🍔 Classic Burger Sauce
This is the sauce to memorize, and the baseline the other mayo-based sauces on this site vary from. It is the creamy-tangy-slightly-sweet "special sauce" that makes a plain cheeseburger taste like it came from a good burger joint, and it is nothing more than mayo, ketchup, relish, and two seasonings whisked together. Thick enough to sit where you put it, sweet enough to notice, and deliberately un-fussy — the smash, keto and copycat versions each pull it in a different direction from here.
🧾 Classic Burger Sauce — Recipe Card
From I Love Hamburger — ilovehamburger.com
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise (115 g)
- 2 tbsp ketchup (30 ml)
- 1 tbsp sweet pickle relish (15 g)
- 1 tsp yellow mustard (5 ml)
- ½ tsp smoked paprika (1 g)
- Pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper
Instructions
- Add the mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, mustard, and smoked paprika to a small bowl.
- Whisk until completely smooth and an even pale orange color.
- Taste and adjust: a little more ketchup for sweetness, a little more mustard for tang. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cover and chill at least 15 minutes before using — the flavor rounds out as it sits.
🫙 Storage
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Do not freeze — mayo-based sauces separate when thawed.
🔁 Substitutions
- No relish? Finely chop 1 tbsp of dill or bread-and-butter pickles and add a pinch of sugar.
- Swap smoked paprika for a few drops of hot sauce if you want a little warmth.
- Use dairy-free mayo to make it fully dairy-free (it already contains no dairy in most brands).
🍔 What to put it on
Pair it with crisp iceberg lettuce, raw white onion, and dill pickles. It especially shines on these burgers:
Burger HQ Picks Handy for sauce-making
Squeeze Bottles & Mixing Bowl Set
Mix a sauce in the bowl, decant into a squeeze bottle, and you get an even stripe on every bun instead of a spoon-blob. Also what keeps a topping bar tidy.
Check price →Small Silicone Whisk & Spatula Set
A small whisk emulsifies a mayo-based sauce properly in seconds; the spatula gets every last bit out of the bowl.
Check price →As an affiliate site, I Love Hamburger may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. This does not affect our recommendations.
Frequently asked questions
What is burger sauce made of?
The classic version is a base of mayonnaise and ketchup, brightened with a little mustard and relish, plus a seasoning like smoked paprika. That creamy-tangy-sweet balance is what most people recognize as "special sauce."
How long does homemade burger sauce last?
About a week in an airtight container in the fridge. It is limited by the shelf life of the mayonnaise, so go by the mayo's date if it is close.
Can I make burger sauce ahead of time?
Yes — it is actually better made a few hours ahead so the flavors meld. Make it up to a day before a cookout and keep it chilled.