Fish Taco Sauce
Fish Taco Sauce is quick, easy, and the perfect way to add a little, creamy, tangy kick to fish tacos or sandwiches. It makes a wonderful fry sauce as well.
Fish taco sauce is our go-to sauce for mahi mahi tacos, beer battered fish, and crab cakes. It also tastes great on fish taco bowls! This sauce is packed with citrus flavor with a bit of a spicy touch. Some of our other favorite sauces are this bechamel cream sauce, homemade remoulade sauce, and tzatziki sauce.
Fish Taco Sauce Recipe:
Have you ever had baja fish tacos or tilapia fish tacos? Fish tacos are some of my favorite seafood dishes.
Quick, simple and fresh. I love the meatiness of the fish, the soft tortillas, the crisp fish taco slaw, and best of all this spicy fish taco sauce.
It can be difficult to find the right fish taco sauce, though. Our recipe with mayo adds a tangy kick of lemon to cut through any meaty white fish.
We made this fish taco sauce without sour cream, but you could easily substitute a little sour cream for some of the mayonnaise if you’d like.
Our taco sauce is easy to make, comes together in about 5 minutes, and is very versatile. Your entire family will love this taco sauce.
We also have a homemade dill sauce and homemade tartar sauce if this type of sauce isn’t what you’re looking for!
How to Make Spicy Fish Taco Sauce:
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix all the spices, then add the mayonnaise and lemon juice.
- Enjoy the sauce immediately or refrigerate it until ready to use.
Fish Taco Sauce Tips and Variations:
- Intensity: As it’s stored in your fridge, the flavors will become more intense.
- Mayonnaise: We used full-fat mayonnaise for this recipe. Something like Miracle Whip is not going to taste the same, so we recommend that real deal, full-fat mayo be used.
- Pairing: Obviously, we love to use this sauce on fish tacos, but it also pairs well with our fish taco slaw, use it in place of classic coleslaw dressing, and several other recipes that we’ve linked to above.
- Spices: We love the blend of spices in this recipe, but they can be adjusted to your tastes. If you want to make this recipe less spicy, reduce or omit the chipotle.
- Sour Cream: We made this recipe without sour cream, but you could swap out some of the mayonnaise for sour cream if needed.
Storage Recommendations:
Room Temperature: We do not recommend storing this taco sauce at room temperature due to the mayonnaise base.
Refrigerator: Fish taco sauce should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container and be discard after 3 to 4 days.
Freezer: We do not recommend freezing this fish taco sauce.
Other sauce recipes you may love:
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, juice from ½ a lemon
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.1 ¾ cup mayonnaise1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning½ teaspoon dried dill½ teaspoon onion powder¼ teaspoon ground cumin¼ teaspoon chipotle powder¼ teaspoon smoked paprika¼ teaspoon garlic salt¼ teaspoon salt⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Keep cold in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Notes
- The calories listed are an approximation based on the ingredients and a serving size of about one to two tablespoons. Actual calories may vary.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I don’t like sour cream OR yogurt, so I’ve never been able to find a good fish taco sauce that I can actually eat. So grateful!
Thank you Amber! Kim and I are glad you enjoyed the taco sauce. Thank you again for commenting and rating the recipe. Have a lovely day 🙂
This is now our go-to sauce for fish tacos! I’m so grateful to have a tasty option as I have to be dairy-free. And the spices are really moldable.. sometimes I don’t have enough of one and those substitute a little of something else and it always turns out great. Thank you!
Thank Kimberly! I started making this taco sauce almost 10 years ago. I too have had to make a few spice substitutions from time to time. Thank you again for commenting and rating the recipe, we appreciate it. Have a lovely day 🙂
This sauce is so good on fish tacos. Next I’ll try on salmon!
Thanks so much, Jane!
We’re glad you enjoyed it! Have a fantastic weekend! 🙂
Thank you for this amazing sauce recipe, I will never put any other sauce on my fish again, this was simply delicious.
Thank you Angie, we’re glad you enjoyed the taco sauce. Have a lovely day 🙂
Wow, easy, fast, delicious! My kids are quite picky and let me know when they don’t like things. This passed muster and I added it to my family cookbook page next to my grandma’s fish recipe. Thanks!
Thank you Laura, Kim and I are glad everyone enjoyed the fish taco sauce. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
This sounds delicious! I am curious though, why does it only keep in the refrigerator for only 3-4 days? I keep my plain mayonnaise in my refrigerator much longer than that.
Good morning Elaine, thank you for the compliment and asking a question. Kim and I worked in restaurants for a number of years in our teens and twenties. During that time, it was common practice to toss leftover refrigerated sauces after 3-4 days. That practice included mayonnaise based sauces. So, that’s why we recommend trashing most of our leftovers after 3-4 days. Thank you again for dropping by to leave a comment, have a lovely day 🙂
Oh my goodness!! I wrote the first chapter of a book praising this sauce ON THE WRONG WEBSITE!! AARGH! I will wait till it post and attach it here where it belongs. This recipe IS ALL THAT!! 5+ stars folks and I’m darn picky about my cookin.
Hi Patty!
We’re thrilled that you like the fish taco sauce. It’s great dipping sauce for French fries, too, if you haven’t tried that combo yet! Thanks for coming back to comment. We hope you have a lovely weekend! 🙂
@Kimberly, Another 5 star Review!!! My post never showed up on the other(WRONG) website! So here’s what I did… I pan fried catfish nuggets coated in Zatarains Fish Fry, because I was out of Kentucky Kernel seasoned flour. I had homemade flour tortillas made and and heated them with a smidge of butter in a hot pan on the stovetop 25 seconds each side. Put on a plate with some catfish, “THE SAUCE”, fresh chopped tomato, chopped green scallions and some cool, crisp lettuce shredded and topped with fresh cilantro sprigs. Oh my, oh my what a fantastic dance of flavors in my mouth and the sauce brought it all together with zing. P.S. I added a little diced jalapeno to the mix to spice it up. YUM!! and THANK YOU!!
Hi Patty!
This sounds like an amazing dish! 🙂 Thanks so much for coming back to add the details. We hope you have a great evening! 🙂
@Kimberly, Printed this recipe and it’s getting taped to the inside of my spice cabinet door for easy reference! Happy New Year!
I made this sauce to go with tilapia fish tacos. It was awesome!!! The whole family loved it. I didn’t put old bay seasoning because it was out of stock at the store but the sauce was still great without it. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you, Becky! We’re glad you and your family loved the sauce. If you decide to make it again and the store is out of Old Bay seasoning, you could add 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt in place the Old Bay. Thank you again for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card. Kim and I hope you have a lovely day 🙂
RECIPES ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THEIR SPICES. CAN YOU SAY WHAT BRAND SPICES YOU USE. THEIR ARE SO MANY TO CHOOSE CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THIS. THANK YOU
Good Morning Mary, unfortunately, I can’t recommend a brand with confidence. Because, spice brands can have regional availability. When I developed that recipe, I lived in Southern Florida. So, I used a brand called Badia. It was affordable and tasted good. Since we’ve moved, we don’t have Badia in our new city. So, we use McCormick, Spice Island, and other imported brands when needed (using Amazon).
What I recommend is using a brand YOU trust and tastes good to you. I understand it might not seem like the best advice; however, hear me out. You know what you like (what tastes good to you) so, you’re the best person to pick out a spice brand.
The important thing is that my recipe gives you the blueprints (main components), the mayo (fat), the lemon juice (acid), and blend of seasonings. The only spice brand listed is Old Bay and that’s because they use a unique blend of seasonings in their product that pulls everything together. In closing, I hope this information helps. Thank you for asking your question, Kim and I hope you have a lovely day 🙂
Would this sauce be good on shrimp tacos as well?
Absolutely, this sauce will work. Or, we also have a key lime sauce for shrimp as well. Have a lovely day 🙂
Love it. I did use 1/2 sour cream in place of half of the mayo. Great recipe! Thank you for posting it!
Hi Joline!
Thanks so much for giving it a try! Using 1/2 sour cream is a great idea. We’re glad you enjoyed the taco sauce and stopped by to leave feedback. Have a great weekend!