion. It was delicious! Making another batch today.

You can't get any closer to McDonald's tartar sauce recipe. I have made this a few times already and it is fabulous! Thanks for sharing it.

I've got to say that I was skeptical about the anchovies as well but it turned out to be a very tasty tartar sauce. I just wish the fish I prepared with it was just as good lol. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!

I love it!

A nice change from the mayo and sweet relish versions. Is this what goes on the McD's filet-o-fish? In any case, it's really good! I didn't have dill pickle relish so I chopped up some dill pickles and added a little of the juice. I'm sure it will be that much better with the dill pickle relish, which I plan to get!

very tasty

I was buying store bought tartar sauce until I tried this! It is so easy to make and it taste amazing! Thanks for sharing on AllRecipes!

This is the second time I’ve made this. First was great, this time awesome IMO. We’re moving so blender was packed but the hand grater was still in the drawer. I also had no dill relish, but I had dill pickles and only a small amount of onion left. I grated the onion I had and the two baby dills. Added to the Mayo, had that, added dried parsley, not fresh...we’re moving...capers. Why I still had capers I don’t know, but mashed them with a fork. Added a bit of pickle juice, the sugar, let it chill for the 2 hours, and OMG! It’s amazing what you can do on a pinch but still follow the spirit of the recipe

Loved this recipe. Didn't have relish so chopped dill pickles and turned out great. This is a keeper and will be made again. Thanks for sharing.

This recipe is oh so good!!! I did leave out the capers and added dried parsley flakes to the recipe! This is my “go to” tarter sauce recipe!!!! My family loves it and you will too! Better than Mickey D’s!!!??

Great copycat recipe.

was pleasantly surprised. Followed the recipe to a tee. I thought it would be too sweet, however, it was delicious. I’ll be making it again !!!

Not exactly like McDs, but I liked it better.

I've made this several times now and each time it has turned out very well. I've tried bottles of commercial tartar sauce and some of them are just okay and the others not so much. This recipe is really easy and quick and very tasty! I don't always measure exactly and it doesn't seem to matter. it still turns out delicious.

The addition of capers IS key here, S.P.O.T on. Mine was a bit salty (due to the capers) so I will have to play around with that a bit. But wow duboo good job figuring this one out and thanks for sharing!

Love it!!! Very easy to make .... only tarter sauce I’ll make

yummm! so tasty and yet light

Made it as written. Fabulous. The only small change I would make is to blend a little less. This is SO GOOD.

Yummy! I love the addition of the capers. I forgot the sugar but I don't like sweet tartar sauce anyway. Love it!

Way better than store bought,loved it.

Just made it and putting in the refer. Did not have any cappers but it tastes good!!!

Made fish sandwiches the other night and my wife was not happy with our store bought tartar sauce. She mentioned that she always loved the McDonald's tartar sauce so I decided to give this recipe a try. I didn't have high hopes because the list of ingredients didn't seem to match the flavor profile my chick described but the high rating convinced me to roll the dice. I didn't blend the ingredients because I was lazy but I have to say... the sauce was a huge success! I didn't change any ingredients, just skipped the blender and it turned out great. I'm not nearly as picky but I did prefer this sauce to the overly salty store bought tartar sauce I had on hand. Give it a try if you're looking for that Mickey D's flavor. If you eat at McDonald's regularly you might not be as impressed but as a very occasional fast food diner, my wife thought it was a spot on. Thanks for sharing!

OMG I have bought so many expensive and not so expensive store bought tartar sauces only to throw them out. Who needs High fructose sugar? Seriously? This recipe will not disappoint! Yay ☺️

I have tried this recipe blended and not blended. While they both taste good, I feel it tastes more spot on to McDonald’s when it is not blended. Also, you must use Kraft Mayo to get the right taste. My one year old eats it in handfuls????

I left out the capers and used 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, and with that change this is almost spot on. like 95% the same. Great quick little recipe.