This smoked salmon dip recipe is made with salty capers, dill pickles, purple shallots, a pinch of paprika, and plenty of fresh perfumed dill and it beats a store-bought dip any day. While it might cost you a bit more to make, nothing tops homemade and you’ll taste the difference in the fresh herbs and proper salmon.
My smoked salmon dip recipe makes an utterly addictive smoked salmon dip from scratch – I cannot stop eating it! – made with cream cheese, sour cream, salty capers, zingy pickled gherkins, crunchy pink shallots, a little kick of paprika, and a whole lot of fresh aromatic dill and chives. I also add white pepper, garlic powder and sea salt, all of which you can adjust to your taste.
This creamy smoked salmon dip is next in what appears to be a serendipitous and somewhat nostalgic cooking project where I’ve found myself recreating favourite snacks, homemade and store-bought, from the 1970s through 1990s. Have you made my homemade olive tapenade and cheese straws recipes yet? A new devilled eggs recipe goes up tomorrow.
Before I tell you more about this smoked salmon dip, if you didn’t scroll our home page before landing on this recipe, we’ve been publishing festive recipe collections in recent weeks that you might also wish to browse, including our best cocktail recipes, best dip recipes for crackers and crudités for festive parties, best starters, best salads, and best desserts.
Now, before you scroll down to my creamy smoked salmon dip recipe, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by using our links to buy travel insurance, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, book accommodation, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. You could also browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers, including food-themed reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s images.
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Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe with Salty Capers, Dill Pickles, Paprika and Fresh Dill
If you’re hooked on homemade, as we are, and have been making your own hummus, pesto, pickles, sweet chilli sauce, and Sriracha sauce, and the like, as we have been doing during the pandemic, then you are going to love this smoked salmon dip.
Firstly, if you have some smoked salmon in the fridge that you’re planning on popping on some crostini or blini with sour cream and caviar for a New Year’s Eve soiree, then why not split the salmon in half and make our smoked salmon dip recipe so you get two dishes for the price of one… sort of.
Obviously, you’ll need some additional ingredients for our smoked salmon dip, but they’re probably ingredients you already have in the fridge and pantry, if you’ve been cooking up a storm for family and friends during the festive season.
If you have some jars of briny capers and gherkins, some fresh dill, shallots (or even onions) and chives (or even scallions) in the fridge, and paprika (or chilli powder), garlic powder (or fresh garlic) and sea salt and white pepper (or just plain old table salt and black pepper), then you’re good to go!
That’s it! This smoked salmon dip is super easy to make and comes together in minutes. It is so much better than a store-bought dip and your guests will appreciate the (little) effort you went to in order to create this delicious homemade dip. Just a couple of quick tips…
Tips to Making this Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
I only have a few quick tips to making this smoked salmon dip recipe with capers, dill pickles and fresh fragrant dill, as it’s super easy and comes together quickly.
You need to use proper smoked salmon. Aim for the best quality within your budget. It’s going to be blitzed in a food processor, so it doesn’t need to be premium quality. Tinned salmon won’t work. There are other dips where you can use canned salmon, but you’ll need smoked salmon for this dip.
It also won’t taste the same if you use yoghurt instead of cream cheese and sour cream. It will give you a dip, just not this one, so put the diet on hold when you make this.
Fresh fragrant herbs are also a must. Dried herbs do not belong in this dip. I’ve given this a Russian flavour with fresh dill and chives, but you could also add spring onions/scallions.
I have not soaked my shallots in water, as I love the crunch and bite of raw shallots (and onion), but I know some of you don’t, so you could do that.
This smoked salmon dip recipe is a cinch to make in a blender or food processor, but you could also make it in a mortar and pestle if your kitchen is as low-tech and rustic as our kitchen is. It will be a bit messy, so use the big wooden mortr and pestle that you’d use to make a Southeast Asian green papaya salad.
Serve this smoked salmon dip with fresh or toasted baguette slices, homemade crackers, or, if you’re really feeling nostalgic, Australian Jatz biscuits. Perfect.
Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
Ingredients
- 100 g cream cheese
- 100 g sour cream
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon/lime juice
- 2 tbsp capers with brine
- ½ tsp ground paprika
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ white pepper
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 100 g smoked salmon roughly chopped
- 1 small gherkin/dill pickle finely diced
- 2 small purple shallots finely diced
- 2 tbsp fresh dill roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh chives finely sliced
- 1 tsp fresh dill sprigs for garnishing
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, blend the cream cheese, sour cream, lemon/lime juice, capers with brine, ground paprika, garlic powder, white pepper, sea salt, and half the smoked salmon for a minute or two until well-combined.
- Add the remaining smoked salmon, finely diced gherkin/dill pickles, finely diced purple shallots, fresh dill and fresh chives and blend for 20 seconds, just enough to combine everything.
- Taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary (but don’t blend, just stir in) then transfer to a bowl and serve with crostini, crackers or crudités.
- If there are leftovers, refrigerate in a sealed container for no more than 2-3 days.
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make our smoked salmon dip recipe as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
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