Smoked Salmon Dip

You can’t buy a Smoked Salmon Dip with flavour this good! It truly tastes of smoked salmon, it’s soft and creamy with a subtle tang from cream cheese and lemon, and the freshness of dill. This is a dip to impress!

This is a bit of a fancy pants dip, but I figure if there was ever a time for sharing something a bit fancy pants, New Years’ Eve is it!

I call it fancy pants because the cost to make this is probably about 2 to 3 times the cost to buy a tub from the supermarket. Whereas usually, I’m chirping “this recipe is better AND cheaper than store bought!”, like these copycat Gourmet Crackers which I swear is about 80% cheaper than buying them and I double swear that they taste better.

But in this case, the homemade version costs more. But but BUT it tastes SO MUCH BETTER and it’s flavour money can’t buy!! If you’ve ever tried store bought Smoked Salmon Dip, you’d know that it tastes kind of sour and only tastes mildly of smoked salmon. And let’s be honest, it can’t be real because real smoked salmon has to be consumed with 3 – 5 days after opening the packet.

Homemade is made with the real thing – real fresh smoked salmon. And as a result, it truly tastes like smoked salmon. Really truly!

Smoked salmon is not the cheapest thing in the world, especially if you get good quality (Huon Salmon is my favourite – it’s certainly the freshest in Australia + sustainably farmed). So using it in a dip is a good way to make less go further because when it’s blitzed up, it makes the flavour bloom so it’s much more intense than stirring chopped salmon into the dip.

In addition to using real smoked salmon, the other bursts of freshness in this dip are lemon juice and zest (lemon flavour comes from the zest, tang comes from the juice) and fresh dill. I like to use a combination of cream cheese, sour cream (to lighten up the mixture a bit, I find using only cream cheese is too dense) and mayonnaise (for a bit of extra richness and flavour). This is pretty much the same base I use for all my dips.

We’re 2 days away from 2018!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Thank you for reading, for your wonderful messages, for trying my recipes, for sharing your feedback on them. I especially feel so honoured when I hear you’ve used one of my recipes for holidays and special occasions. ❤️

Oh – and before I forget… I have a little surprise for you next week…. Stay tuned!!! – Nagi x

PS More party food here!

4.93 from 13 votes

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Smoked Salmon Dip

Prep

5 mins

Total

5 mins

 

A wonderful dip to impress! It has a beautiful smoked salmon flavour, it's soft and creamy, with a fabulous fresh lemon and dill flavour. Store bought is completely incomparable - typically too hard, too sour and the smoked salmon flavour is barely there plus probably not real because real smoked salmon has a shelf life of only 3 to 5 days once opened! Makes 2 cups.  Recipe VIDEO below.

Servings: 6 - 10 people

Calories: 145 kcal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

• 200 g / 7 oz smoked salmon (or trout)
• 200 g / 7 oz Philadelphia cream cheese , full fat
• 1/4 cup / 55g sour cream (Note 1)
• 1/4 cup / 60g mayonnaise (Note 1, 2)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill , roughly chopped
• 1/2 garlic clove , minced
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest (1 lemon)
• 1 - 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, starting with 1 tbsp lemon juice. Only use a small pinch of salt to start because smoked salmon is salty, also bear in mind saltiness of crackers being used.
2. Whizz until fairly smooth - about 10 seconds on high - scraping sides as required.
3. Adjust lemon and salt to taste. Whizz again briefly.

4. Transfer into bowl, garnish with lemon slices and more dill if desired. Serve at room temperature with crackers - I like using melba toasts and mini crostinis.

Notes

1. These can be substituted with Greek Yoghurt for a slightly lighter version.

2. Hellman's or S&W Whole Egg mayonnaise are my favourite.

3. Storage: Keeps for as long as the shelf life of the salmon (read packet for when it needs to be consumed once opened). After 2+ days, it may need a little freshening up with more lemon. 🙂 It firms up when refrigerated, so bring to room temperature, give it a stir then serve - it should be soft and scoopable (see video).

4. UPDATE: It dawned on me recently that this recipe is similar to a recipe I published years ago called "Easy Posh Smoked Salmon Pots or Dip". Basically, this is the improved version I use now. Since discovering this, I have unpublished the old recipe and diverted it to this one. However, if there is anyone after the original recipe, here it is.

5. Nutrition per serving, assuming 10 servings. This recipe makes 2 cups of dip.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

LIFE OF DOZER

I really, really tried to get him to smile for a cheery Happy New Year photo ……. You’d think he’d be grateful that I didn’t toss confetti on him like I did last year!! 😂