This creamy dill sauce is perfect for everything from salmon to cucumber sandwiches. With just a few simple ingredients, it's a savory, fresh, tangy condiment you can whip up at a moment's notice.
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Why You'll Love this Homemade Dill Sauce
First, this quick, easy dill sauce is delicious. Fresh dill and lemon give this creamy sauce a lightly floral, bright taste, and savory garlic rounds out this incredibly flavorful spread.
With just 5 ingredients, this recipe is ready to serve in less than 5 minutes. Need a last-minute appetizer? Chop some vegetables, mix up this sauce, and you're ready for guests.
Whether you're looking for a creamy dill sauce for salmon, a dipping sauce for chips or vegetables, a salad dressing, or a spread for cucumber sandwiches, this sauce can be used is so many different ways.
As soon as you've made it, you'll want to use this sauce on everything.
What You'll Need
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- Fresh Dill I strongly prefer fresh dill here, but you can substitute it with a bit of dried dill.
- Fresh Lemon Juice You can use bottled lemon juice, as well.
- Garlic Powder A more pungent garlic flavor can be achieved by grating a small clove of garlic instead.
- Mayonnaise
- Cream Cheese Softened cream cheese is key, here! It will be very hard to mix if it's right out of the fridge.
Recommended Equipment
How to Make Dill Sauce
Step One Add your dill, lemon juice, garlic powder, mayonnaise, and softened cream cheese to a small bowl.
Step Two Give it a quick whisk, taste for seasoning, and serve!
Variations & Substitutions
- For a tangier dip, you can add some sour cream or plain greek yogurt.
- Try about 1 teaspoon of dried dill in place of every tablespoon of fresh dill.
- To add a bit of kick, use horseradish to your sauce!
- You can make a sauce similar to tzatziki if you add very thinly sliced cucumbers and a bit of fresh garlic.
How to Store Lemon Dill Sauce
Fridge Leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. This sauce is better chilled, so be sure to store it in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Freezer I do not recommend freezing this sauce. Mayonnaise is not the best candidate for freezing as the texture can become a bit unusual after defrosting.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You can. Frozen dill will maintain its flavor for about 3 to 4 months. You can freeze whole fronds laid flat in a freezer bag, or chopped dill in an ice cube tray with just enough water to cover the fresh herbs.
This recipe has 100 calories per 2 tablespoon serving.
While tzatziki is a dill sauce, the dill sauce made here is different in a few ways. Tzatziki features thinly sliced cucumbers, fresh garlic, and yogurt. This recipe uses garlic powder, omits the cucumber, and uses a mixture of cream cheese and mayonnaise instead of yogurt.
How to Serve
You can use dill sauce in a lot of different ways! Try some of the recipes below.
- Make dill sauce for homemade gyros
- Drizzle over baked salmon or use as a dip for fried shrimp
- Serve over roasted vegetables, like these spicy roasted vegetables, or your favorite side salad
- Add to a crudités platter - just cut some fresh vegetables, like carrots, celery, bell peppers, and radishes, and you have a great appetizer
- Serve with other appetizers, like roasted garlic, a burrata salad with balsamic glaze, or these delicious deviled eggs without mustard. This onion dip recipe and this everything bagel hummus are favorites!
- Use as a dip for a baguette or crackers, or better yet, this delicious homemade naan recipe
- Spread it to your favorite sandwich, like this grinder sandwich
Expert Tips
- Ensure your cream cheese is softened before making your sauce. If you need to soften the cream cheese quickly, place the cream in its foil (but outside of any cardboard packing) in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.
- If your sauce is a bit too thick, add another squeeze of lemon juice and stir until you reach the consistency you are looking for.
- If your sauce is too thin, add a bit more of the creamy ingredients - some extra cream cheese or mayo will help thicken the sauce.
Other Sauces and Dressings You'll Enjoy
Honey Jalapeño Lime Vinaigrette
📖 Recipe
Creamy Dill Sauce Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill lightly packed
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 small clove garlic, grated
Instructions
- Make sure your cream cheese is softened before making the sauce.
- Measure all of your ingredients and add them to a bowl.
- Stir well until all ingredients are combined. Taste for seasoning and serve.
Notes
- If you don't have fresh dill, you can use about 1 teaspoon of dried dill in place of every tablespoon of fresh dill.
- If your sauce appears too thick, add a bit more lemon juice. If it is too thin, add a bit more cream cheese or mayo.
- Be sure your cream cheese is softened prior to making this recipe. See the blog post for tips on softening cream cheese quickly.
- This sauce is best chilled, so be sure to store it in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
- Fridge Leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer I do not recommend freezing this sauce.
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