Easy Horseradish Sauce Recipe with Fresh Horseradish Root
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We’ll share how to make basic horseradish sauce, cream sauce and cocktail sauce with fresh horseradish root and common pantry ingredients. The kick of homemade sauce knocks the socks off of most store bought sauce!
My first foray into horseradish sauce happened as a result of conversation with my son’s piano teacher, Miss Betty. (Some of you may remember her from her rye bread and pickle recipes.)
Betty and her husband have a huge patch of horseradish, but this year her husband said he didn’t want to make homemade horseradish sauce because it was too much work. (They are getting up in years, so the digging and cleaning is becoming more of a chore.)
Never one to miss an opportunity to learn to try something new in the kitchen, I told her that we’d be happy to give her a hand. (We’ve since established our own horseradish patch.)
Table of contents
Digging Horseradish
My youngest and I went over in the morning to dig the roots. Warning – horseradish roots can be deep and strong! While attempting to muscle the roots out of the ground, my son bent the handle of the steel garden fork. (Time to check out whether or not the “Lifetime Warranty” covers horseradish damage…)
We weren’t quite sure how much to dig, so we dug quite a few – and ended up with enough horseradish sauce for a small army. 🙂
After digging, we washed the worst of the mud off with a garden hose. Then we went back to our kitchen and did the peeling and chopping.
Because we had so much horseradish, I placed the cubed horseradish in water with citric acid in it to prevent browning. You could also use salt water or water with lemon juice.
Betty and her husband normally work in small batches (1 cup of horseradish, as specified in the recipe), so they skip the anti-browning treatment.
Betty shared her family’s two horseradish sauce recipes with me – one basic pickled sauce, and a horseradish cream sauce made with the basic sauce. You can use apple cider vinegar if you prefer, but it will give the sauce a darker color.
Fresh Horseradish Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup horseradish, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor at high speed. Blend until creamy. Put in a jar and store in the refrigerator.
Note: If you don’t have a food processor or blender, grate of finely chop the horseradish root and blend with other ingredients. To enhance the “kick” of the horseradish, grate or grind it first, and then wait a few minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.
There is no USDA approved method for canning horseradish sauce. Store it in the refrigerator or freezer. The vinegar acts as a preservative, and it will last for at least three months.
Creamy Horseradish Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
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In a small bowl, blend all ingredients. Makes about 1 cup. Store in refrigerator.
Horseradish Cocktail Sauce
Another simple use of the basic horseradish sauce it to mix it to taste with ketchup for a quick cocktail sauce. This is my sons’ favorite way to eat horseradish.
A Note on Horseradish
Betty and I were talking about how very few people make homemade horseradish sauce anymore, even when they have access to a horseradish patch.
The big batch we did took a couple hours (with digging and cleaning), but we ended up with four quarts of sauce. (I’m gifting out horseradish to local friends and family this fall.) If you were only making a cup, it wouldn’t take much time at all.
I think that perhaps our modern palates are spoiled by the abundance of food choices available in the average grocery store, and how much fresh produce is available all year round.
In the olden days, folks were more appreciative of the zip of horseradish when they had to rely on storage food all winter. The same might be said of heavy spiced cakes and cookies.
I find when baking that spice cakes and cookies are much more appreciated by the older crowd, while young palates more commonly go for chocolate or vanilla.
Watch out for the Horseradish Kick!
Be careful when working with the ground horseradish root! I could smell the vapors as we were chopping, but it wasn’t until I leaned over the bowl of the food processor that the full effect hit me.
My eyes started watering, my nose started running – I cleared sinuses that I didn’t know I had. I had to step away for a moment and wipe the tears, and when I came back, I made sure to keep the sauce at arms’ length.
Horseradish and wasabi are both rooty members of the cabbage family. They release a compound called allyl isothiocyanate, which is responsible for that pungent burn. The pungency will fade over time as the sauce sits in the fridge, but when it’s fresh, watch out!
Using Your Sauce
Horseradish sauce is commonly served with beef, such as roast beef sandwiches, beef tenderloin or standing rib roast. The boys have taken to adding a bit of sauce in all sorts of things, like mac and cheese.
Horseradish is one of those foods that people either love or hate, but if you’re on the fence, you may want to give it a chance.
Why?
Though used as a condiment, horseradish contains glucosinolates and isothiocyanates.
Historically, it’s been used to fight bacterial and fungal infections, improve breathing issues, detoxify the liver, and more. Learn more about the medicinal use of horseradish.
If you access to some in the garden or farmers market, give it a try.
PrintEasy Horseradish Sauce
Simple recipes for homemade horseradish sauce – plain or cream style – made with fresh horseradish root.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1.5 cups 1x
- Category: Condiment
Ingredients
For basic sauce:
- 1 cup horseradish, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For creamed sauce:
- 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For Basic Sauce:
- Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor at high speed. Blend until creamy. Put in a jar and store in the refrigerator.
For Creamed Sauce:
- In a small bowl, blend all ingredients. Makes about 1 cup. Store in refrigerator.
Notes
- If you don’t have a food processor or blender, grate the horseradish root as finely as possible and blend with other ingredients for the basic sauce.
More Old Fashioned Made From Scratch Recipes
- Grandma Catherine’s Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Church Dinner Chicken
- Pickle Relish Sweetened With Honey
Originally posted in 2016, last updated in 2025.
I dug a lot of horseradish a few years back from a neighbor’s patch and cleaned, chopped and freeze dried it because I didn’t know what to do with it at the time. I’m assuming if I want to use it in recipes I would need to lightly hydrate it first? I could also pulverize/powder it in the freeze dried state, but I’m not very creative in how to use it.
To turn the powder into a sauce/spread, mix 1 part powder with 1 part water and 1 part vinegar, then add salt to taste; start with small amounts of liquid to avoid it becoming too runny.
You can also mix it into recipes. Add directly to dressings, burgers, and deviled eggs for a spicy kick. Heat diminishes the sharp flavor, but it’ll still have some spiciness.
I made this (sort of) last year and mixed the horseradish with ACV after its time in the food processor. I then froze all but a small jar. We kept the fresh horseradish in ACV in the fridge and it lasted quite well. I was able to scoop out a tablespoon or two at a time and blend with sour cream or clabber with homemade garlic mayonnaise for enhancing prime rib or ketchup and a dash of Worcestershire and a dash of lemon to go with seafood and it made for some sauces that were far better than store bought.
I found that if you blend the Horseradish by itself first then add the other ingredients then it gave a better kick, don’t pass out when you get too close.
lol – thanks for the tip and the warning.
I loved your recipes and will add them to my list of staples. Thank you! I use less horseradish sauce these days because my Cypriot wife does not like the “kick”. Your article reminded me of an experience I had in 1983. I worked with a butcher in Cyprus to show some friends what a U.S. steak might look like. Of course I needed some horseradish sauce. In the past I had made it with my father who grew some roots in Central NY. I bought the root at an open farmer’s market in Nicosia and brought it back to my room. Washed and peeled I started to grate it. A few minutes later, when I could breathe again, I put on my scuba mask to finish the task. I can testify that horseradish grown under the Middle Eastern sun is MUCH stronger than anything I had found in the United States (I have not tried buying in the Southwest.) So, if you get the opportunity, try it, but be very careful!
I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with that much heat, but I’m sure it would be a memorable experience.
You mentioned your boys adding horseradish to their mac’n’cheese. (I’ll have to give that a try!) I like to add a tablespoon or two when I mix up some chicken salad, or ham salad. Just enough to get the taste and a bit of zing. My daughters won’t touch it, but I’ve won a couple of the grand-kids over.
My boys were leery of it early on, but they’ve learned to appreciate it.
I am 70 years old now, but when I was in my early 20s I briefly worked at a pricey restaurant, where the kitchen was on the second floor, requiring the servers to go up and down constantly to retrieve customer’s dishes and assorted other things. This became a problem one day, as it was horseradish sauce making day, and we all had red eyes and noses after each visit to the kitchen! LOL
Happily I was already a fan of the flavor, and enjoy it to this day! My life was too hectic for many years to try growing it, and then health issues became an impediment.
Nowadays I am healthier than in years, but I now live in central Gulf coast Florida, on a postage-stamp sized lot in a 55+ community, so I’m not sure I can grow it now, but I’m seriously considering trying it in a spot behind the trailer that gets morning sun, but is shaded during the worst of the heat. In the meantime I have seen raw root available at a couple local stores, so I definitely plan to put my blender to good use one of these days! That creamy style is so good as a condiment with cold sliced beef!
Thanks for sharing your horseradish story. At least that way, the customers had proof that the sauce was fresh.
Given that you live in a hot climate, I bet the horseradish would do well in that spot.
I really like horseradish and hope to grow my own this year.
I have always used a very similar recipe. Question is can I substitute honey for the sugar.
Yes, it should work. Honey provides more sweetness per unit volume than sugar, so you may want to reduce the amount. For jam and jelly making, we use half as much honey as sugar to get the same level of sweetness.
Honey, like sugar, is hygroscopic, which means that is absorbs and binds water. It’s also slightly acidic, which aids in preservation.
Oh MY, it looks great! Can’t wait to cook em this Sunday!