Shake Shack
Shake Shack ShackBurger Copycat Recipe
A crust taken further than feels comfortable, on a soft sweet roll, with ShackSauce underneath. Twelve minutes.
How to Make Shake Shack ShackSauce at Home
ShackSauce: Dijon, Pickle Brine, and a Pinch of Cayenne
A burger sauce that does not taste like every other burger sauce, and the single ingredient that does it.
AI-generated illustration created for food.fast. It is not photographic evidence of a prepared batch.
ShackSauce occupies a strange position: everybody agrees it is a mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard sauce, and nobody agrees on the ratio. It has been reverse-engineered more often than almost any other chain condiment.
What is not in dispute is the mustard. It is Dijon, not American yellow, and that single choice is what keeps the sauce from tasting like every other burger sauce on a supermarket shelf. Dijon is sharper, more aromatic and less sweet, and it gives the sauce a savoury edge that the yellow mustard versions never find.
The second thing is pickle brine rather than chopped pickle. Brine gives acid, salt and dill flavour without introducing texture, which keeps the sauce smooth - which is how it is, unlike a Big Mac sauce.
How this page shows its working
The method gives quantities, timings and observable cues rather than asking you to guess. The 4 cases in If it goes wrong explain likely causes and corrective action; 1 ingredient note explains choices that materially affect the result.
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Why it is smooth where a Big Mac sauce is flecked
The two sauces are often compared and they are built on opposite principles.
A Big Mac sauce is a relish sauce. Its texture is part of its identity - visible flecks of sweet pickle suspended through it, and that texture is what you notice.
ShackSauce is completely smooth. All the pickle flavour arrives as brine, so there is nothing to bite on. On a smashed patty with a very crisp crust, that smoothness is the right contrast; a chunky sauce would compete.
It is also considerably less sweet. There is no relish, no sugar beyond what is in the ketchup, and the Dijon pulls the whole thing savoury.
If you want to convert this into something closer to a Big Mac sauce, add two tablespoons of sweet pickle relish and swap the Dijon for American yellow. You will have made a different and also good sauce.
An eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne, which you will not taste as heat
It is far below the threshold where you would register it as spicy. What it does is add a faint warmth on the back of the finish that stops the sauce being flat. Leave it out and the sauce is noticeably duller in a way most people cannot diagnose.
How to make it, step by step
Make it
-
Fold everything together
Mayonnaise first, everything else on top, folded until the colour is an even pale peach. Twenty or thirty turns.
TipNot a whisk. Air makes it pale and foamy.About 4 min -
Four hours in the fridge, overnight if you can
The garlic and onion powder need to hydrate and the Dijon needs to soften. Straight from the bowl the mustard is sharp and sits on top of everything else.
About 4 hr
How much goes on a burger
About a tablespoon, on the bottom bun only, spread to the edges.
Bottom bun rather than top is specific to a smashburger. The patty's crust is the thing you want to taste, and sauce above it coats the roof of your mouth first and mutes the beef. Sauce below sits against the lettuce and arrives second.
It also keeps the crust dry. A sauce on the top bun drips onto the patty and softens exactly the surface you spent the whole recipe building.
Ways to change it once you have made it once
Hotter
A quarter teaspoon of cayenne and a teaspoon of the brine from a jar of pickled jalapeños in place of dill brine.
Smoky
Smoked paprika instead of sweet. Good with a flame-grilled patty and slightly wrong with a smashed one.
Towards a Big Mac sauce
Add 2 tbsp sweet pickle relish and swap the Dijon for American yellow. A different sauce and a good one.
What went wrong, and how to fix it
Each entry names a likely cause as well as a correction, so the advice remains useful when equipment, ingredients or batch size differ.
It tastes like a supermarket burger sauce
- Why it happened
- American yellow mustard instead of Dijon.
- What to do
- Dijon. It is the one ingredient that makes this sauce distinct.
Too sharp
- Why it happened
- A strong Dijon - they vary a lot.
- What to do
- Two more tablespoons of mayonnaise and a quarter teaspoon of sugar.
Thin
- Why it happened
- Too much brine, or low-fat mayonnaise.
- What to do
- Two tablespoons of brine is the ceiling. Full-fat mayonnaise only.
It tastes flat
- Why it happened
- The cayenne was left out.
- What to do
- An eighth of a teaspoon. You will not taste heat and you will notice its absence.
Questions people actually ask about this recipe
What makes ShackSauce different from other burger sauces?
Dijon mustard rather than American yellow, pickle brine rather than chopped pickle, and much less sugar. It is savoury where most burger sauces are sweet.
Is it the same as Big Mac sauce?
No. Big Mac sauce is built on sweet pickle relish and is flecked and sweet; this is smooth and savoury.
Does it need to rest?
Four hours minimum for the powders to hydrate and the Dijon to soften. Overnight is better.
Top bun or bottom?
Bottom, so the patty's crust is the first thing you taste and stays dry.
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