Elevate Your Burgers with This Classic Burger Sauce

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · creamy, tangy, slightly spicy mayo for every burger

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While we’re already into the discussion of holiday meals, as I’m writing this it’s actually a super sunny and warm day for the end of October! This weather is most definitely abnormal in Canada, so I’m definitely taking full advantage of it! No matter the time of year, a burger is always a satisfying choice! In my opinion, while a juicy patty and the right combination of toppings and a soft bun are key to a great burger, the dipping sauce is essential too!

I love to switch things up with my burger sauces! However, you can’t go wrong with burger sauce. You may know about the iconic McDonald’s Big Mac sauce, and this recipe will build on that creaminess and flavor! The best part of this homemade burger sauce recipe is that everything is fresh as possible, and you know exactly what’s in here! This homemade burger sauce is tangy, creamy, and packed with deliciousness! If you’ve had making the best burgers on your bucket list, then be sure to pair this sauce with your epic burgers as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! For burger recipe ideas, I’ll give plenty of options that would be amazing with this burger later on in this post! You can get started on your cooking journey for free today by signing up to my email newsletter, plus dinner ideas will be sent straight to your inbox so you never have to rely on delivery again!

Don’t forget to follow along the video for the quick live demonstration showing you just how easy and fast it is to make the best burger sauce ever right from home! If you’re not already, it would mean a lot if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and be sure to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get mixing!

Why Make Your Own Classic Burger Sauce?

• Quality ingredients: Since you’re the one making this burger sauce, you’re in control of the quality of the ingredients that go in it! You can use the fanciest and/or highest grade mayo, ketchup, and pickles if you really want to in order to avoid any preservatives or artificial ingredients.
• Flavorful and creamy: Similar to the above, these simple ingredients come together to make a super delectable creamy and tasty sauce that will be your burgers’ new best friend!
• Customizable: I find that having control over how you make your own food is really empowering, and you can totally transform condiments by adding a little more of one ingredient if desired. I’ll give plenty of variation ideas later on in this post, so you can become even more creative with this Classic Burger Sauce recipe!
• Easy and fast to make: Just grab everything from your fridge and pantry and mix it all together! It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to whip up this Burger Sauce recipe!
• Multipurpose sauce: While the name of this sauce is called “burger sauce,” suggesting that it’s a sauce destined to be put in burgers, you most definitely don’t have to stop there! As you’ll see later on in the post, this burger sauce can definitely be used as a spread in sandwiches & wraps, as a mix-in for potatoes, and for dipping snacks in!

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Ramekin

Ingredients for the Best Homemade Burger Sauce

For all ingredients with their quantities and to save the recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card. The recipe card will also let you scale the recipe based on how much burger sauce you want to make so that you’ve got the perfect amount for all the burgers you’re looking to make!

• Japanese mayonnaise: Also known as kewpie. I definitely prefer Japanese mayo because I find it lighter and more flavorful than regular mayonnaise. However, if all you have is regular mayo, then don’t worry about it! While the final product won’t be entirely the same if you’re substituting with regular mayonnaise, it’ll still be a thick, creamy, and delicious sauce for burgers nonetheless!
• Sriracha: A little bit to provide an extra layer of flavor.
• Ketchup: Just regular ketchup here.
• Pickles: You want diced pickles and you’ll also want some of the juice from the pickle jar.
• Dijon mustard: A little dollop of Dijon mustard will give sharpness, depth and add to the umami flavor in the sauce.
• Ground black pepper: The main seasoning in the burger sauce.
• Salt: Because the pickles are quite salty, leave the salt for the end to see if it’s required in your mixture.

How to Make Super Tasty and Easy Burger Sauce

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well until combined. Taste and adjust the amounts as to your personal preference.

Transfer into a ramekin or mason jar for serving. Enjoy!

Variations of Burger Sauce

• Mayonnaise: If you want to make the Burger Sauce vegan, you can use a plant-based mayonnaise. A little switch-up can also be using an olive oil-based mayo!
• Lighten it up: Replace the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt or sour cream. You can also use a reduced-sugar ketchup to lighten up the burger sauce even more.
• Heat: BBQ Sauce or your favorite hot sauce can contribute to some heat in your burger sauce.
• Pickle relish: If you don’t have pickles, this is a great alternative!
• Flavored mustard: If you have them, instead of regular Dijon mustard, you could add some extra flavor by using jalapeño dijon mustard or honey dijon mustard.
• Spice: We simply seasoned our burger sauce with salt and pepper. If you want to play around with flavors, you could season with smoked paprika, cayenne, or chili powder.

How to Serve Burger Sauce

If you follow the recipe with the quantities described, you’ll make a fair amount of burger sauce. As I describe in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, having an awareness of what’s in your kitchen can help give you a source of inspiration when you’re just not sure what to eat! Having this burger sauce on hand can open the doors to plenty of new tasty meals, so here is just a super small list of how you can serve your Burger Sauce for a restaurant-quality meal at home!

• Fries: Feel free to dip your Curly Fries from Scratch, Air Fryer Waffle Fries, or Crispy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries in your burger sauce.
• Sandwiches & Wraps: This would be absolutely delicious in my Patty Melt (pictured below, recipe coming soon!), which is what I originally made this sauce for! It would also be delicious in other sandwiches, such as a Tuna Melt, Tuna Salad Sandwiches, Bagel BELTs or a McDonald’s Copycat Sausage McMuffin.
• Burgers: The perfect use case here would be in my Classic American Cheese Burger! It would also be amazing in a Jucy Lucy Burger, Spinach Turkey Burgers, McDonald’s India McAloo Tikki Burger, or Crispy Chicken Burgers.
• Other snacks: You could dip your Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers, Spicy Supreme Garlic Bread, Buttermilk Chicken Tenders, Baked Chicken Nuggets, Steamed Chicken Momos, Aloo Cutlets, or Popcorn Shrimp.
• Potatoes: You can mix this burger sauce into your Potato Salad or Creamy Mashed Potatoes to change things up!

Storing Burger Sauce

It’s really easy to store your Classic Homemade Burger Sauce. If you want to use a spoon to apply your sauce onto burger buns or bread, transfer the sauce into a mason jar or in an airtight container. On the other hand, if you’re looking to have more control over the application of the burger sauce, then I recommend you store it in a squeeze bottle.

All the ingredients in our Homemade Burger Sauce do not spoil easily. As a result, the burger sauce should stay fresh in the fridge for about 1-2 weeks if stored properly. This is significantly shorter than the refrigerator life for the ingredients in silo, this is because mixing the ingredients together, especially ones with moisture like pickles introduces moisture and the interaction of the various ingredients together can make something like mayonnaise less stable. Just keep a look out for changes in smell or texture if it has been more than 2 weeks.

More Sauces Perfect for Burgers!

• Classic Spicy Aioli
• Quick & Fresh Green Goddess Dressing
• Ranch Dip
• Garlic Truffle Aioli
• Yogurt Caesar Dressing

This Is Not In-N-Out Special Sauce

If you came here looking for a copycat of In-N-Out's special sauce, or the classic fry sauce that half the internet calls the best burger sauce recipe, this is a different thing and it is worth being upfront about that.

There is no worcestershire sauce in here. No sweet pickle relish, no garlic powder, no onion powder and no butter. What it has instead is Sriracha - 1 tablespoon of it - which is where the heat and a good deal of the character come from. The base is Japanese mayonnaise rather than regular, which is richer and eggier, joined by a quarter cup of ketchup, 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped pickles, 1 tablespoon of pickle juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Everything goes into a small bowl at once. Whisk the rest of the ingredients together, taste, adjust. Prep time is 5 minutes and so is the total time, because nothing here gets cooked.

The Tang, the Sweetness and the Creamy Base

Three things have to balance in a burger sauce, and it helps to know which ingredient is doing which job.

The creamy base is the Japanese mayonnaise - half a cup of it. If regular mayo is all you have, add a teaspoon of rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar to close the gap, or use a Greek yogurt and mayo blend in equal parts for something lighter.

The tang comes from the pickle juice and the Dijon. Use dill pickles rather than sweet ones - the entire point of that tablespoon of pickle juice is sharpness. If the jar has run dry, apple cider vinegar gives the same tang a little sweeter, and white wine vinegar is the closest match on acidity. Any decent vinegar beats leaving it out altogether.

The little sweetness is the ketchup, and a quarter cup is plenty. Push it higher and the sauce starts tasting like ketchup with extras rather than a sauce in its own right.