There are few reasons you may have a freezer full of fish sticks. Maybe you are the parent of a small child. Maybe you stocked up for Lent and then spent March eating takeout instead. Maybe you just like fish sticks because they’re crispy and fried and they remind you of being 7, and really don’t need to explain yourself to anyone. Okay, relax. Point is, you have fish sticks (maybe even the best fish sticks?) and now you need the perfect dipping sauce. The Sporked team has taste tested a lot of sauces, and these are the best if you’re looking for what to dip fish sticks in.
- Legal Sea Foods House Tartar Sauce
Fish sticks have a fairly mild flavor, which is why they can so easily get pushed aside when they’re paired with a tartar sauce that’s just mid. While tartar sauce is usually little more than mayo mixed with diced pickles, this Legal Sea Foods sauce has so much more going on. As Sporked contributor and tartar sauce taste tester Danny Palumbo wrote, “It’s creamy, mustardy, and briny with a great dill pickle flavor. It also contains caramelized onions, mustard powder, dried garlic, salted eggs, and pure cane sugar.” Legal Sea Foods House Tartar Sauce is bold so your sticks don’t have to be.
Related: The 8 Best Tartar Sauces
- St. Elmo Steak House World Famous Shrimp Cocktail Sauce
You’re probably aware that cocktail sauce is perfect with shrimp, but it’s good with fish, too. Fish sticks dipped in ketchup that tickles your nostrils? Hell yes. St. Elmo cocktail sauce has a wonderfully homemade feel (unlike your fish sticks), plus excellent spice and texture. Sporked senior writer Jordan Myrick loved that you can chew on all those little horseradish bits.
Related: The 5 Best Cocktail Sauces
- Pantai Sweetened Chili Sauce for Spring Roll
Yes, we can read and, yes, we do acknowledge this has “for spring roll” in its name, but what Pantai doesn’t know won’t hurt them! If you squint your eyes and open your mind, you’ll see that spring rolls and fish sticks could be relatives. They both have a seafood filling and a fried, grabbable outer layer, so, you know, basically the same thing. And, anyway, chili sauce knows no bounds in our world, especially this chili sauce, which Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling described as sweet, tangy, and “perfect for a crowd of varied palates.” When it comes to the best dipping sauce for fish sticks, sometimes you need an outside-the-box option!
Related: Best Sweet Chili Sauce
- First Street Buffalo Style Chicken Wing Sauce
Buffalo sauce and fish sticks? Hear us out. As we’ve already discussed, fish sticks are so pleasantly mild that they perfectly pick up the flavor of anything they’re matched with—so, why not dip them into something powerful like buffalo sauce? Honestly, a good buffalo sauce is good with anything, and this First Street sauce is the best there is. Plus, it’s really cheap and comes in a gigantic bottle. As Jordan described it, “It starts with a strong buttery flavor, works its way into vinegary notes in the middle, and then finishes with that signature buffalo sauce kick.” Serve your sticks with a ramekin of this and a ramekin of ranch dressing, and your dining room is basically a chain restaurant.
Related: The Best Buffalo Sauce
- Heinz Mayoracha
Mayoracha is quite honestly the first gimmicky condiment that actually delivers, and we’re ready to put it on everything! Heinz really balanced out the pairing of sriracha and mayo to create a creamy, garlicky product that has a nice finishing kick. Truthfully, there are few things we haven’t put Mayoracha on lately (I may have even snuck a dollop onto my takeout ramen when no one was looking), but fish sticks are a natural fit.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!