A burger without sauce is just a sad meat sandwich.
Sure, the patty is the star, the bun is the supporting actor, but the SAUCE? That’s the whole personality. It’s the tangy, creamy, smoky, slightly-unhinged magic that makes you close your eyes and go “oh WOW” after the first bite.
I’ve eaten my way through a LOT of bad burgers and a glorious number of great ones, and I’ve learned this: the sauce makes or breaks everything. Ketchup alone? Not gonna cut it.
So I did the delicious, slightly messy work for you. I’ve narrowed down my absolute, all-time, put-it-on-everything favorites to just FIVE. We’re talking classic, spicy, smoky, and one secret weapon you never saw coming.
Get your napkins ready. Let’s sauce things up.
5 Best Burger Sauces You’ll Keep Making
Each sauce below comes with a short note on how it comes together and what it suits. Then you get the full ingredient list and the video to make it from.
In-N-Out Style Spread
In-N-Out Style Spread is the pink, tangy sauce for when you want that drive-thru taste without leaving the house. It takes five things most fridges already have, one bowl and no cooking. It is done in about two minutes and makes a big batch, so the leftovers go on fries.
Under the video on YouTube, several cooks said they made this spread right away and that it tasted like the real thing, and one has made it this way for about 20 years. That sold me. Go easy on the vinegar, though, because too much of it comes through. Sweet pickle relish, which is chopped sweet pickles in a jar, and ketchup are already sweet, so you can leave out the sugar if you like it less sweet. A couple of teaspoons of mustard is a nice change. I also like this spread on a chicken sandwich.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
SaveChunky Lettuce and Pickle Burger Sauce
Chunky Lettuce and Pickle Burger Sauce puts crunch in every bite. The base is a tangy mustard mayo with ketchup, sun-dried tomato paste and a squeeze of lemon. Then finely sliced lettuce, mild onion and dill pickle get stirred in, plus a spoon of mostarda, an Italian mix of fruit and mustard sold in Italian delis, with a little of its syrup.
The lettuce sounded odd to me at first, but it holds the sauce on the burger so it does not run out the sides, and it stays a little crisp. There is no cooking, and it makes enough for six to eight burgers. The catch is that the fresh lettuce and onion mean it only keeps two to three days in the fridge, so I make it the day I grill.
If you cannot find mostarda, leave it out. Cooks who left it out still loved the sauce, and one used chopped pepperoncini and a splash of its juice instead. This sauce is good on lamb and chicken burgers too.
Ingredients
- mayonnaise (the base; the video does not give the amount)
- 1 teaspoon French mustard
- 2 teaspoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons sun-dried tomato paste
- juice of about 1/4 lemon
- a small handful of gem lettuce, finely sliced (iceberg works too)
- about 1 heaped teaspoon mild onion, finely chopped
- a small chunk of crunchy dill pickle, finely chopped
- about 1 teaspoon mostarda di Cremona, chopped, plus a little of its syrup
SaveCopycat Big Mac Sauce
Copycat Big Mac Sauce brings that McDonald’s taste home. It has no ketchup at all, just mayo, sweet relish, a little white vinegar, yellow mustard, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. That matches McDonald’s own US ingredient list for Big Mac sauce, which has no ketchup or tomato in it either.
This copycat takes a few minutes in one bowl. Then let it rest in the fridge, because it tastes closer to the real one after a rest. Many cooks said it was the closest copy of Big Mac sauce they had made, and one who said they worked at McDonald’s called the flavor spot on.
No sweet relish? Chopped pickles or bread and butter pickles with a little sugar work. Some cooks add a pinch of salt or MSG, or a splash of sweet pickle juice. I like this sauce on homemade Big Mac sliders.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard
SaveFrom-Scratch Secret Burger Sauce
From-Scratch Secret Burger Sauce is my weekend project, the one where you make your own garlic and thyme mayo first. The mayo is whipped up thick in a food processor with a raw egg, then thinned with red wine vinegar, horseradish, whole-grain mustard, ketchup and tomato paste that gets toasted in a dry pan first. Salted, drained shallots and pickles go in last.
Plan on about 45 minutes, because the shallots and pickles drain for half an hour. That draining is what keeps the sauce from going runny. Toasting the tomato paste gives it a deep, rich taste, and the horseradish and chili flakes give it a little bite.
If you want to skip the raw egg and the food processor, store-bought heavy mayo works, and the sauce is still good. Roasted garlic for raw and cider vinegar for red wine vinegar both work too. One cook said their burgers had never tasted so good, and I get it.
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1/3 egg shell of water
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
- 1 1/4 cups plus 4 tablespoons avocado oil (any neutral oil works)
- 3/4 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- a dash of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon horseradish
- whole-grain mustard (shown in the video; the amount is not given)
- 1/2 cup diced pickles
- 1/2 cup diced shallots
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
SaveSpicy Burger Sauce
Spicy Burger Sauce is sweet and hot, for anyone who likes a kick. It is mayo and ketchup with mustard, sugar, red chili powder and black pepper, mixed in one bowl in about a minute with no cooking.
What I like most is that I almost always have everything for this sauce already, and cooks who made it said the same. For more heat, swap a tablespoon of cayenne in for the chili powder. Chopped dill pickles are a good add too.
This sauce goes well on smash burgers, and with a little extra salt and pepper it turns into a dip for fish and nuggets.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup tomato ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
SaveBurger Sauce FAQ
A few things worth knowing before you mix your first batch.
Is burger sauce just thousand island?
They are close cousins. Both are mayo with relish, and many burger sauces add ketchup too, so they look and taste a lot alike. Big Mac sauce is the odd one out, since McDonald’s lists no ketchup or tomato in it. The add-ins are what make each burger sauce its own, like mustard for tang, horseradish or chili for heat, and lettuce and pickle for crunch.
How long does homemade burger sauce keep?
There is no official number for burger sauce. Food safety charts give mayo-based salads three to four days in the fridge, so I treat that as the limit for a mayo sauce and keep it covered and cold. A sauce with fresh lettuce or onion in it is best made the day you grill and eaten within two to three days. I make small batches so nothing sits too long.
Is the raw egg in homemade mayo safe?
The USDA says not to eat homemade mayo made with raw eggs, and to use pasteurized eggs when a recipe calls for a raw egg. The other way around it is to skip homemade mayo and start from a jar of store-bought mayo.
My sauce is too runny. How do I fix it?
Drain the pickles or relish well before they go in. If it is still loose, stir in a little more mayo. Then give it time in the fridge before you serve it, which also lets the flavors come together.
Pick the sauce to match the burger. For a classic fast food night I make the pink spread, for a big stack with all the toppings I make the chunky one, and when I want heat I make the spicy one.
