The Tartar Sauce Upgrade That Gives Fish Sandwiches 10x The Flavor

Creamy tartar sauce is a classic condiment for fish sandwiches. It's a simple yet flavorful spread typically made with mayo and diced pickles, and brightened up with a touch of lemon juice. Tartar sauce can also act as a canvas for culinary creativity. You can boost the brininess by tripling the pickles in tartar sauce or thicken its texture by stirring in sour cream. If you really want to kick up the flavor, incorporate some heat with wasabi.

As opposed to other spicy ingredients you might have in your cabinet, wasabi stands out for its unique nose-tingling style of heat. Since it is best known as a fixture on plates of sushi, it's clearly a perfect pairing with fish. Wasabi is guaranteed to give tartar sauce a flavor unlike any other, and it's easy to mix in — just be mindful to taste as you go to find the right ratio for your palate. Slather it onto bread, pile on the fish (plus garnishes of your choosing), then dig into a next-level sandwich.

Once you've tried upgrading tartar sauce with wasabi, you may want to make a bigger batch to keep on hand – tartar sauce doesn't need to be reserved just for seafood after all. Use it as a condiment on burgers or wraps, serve it as a dipping sauce for fries or onion rings, or add a spoonful to pasta salad, potato salad, or tuna salad. Your tartar sauce and wasabi creation can even amp up deviled eggs. 

Not all varieties of wasabi are created equal. Real wasabi can be expensive and hard to come by, especially given that there are very few growers in the United States. Plus, the plant is a little finicky about climate and can take years to mature. If you do find the real deal, get ready for layers of flavor — in addition to being spicy, it's herbaceous and slightly floral. If authentic wasabi is what you want for your tartar sauce, your best bet may be purchasing fresh wasabi root online.

The easiest way to add wasabi flavor to tartar sauce is to use the substitute you typically find in the U.S. Ground horseradish and green food coloring are used to make the dupe, which can also include mustard, preservatives, and other ingredients. According to Reddit, S&B Foods is a good choice. One commenter said, "S&B lowkey hits hard. It's my go-to quality pick," while another called it the "closest thing to restaurant-mixed wasabi paste."

If going on a hunt for wasabi isn't on your agenda, fear not — there are ingredients you can substitute for wasabi. The closest match may be made by combining mustard powder (or spicy brown mustard) and horseradish (adding green food dye is optional). Short on time (or mustard)? Simply add a dollop of the horseradish to the tartar sauce. Grated wasabi root, horseradish, and mustard all contain allyl isothiocyanate, the compound responsible for the sinus-clearing spiciness that also happens to upgrade tartar sauce.