Homemade Creamy Horseradish Sauce For Prime Rib

This creamy horseradish sauce is simple to make but way better than anything sold at the store. Pair it with beef dishes, especially Prime Rib!

What Is Horseradish?

Horseradish is a root vegetable that is used as a spice and condiment. It has a pungent, sharp flavor and is related to wasabi. It’s popular to pair with various cuts of beef to balance the rich taste.

Keep in mind that fresh horseradish root is different from prepared horseradish. Prepared horseradish is the grated root that is mixed with water, vinegar, and salt. You can find it in jars at the grocery store, both in the dry goods section and in the refrigerated section near the refrigerated pickles. I highly recommend the refrigerated jars of horseradish because they have a much stronger and brighter flavor.

Video: Making Creamy Horseradish Sauce

Four Tips For Making THE BEST Creamy Horseradish Sauce

1. Buy good prepared horseradish. As mentioned the best kinds of prepared horseradish are in the refrigerated section of the grocery store where the refrigerated pickles are. That horseradish always has more flavor (as do the pickles over there!). It’s much spicier and brighter in flavor. I definitely recommend that you look for that and buy it when making your homemade creamy horseradish sauce.
2. You need to drain the prepared horseradish before mixing it with other ingredients. Why? This is to remove the excess liquid for two reasons. The first reason is that the liquid will make your sauce watery and less creamy. The second reason is that the liquid dilutes the horesradish flavor, and you want a nice strong flavor here, right?
3. Third, add in some fresh herbs. Why? Store-bought sauces can’t have fresh herbs in them at all. So when you put them into your own homemade sauce, it really elevates it to a new place that isn’t achievable by anything sold in stores. Chives or rosemary (or a bit of both) are my favorite here because both of them go sooooo well with Prime Rib.
4. Make the horseradish sauce ahead of time, even just 30 minutes, but ideally at least 2 hours, and then let it sit covered in the fridge. Stir before serving. Letting everything sit together really helps the flavors blend. In this case, it allows the horseradish to start flavoring the sour cream, and also allows the chive flavor to get into everything as well.

How To Make Homemade Horseradish Sauce

As mentioned above, you want to start by draining the jarred horseradish. To drain the horseradish, line a bowl with a few sheets of paper towel. Scoop the horseradish onto the paper towel. Wrap the paper towel around the horseradish and squeeze all the liquid out of it and into the bowl. Discard the liquid.

Open the paper towel and scrape all of the drained horseradish off of the paper towel and into the bowl. Add the sour cream, chopped chives, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt to the bowl and stir to mix together well.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the flavors can meld.

You can add more or less horseradish depending on the strength of the horseradish and your own taste. By draining it, you’re making sure that your sauce doesn’t end up watery. So as long as you drain any horseradish that you add before you stir it in, you can add as much as you’d like.

Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container or jar for up to two weeks.