Fast Food at Home: How to make the best McDonald’s Special Sauce

Are you a fan of the special sauce that we typically find on a Big Mac? Here is a quick and easy recipe for McDonald’s famous “Special Sauce.”

Is there anything better than the special sauce found on a McDonald’s Big Mac? Probably not in the fast food world.

This rendition of McDonald’s Special Sauce doesn’t just have to go on your burger; it’s a great dip for fries or dressing for salad, and goes with just about any white meat, especially when it’s been breaded and deep fried. Think chicken, fish, shrimp, or even pork. When I’m feeling like being slightly healthy, I’ll throw a variation of this onto a salad and have it with popcorn shrimp, a little extra sauce on the side. Fantastic!

Special Sauce is often said to be more-or-less identical to Thousand Island dressing, which is in the same family as other tangy tomato-mayo sauces like Russian dressing, fry sauce, and cocktail sauce (which often includes mayo outside of North America). But Special Sauce differs from these in one big way: no tomato! You could certainly add a big spoonful of ketchup or chili sauce into this recipe, and it wouldn’t hurt, but you’d also lose some of the subtlety of the mustard, relish, and seasonings. But ultimately a sauce like this should be seasoned to your own taste, so feel free to adjust the measurements or make additions.

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The list of ingredients is sort of an open secret, which makes this recipe less of a guessing game, but I’ve included a few optional ingredients in case you’re looking for inspiration. You could make a noticeable difference by using some finely pulverized fresh garlic, but powder will do just fine. If you do opt for fresh garlic, it needs to be paste-like in consistency after you’re done crushing it.

Ingredients

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tbs sweet pickle relish (just to brag: I’m using my homemade chow-chow instead)

1 tbs yellow mustard

2 tsp white vinegar

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp white sugar

¼ cup minced chives (optional)

¼ cup chili sauce or ketchup (optional)

1 tbs prepared horseradish (optional)

2 tsp fish sauce (optional)

Method

Whisk vinegar and spices into mayonnaise, followed by relish and mustard and any optional ingredients being used. Cover with plastic wrap until you are ready to serve.

Prepare up to 24 hours in advance for ideal flavor.

Next week we’ll try to put this on a homemade Big Mac.

Let us know what you think of this recipe for your own McDonald’s special sauce. Tell us what you add to make it special.