Order fries anywhere in Utah and someone will ask if you want fry sauce. The pink blend of ketchup and mayonnaise, often with secret extras, is as Utah as red rock and green Jell-O. One scholar has even described fry sauce as a cultural identifier for Utahns.
Who invented fry sauce?
That depends on who you ask, and Atlas Obscura calls the question hotly debated.
The most common story credits Don Carlos Edwards, a Logan native who opened Don Carlos Bar-B-Q in Salt Lake City in 1941 and later founded Arctic Circle. He served a “pink sauce” of ketchup, mayo, garlic and secret spices, and Arctic Circle spread it across the region as it franchised.
But there’s a rival claim. Ron Taylor says he and a coworker first mixed the sauce for fries in the mid-1950s at a Provo Arctic Circle franchise, and that customers started asking for “that fry sauce stuff,” which is how it got its name. “We didn’t have a recipe,” Taylor told the Deseret News.
To be fair, ketchup-and-mayo sauces show up in a New Orleans cookbook from 1900. What Utah can claim is the name, and the devotion. Fry sauce even got its own pin at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. And in June 2026, the Salt Lake Bees’ house sauce won the first “Fry Sauce Night,” beating out Arctic Circle, Hires Big H and J-Dawgs.
Here’s where to find great fry sauce.
1. Hires Big H (Salt Lake City)
Come for: a savory, slightly salty sauce you can take home.
Family-run since 1959, Hires Big H is one of the big names in Utah fry sauce. The Deseret News ranked its sauce second in a 2022 taste test, describing it as saltier and more savory, with a sweet finish. It also competed in 2026’s Fry Sauce Night, and you can buy it bottled in Utah grocery stores.
Order: a burger, fresh-cut fries and a frosty Hires root beer.
Where: 425 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City, plus Midvale and South Jordan. See hiresbigh.com
2. Crown Burgers (Salt Lake City and beyond)
Come for: house-made sauce with a pastrami burger.
The Greek family behind Crown Burgers has been serving its house fry sauce alongside the famous pastrami-topped Crown Burger since 1978.
Order: the Crown Burger with fries for dipping.
Where: 377 E. 200 South, Salt Lake City, plus seven more locations. See crown-burgers.com
Read our full spotlight: Crown Burgers: How a Greek Family From Crete Gave Salt Lake City Its Pastrami Burger.
3. Tonyburgers (Wasatch Front)
Come for: “Tony Sauce” and double-fried fries.
Tonyburgers cuts its fries fresh every day and fries them twice in peanut oil, which makes them the perfect vehicle for its house “Tony Sauce,” a slightly sweeter take that the Deseret News ranked in its 2022 top ten.
Where: Locations in downtown Salt Lake City, Holladay, Herriman, South Jordan, West Valley, Centerville, Clinton and Kaysville. See tonyburgers.com
4. Purple Turtle (Pleasant Grove)
Come for: fry sauce with a kick, and about 50 milkshake flavors.
The Purple Turtle has been a Utah County drive-in favorite since 1968. Its fry sauce has a little bit of heat, which earned it a spot in the Deseret News’s 2022 rankings, and the shake menu runs to roughly 50 flavors.
Order: the Turtle Deluxe, with pastrami and Swiss, plus onion rings.
Where: 85 E. State Rd., Pleasant Grove
Make your own (the basic idea)
At its simplest, fry sauce is ketchup and mayonnaise stirred together. From there, every restaurant has its own twist, whether that’s garlic, secret spices or a touch of sweetness. Part of the fun is finding your favorite.
Pair your fry sauce with the best pastrami burgers in Utah or a stop at a classic drive-in. More Best Of guides here.
Details in this guide draw on reporting from KSL, the Deseret News, BYU Magazine, Atlas Obscura and Only In Your State, plus each business’s own website. Hours change, so confirm before you go. Top photo: Intothewoods29, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.