Cream Cheese Dill Dip

Marc — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 19:42:34 +0000

This one comes to you courtesy of my wife. She loves cream cheese dill dip and it is one of the few things that she has made so many times that she is comfortable doing it without any recipe. That is typically how I operate, but she tends to go with cooking and baking to exact recipes.

So I asked if she would make it while measuring ingredients, letting me photograph it, and giving me the steps. And she so kindly obliged. It helps that she is always looking for an excuse to whip together some dill dip.

The dip comes out any time we are having a get-together. So we’ve had it far less in 2020 than we normally would have because of social distancing efforts. But we still brought it out for our own family holiday meals and so we’ve had it 3 or 4 times in the last month or so.

Tips for Making Dip

You will want to soften the cream cheese before making this recipe. To accomplish this, you can remove the cream cheese from the fridge about 30-45 minutes beforehand, or put it into the microwave in a bowl for 30 seconds. One requires more forethought, the other can heat it up too much or cause hot spots within the cream cheese if not heated evenly.

The dill should be chopped finely and evenly. You can do this with a knife or use a pair of herb scissors to help speed up the process. A lot of the smaller herbs can be a little frustrating to chop with a knife, and I really like how easy the herb scissors are to use. Plus it gets everything into relatively similar sizes because the blades are spaced evenly.

Include the leafy greens of the dill, but do not chop up the thicker stems into the dip. The more delicate and flavorful greens are much better than the chewier stems.

If you’d like to, you can reserve some chopped dill for garnishing the dip. This won’t affect the flavor much and is all about appearances. It can be really useful when setting the dip out for a party.

You can serve the dip immediately, but you can also make ahead and let the flavors meld together. The extra time gives the ingredients a chance to mingle and become even more flavorful. It seems like the sour cream and cream cheese have more of a chance to take on the flavors when you make it ahead.

Use fresh dill. Dried dill just doesn’t cut it in this recipe.

What to Pair With Dill Dip

What can’t you dip in this? I don’t know, but there are some things that pair extremely well with the dip:

Chips – Our house’s gold standard for cream cheese dill dip is a large bag of Ruffles Orignal. Any potato chips will work. Plain or original flavor chips will let the flavor of the dip stay at the forefront, but don’t be afraid to experiment and try some radical flavors. Jalapeno, dill pickle, BBQ, or salt and vinegar chips will all work.

Vegetables – Carrots and celery are the usual vegetable pairings for dill dip. But we’ve also branched out and tried bell peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers. Slice everything into 3 to 4 inch long pieces that would make it easy to hold and dip. Make sure to wash any vegetables before slicing.