This easy Cajun remoulade sauce starts with a mayo base and adds plenty of flavor with bold spices, a kick from horseradish, and a bit of tang from lemon and capers. It comes together in just a few minutes, and is the perfect accompaniment for fried green tomatoes, fried okra, crab cakes, or po’ boy sandwiches. It’s even great as a french fry dip!

Easy homemade Cajun remoulade sauce in a white bowl garnished with fresh thyme.

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Living in Charleston, SC, it’s amazing how many delicious foods can be made even better with a little Cajun remoulade. Got fried green tomatoes? Add some remoulade. Blackened salmon? Why not? Fried shrimp? Dip them in some of that creamy, spicy sauce! And crab cakes NEED a little remoulade or garlic aioli on top!

The best part is it’s so easy to whip some up at home! And it won’t be full of unnecessary ingredients like high fructose corn syrup. Just the good stuff.

Easy homemade Cajun remoulade sauce in a white bowl garnished with blackened seasoning.

What is remoulade sauce anyway? And how is it different from tartar sauce?

A remoulade sauce is a creamy, egg yolk or mayo-based sauce similar to tartar sauce used as a condiment or for dipping.

While many countries have different versions of remoulade, this version is a Cajun remoulade sauce, full of herbs and spices and with a little kick. Remoulade originates from France, which explains why it’s so popular in the French-influenced Cajun or Creole culture of New Orleans in Louisiana.

While tartar sauce is a more simple mixture of mainly mayo, pickles, and lemon juice, a remoulade usually has more ingredients and spices. It may have mustard, capers, or horseradish, (this recipe has all three), and often has a pinkish hue from the spices it contains.

Both tartar sauce and remoulade sauce go well with seafood, but I also like Cajun remoulade on other fried Southern foods like fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and hush puppies. Cajun remoulade makes an excellent crab cake sauce and is a wonderful addition to a seafood sandwich like a blackened grouper sandwich or a po’ boy.

About this Simple Remoulade Sauce

TEXTURE – Super creamy with bits of chopped capers throughout.
FLAVOR – Complex and Cajun. Full of herbs like oregano and thyme, tangy from lemon juice and capers, and with a kick from horseradish and cayenne pepper. Make it as mild or as spicy as you like!
EASE – Beginner. Just chop a few capers and stir ingredients together.
TIME – Very quick: No more than 10 minutes.
ACCESSIBILITY – While you’re certainly welcome to use Creole mustard if you have it, I’ve written this recipe for easy-to-find ingredients you can find at any grocery store.

Cajun Remoulade Ingredients

These are all fridge and pantry staples, so you can whip up a batch whenever you need!

Ingredients for easy homemade Cajun remoulade sauce with blackened seasoning.

Mayonnaise: The creamy base of the sauce. I’m a Hellman’s girl myself, but you can use your favorite mayo. Dukes is another Southerner-approved choice.
Lemon juice: Half a small lemon should be sufficient. Fresh is always better, but bottled will work too.
Capers: If you don’t eat a lot of capers, you can get them in very small jars and they last a long time in the fridge. Certain brands (Lowes Foods brand, in my experience, but other brands too I’m sure) can be super-salty which will really affect your remoulade, so watch out for that. I’ve had good luck with Mezzetta capers not being overly salty.
Prepared horseradish: If you don’t use horseradish frequently, you’re looking for a small bottle or jar of prepared horseradish near the condiments or pickles. It’s white and creamy looking and often contains a few other ingredients like vinegar or oil. While I have left this out before in a pinch, it really makes a huge difference in the flavor of the remoulade.
Mustard: Many Cajun remoulade recipes call for Creole mustard, which is a spicy whole grain mustard that frequently includes other spices like paprika, cayenne pepper, or even horseradish. However, Creole mustard can be hard to find or you may not want a whole jar in your fridge, and we’re adding those other ingredients into the sauce anyway, so you can use your choice of dijon mustard, spicy brown, or stone ground mustard.
Worcestershire sauce: What’s a pantry without a bottle of paper-wrapped Lea & Perrins?
Herbs and spices: This recipe includes fresh garlic, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, oregano, and thyme. Recently I’ve been subbing out all the spices for a spoonful of homemade blackened seasoning, which has all the same ingredients plus a few more. I’ll still include the fresh garlic, though, because I think it adds more to the sauce than powder alone.

Homemade blackened seasoning ingredients in a bowl and a labeled spice bottle.

How to Make Homemade Remoulade Sauce

This recipe could absolutely not be more simple! All you have to do is rinse and mince the capers (I get them pretty fine for a more homogenous remoulade consistency). Then mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or jar.

Minced capers on a wooden cutting board with a large chef's knife.

You can make this just before your meal, but a little time in the fridge will help all the flavors blend together into a sauce that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Store your remoulade in a jar or bottle in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Expert Tips & Tricks

Make this in advance to give the flavors time to meld in the fridge.
Swap out all the dried herbs and spices for a spoonful of homemade blackened seasoning. All the same flavors without as much measuring!
You can make this as mild or spicy as you like by adjusting the amount of cayenne pepper and horseradish — give the horseradish a little (teeny tiny, like just barely touch your finger to it) taste to see if that’s the flavor you want more of. Additional cayenne will give more of a straight-up kick.
Beware of the saltiness of your capers. I never had an issue with the amount of capers in this recipe until I got a new jar of capers that was a different brand. I swear they are saltier than salt itself. I now recommend rinsing your capers before mincing and adding them at the end to taste, in case they are extra-salty capers. I’ve had good luck with Mezzetta brand capers.

Easy homemade Cajun remoulade sauce in a white bowl garnished with fresh thyme next to a spoonful of blackened seasoning.

What is remoulade sauce used for?

Almost any seafood or fried food you can think of! This Cajun remoulade recipe is great:

For Fried Green Tomatoes
As a dipping sauce for Fried Okra
As a sauce for crab cakes or salmon cakes
Spooned over Blackened Salmon
As a spread for Po’ Boy sandwiches
As a spread for blackened grouper sandwiches
As a dipping sauce for shrimp (fried, cocktail, or even pickled)
As a dip for Hush puppies or french fries

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Blackened Grouper Sandwich with Cajun Remoulade

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One Comment

Arpita says:

February 8, 2023 at 12:04 am

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