• 39 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

What to Eat with Fish and Chips

Salt and vinegar, mushy peas, curry sauce, a pickled egg, bread and butter and a pot of tea.

What to Eat with Fish and Chips

Show all 39
  1. Salt and malt vinegarSalt first, then shake the vinegar over the chips just before eating.
  2. Tartare saucePut a spoonful on the side of the plate and dip each forkful of fish.
  3. Mushy peasSpoon them beside the fish, not over it, so the batter stays crisp.
  4. Curry saucePour it over the chips, or keep it in its tub for dipping.
  5. Pickled eggHalve it and eat it with the chips.

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All 39 ideas

Salt, vinegar and cold sauces 8

  • Chip spice (seasoned salt) Shake it over the chips while they are hot enough to hold it.
  • Chippy sauce (brown sauce thinned with vinegar) Shake it over the whole supper in place of plain vinegar.
  • Lemon wedge Squeeze it over the fish at the table, pips caught in your hand.
  • Onion vinegar Pour a little from a jar of pickled onions in place of malt vinegar.
  • Salad cream A sharp, pale dip for the chips when ketchup feels too sweet.
  • Salt and malt vinegar Salt first, then shake the vinegar over the chips just before eating.
  • Tartare sauce Put a spoonful on the side of the plate and dip each forkful of fish.
  • Tomato ketchup A pool on the side of the plate, for the chips.

Peas, hot sauces and other hot sides 6

  • Baked beans Serve them hot in a small dish next to the chips.
  • Curry sauce Pour it over the chips, or keep it in its tub for dipping.
  • Gravy Ladle it over the chips only and leave the fish dry.
  • Mushy peas Spoon them beside the fish, not over it, so the batter stays crisp.
  • Samphire with butter Toss it in a hot pan with butter and leave out the salt.
  • Scraps (batter bits) Scatter the crunchy bits over the chips while everything is hot.

Pickles, bread and slaw 6

  • A buttered roll for a chip butty Split it, fill it with hot chips and add salt and vinegar.
  • Bread and butter Soft white slices, buttered to the edges, for mopping the plate.
  • Coleslaw Serve it cold in its own dish so the dressing stays off the batter.
  • Gherkin Take a whole one from the jar and slice it lengthways on the plate.
  • Pickled egg Halve it and eat it with the chips.
  • Pickled onion Eat it whole between bites of fish.

More from the fryer 6

  • Battered sausage Order one for whoever at the table would sooner not have fish.
  • Fishcake Share one as an extra, with the same sauces as the fish.
  • Pea fritter Break it open and eat it with a fork while it steams.
  • Potato scallop Dip the battered slice of potato in curry sauce or gravy.
  • Saveloy Eat it hot with the chips and a stripe of mustard.
  • Scampi A few pieces on the side, with lemon and tartare sauce.

A starter first 4

  • Cockles with vinegar and pepper A small tub to pick at with a wooden fork while the fish fries.
  • Fried whitebait A plate for the table to share, with lemon.
  • Jellied eels A cold tub from the seafood stall, for whoever at the table likes them.
  • Potted shrimps on toast Spread them on hot toast so the butter melts.

Something sweet after 7

  • A stick of rock Take one home from the seaside for later.
  • Hot sugared doughnuts Share a bag while they are still warm.
  • Ice cream cone Buy it on the walk afterwards and eat it before it drips.
  • Jam roly-poly with custard Cut a thick slice and pour the custard at the table.
  • Knickerbocker glory Bring it in a tall glass with a long spoon.
  • Pineapple fritter Order it last so it comes straight from the fryer.
  • Sticky toffee pudding Serve it warm, with the sauce in a jug.

Drinks 2

  • A pot of tea Make it strong and pour it with milk.
  • Dandelion and burdock Pour the dark soda cold, with no ice to water it down.

How it works

What to eat with fish and chips starts at the chip shop counter: salt and vinegar, mushy peas, curry sauce, gravy and a pickle. These 39 ideas add bread, more from the fryer, starters, puddings and drinks.

Read the full guide

What do you eat with fish and chips?

In most of Britain and Ireland a chip shop sprinkles salt and vinegar over the order as it is served. In Edinburgh the custom is salt and sauce, a brown sauce. In England the popular sides are curry sauce, gravy, mushy peas, beans and tartare sauce, with pickled gherkins, onions and eggs. The hot sauces usually go over the chips.

One wet side, one sharp one

Fried fish and chips are crisp and rich. Add one wet side for the chips, such as peas, curry sauce or gravy, and one sharp thing: vinegar, a pickle or tartare sauce. A London fish restaurant of 1896 served the dish with bread and butter and tea, and that still makes a full meal.

  • Keep wet sides off the fish. Batter that sits under peas or gravy goes soft.
  • Eating out of the paper? Ask for the sauces in tubs and dip as you go.

Questions and answers

What sides go with fish and chips?

Beyond the peas, sauces and pickles of the counter: a potato scallop, a pea fritter or a battered sausage from the same fryer, scraps of batter over the chips, or a buttered roll to make a chip butty.

What sauce goes with fish and chips?

Tartare sauce for the fish, and ketchup, curry sauce or gravy for the chips. Edinburgh's chippy sauce is brown sauce thinned with vinegar or water.

What vegetable goes with fish and chips?

Peas. Mushy peas, dried marrowfat peas simmered until soft, are a traditional partner of the dish throughout England and Scotland, and in Nottinghamshire they are traditionally eaten with mint sauce. For something green with more bite, toss samphire in butter or serve cold coleslaw.

What dessert goes with fish and chips?

From the same fryer, a pineapple fritter. In a pub, jam roly-poly with custard or sticky toffee pudding. By the sea, an ice cream cone or a bag of hot sugared doughnuts.

What do you drink with fish and chips?

Without alcohol: a pot of tea, or dandelion and burdock, a fizzy soft drink of the British Isles.

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