The Unexpected Condiment Swap To Make For Your Next Batch Of Chicken Wings

One day, during this writer's previous tenure as a record shop salesperson, the manager announced that he was making a run to buy the entire staff (hooray!) chicken wings for lunch — and he asked for all of everyone's dipping sauce preferences. When one innocuous coworker responded with "ranch," the manager simply quipped, "Ranch? Grow up." It's true that ranch is a staple wing sauce, creamy and inoffensive. But, for foodies craving a little more panache with their dipping sauces, it's time to turn our collective attention toward one underutilized condiment in this field: Tartar sauce.

Tartar sauce is more versatile than foodies might think. The condiment can be described, in short, as "Mayonnaise And." It's mayo-based and loaded with any variety of chopped briny, acidic ingredients, typically pickle relish, capers, or shallots. Other mix-ins commonly include mustard, lemon juice, chopped hard-boiled eggs, scallion, or savory herbs like dill, tarragon, parsley, or chives. All the ingredients get pulsed together in a food processor and chilled to allow the flavors to meld together and intensify.

The result is a rich, creamy dip with tiny crunchy bits, bringing depth and textural intrigue to fried, grilled, or crispy baked chicken wings. Plus, that bright, tangy flavor is more dimensional than anything one-note ranch dressing can offer (your wings deserve better). In fact, tartar sauce is more on-par with sophisticated blue cheese dressing than ranch in the wing-dipping realm. (I asked for blue cheese that day at the record store.)

Long story short, skip the ranch and reach for tartar sauce instead. You can whip up a flavorful batch of homemade tartar sauce in five minutes with as many ingredients. Or, for instantaneous prep, a bottle of the store-bought stuff totally works, too. (Legal Sea Foods House Tartar Sauce by Stonewall Kitchen is our favorite grocery store tartar sauce brand, for the record.)

A dish of the stuff placed beside a plate of wings for dipping is all it takes to keep things fresh on movie nights or for game day watch parties. For snacking stardom, place your tartar sauce beside not just the wing plate, but beside a crudité tray of raw cauliflower florets, celery, and baby carrots, which all also taste delicious dunked in tartar sauce. Another classic chicken wing side dish — fries — incidentally also taste delicious with a swipe of tartar sauce.

As far as the best wing flavors to dunk in your tartar sauce, the condiment is truly as versatile as ranch. The only limit here is the scope of your imagination. The acidity of lemon pepper wings would be well complemented by the brine of the tartar sauce, as would savory parmesan garlic wings. That creamy tartar sauce would add a moisture element to any dry-rubbed wings, and could also help temper spicier wing flavors like buffalo, Jamaican jerk, or mango habanero.