This easy Louisiana-style Remoulade Sauce is a smoky and tangy dipping sauce that’s perfect for po’ boys, cooked shrimp, fried green tomatoes, and crab cakes.
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Tartar sauce, meet seafood’s next best friend: Remoulade Sauce.
A creamy mayonnaise base is amped up with Southern-style flavors from Cajun seasoning, horseradish, mustard, pickle juice, and a handful of other simple condiments. Mix them all together and you’re done! You’ll quickly fall for the layers of tang, smoke, and spice in every bite.
This quick 5-minute dipping sauce is the best condiment to pair with air fryer shrimp, po’ boy sandwiches, fried fish, fried green tomatoes, and french fries. You could even include it on a game day charcuterie board! It’s honestly easier to think of where NOT to serve it.
What is remoulade sauce?
Remoulade (pronounced reh-moo-lahd) is essentially flavored mayonnaise (but not just any flavor). The original remoulade sauce recipe traces back to France, where it combines mayonnaise with herbs, pickles, and capers.
Despite its french roots, this sauce has grown in popularity in the United States, specifically in the south and Louisiana. My Southern-style remoulade is made with mustard, pickle juice, horseradish, spicy and savory seasonings, and hot sauce. Just like the Louisiana favorite, this tangy and smoky sauce is a staple alongside deep-fried finger foods and seafood.
Ingredients needed
Mayonnaise and any combination of herbs, spices, and pickles are at the base of every remoulade. However, the Louisiana Creole seasoning kicks things up a notch here! Here’s what you’ll need for this Southern-inspired sauce:
- Mayonnaise – This is the base of the sauce. I don’t recommend making any substitutions here.
- Mustard – I love making a remoulade with Dijon, but you can use spicy mustard (ideally Creole mustard) or whole grain instead.
- Paprika
- Dill pickle juice – This not only helps thin the mayo base into a smooth consistency but also amps up the tangy flavor.
- Cajun seasoning – A warm, smoky, and peppery Louisiana seasoning blend I often use on pork chops, grilled shrimp skewers, and red beans and rice. Creole seasoning works too.
- Horseradish – It needs to be prepared horseradish, not horseradish sauce.
- Hot sauce – Use a Louisiana-style hot sauce, like the original tabasco, Crystals, or any hot sauce you like.
- Garlic
How to make remoulade sauce
Grab a bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a whisk, and the remoulade ingredients. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and stir to combine.
That’s it! The hardest part is deciding where to use it first.
Tip: I recommend leaving the homemade remoulade in the fridge for 1 or 2 hours after you mix it together. This time gives the ingredients a chance to wake up and mingle, resulting in a well-rounded, full-bodied flavor.
FAQs
This isn’t a blazing hot and spicy remoulade recipe per se. The creamy mayonnaise calms the fiery ingredients, helping the tangy, garlicky, and smoky flavors shine through.
If you don’t eat spicy food, then it’s best to lower the hot sauce to ½ teaspoon or omit it altogether.
You can, but the dip will not keep as long as remoulade made with storebought mayo. Remoulade made with homemade mayo keeps for about 2 to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge, whereas remoulade made with storebought mayo keeps for up to 2 weeks.
Mayo-based sauces and dips, like remoulade sauce, can be frozen, but some separation may occur upon thawing. It’s best to make only what you plan on using within the 2 week shelf life.
Ways to use remoulade
This dipping sauce is traditionally served with fried dishes popular throughout Louisiana and the south, like po’ boy sandwiches, boiled shrimp, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, boudin balls, and crab cakes.
Get creative and use it as a dip or sauce with any dish that could use a tangy or savory bite. These are a few of my favorite ways to use it:
- Coat roasted salmon, chicken breasts, or pork chops with the sauce for extra moisture.
- As a seafood dip for shrimp, Air Fryer Salmon Bites, and poached fish.
- It’s a great spread for cheesesteak sandwiches and burgers.
- Use it as the perfect fried finger food dip. It’s great with zucchini fries, french fries, fried green beans, fish sticks, corn fritters, and fried pickles.
- As a vegetable dip for asparagus, brussels sprouts, and artichokes.
- It enhances every bite of fried shrimp, oysters, scallops, and lobster rolls.
More homemade dipping sauces
- Boom Boom Sauce
- Cocktail Sauce
- Seafood Boil Sauce
- Copycat Chick Fil A Sauce
- Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
- In-N-Out Sauce
- Bang Bang sauce
- Dumpling Sauce
- Chipotle Crema
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If you loved this recipe – be sure to try my crab cake sauce recipe too!
Easy Remoulade Sauce
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons dill pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 clove garlic (grated)
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine.
Notes
Equipment
Nutrition
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This is a great remoulade sauce. I prefer remoulade to cocktail sauce for cooked, cocktail shrimp. It has a much more complex flavor. The only thing I changed was that I added another teaspoon of prepared horse radish sauce. Mine seemed to be on the milder side.
Thanks Cheryl!
Great recipe. I like to add finely chopped Cornichons, Onion and a little India relish. This comes out like a mix of your recipe and Tartar or 1,000 island dressing.
Great on a Rubin sandwich or any poor boy.
We do lobsters like giant mudbugs in a Cajun boil up.