The Mysterious History Of Fry Sauce: Unraveling Utah’s Condiment Secret

If you’re a Utahan, you probably love fry sauce, or at least know what it is. Fry sauce is ubiquitous in Utah. It’s difficult to find a fast-food restaurant in Utah that doesn’t have its own version of it. 

Although ubiquitous in Utah, versions of fry sauce exist around the world and even within the United States. 

Fry sauce is known as salsa golf in Argentina, mayoketchup in Puerto Rico, and Russian dressing and hamburger sauce in the United States. This is according to a piece on fry sauce by Gastro Obscura. 

At its most basic, fry sauce is just a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup, that’s it. Its origins in Utah are murky. 

Arctic Circle claims to be the originator as does Stan’s Drive-In according to the Deseret News in an article from 2022. 

In the Deseret News article, Stan’s Drive-In says it was created by two employees Ron Tayor and Max Peay when the location was part of the Arctic Circle franchise. Stanley Tayor and his wife Sarah bought the franchise and renamed it Stans. Soon after, an Arctic Circle rep came in and asked if they could distribute fry sauce at every Arctic Circle location. 

While in the same article, Arctic Circle Vice President of Marketing and Advertising Joe Evans says it originated in the 1940s by Arctic Circle founder Don Carlos Edwards and his sons Ralph and J.R. 

Utahans love fry sauce no matter where it comes from. Also included in the Deseret News article are some mind-boggling statistics. 

Hires Big H sold over 12,000 gallons of hamburger and fry sauce in 2021. 

Arctic Circle says guests consume over 9 million fry sauce cups and buy 18,240 16oz bottles of fry sauce annually. 

And at the Crown Burgers locations, store owner Mike Katsanevas says "the members of his family mix giant vats of fry sauce to cover the day's orders". 

I did a surface-level Google search for fry sauce and found versions of it from Stephen’s, Freddy’s, Heinz, and many others. 

The New York Times even had a recipe for fry sauce that I’ll link here. 

So, in conclusion, fry sauce is not only loved in Utah but around the world and that’s something I’ll raise my bottle of fry sauce to.