It’s kind of silly how excited I get when I come up with ways to use my leftover ingredients. This week when I peeked into my fridge I noticed that I still had a lot of leftover fresh dill, carrots, and celery from my amazing Matzo Ball Soup. I almost made a second batch of soup (because I liked it that much), but decided to repurpose the leftovers into a delicious dilly vegetable dip and crudités. What was once produce “on its way out” was now a delicious and fresh between-meal snack. Woot!
What’s in Dilly Vegetable Dip?
This vegetable dip is ultra simple: sour cream, a little garlic powder, lemon pepper, salt, and fresh dill. DONE. It tastes great immediately, but the flavors blend a bit and get more smooth after sitting in the fridge for a bit. If you have leftover green onion, that would be a great substitute for the dill, or even an addition to it. I made a small batch because it was just for me, but this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a bigger crowd.
How to Use the Dip
It’s obviously great for dipping fresh vegetables (carrots, celery, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, cauliflower), but it would also be great as a spread on a vegetable sandwich or a veggie filled wrap sandwich. And since the flavors go really well with Greek inspired dishes, I wouldn’t be opposed to putting this on a Greek salad or Shawarma wrap.
Dilly Vegetable Dip
Servings 4 (2 Tbsp each)Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sour cream ($0.47)
- 1/4 tsp lemon pepper ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/16 tsp garlic powder ($0.01)
- 1 tsp chopped fresh dill ($0.30)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon pepper, salt, and garlic powder.
- Pull the wispy pieces of dill from the stems, then roughly chop. Stir the chopped dill into the sour cream. Taste and adjust the salt if needed.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Dilly Vegetable Dip – Step by Step Photos
In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 tsp lemon pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/16 tsp garlic powder (I just estimated half of my 1/8 tsp measuring spoon).
This is the lemon pepper seasoning that I used. This is pretty common in the United States and is made by several brands. It’s a pretty useful spice blend and it’s actually pretty good on vegetables just by itself (if you want a lower fat option for your crudités). If you can’t find this, you can try adding a little freshly ground pepper and a dash of lemon juice, but your dip will be a little less thick.
Take a few sprigs of dill and pull the wispy pieces off the stems, then give them a rough chop. I used about 1 tsp of the chopped dill, but it’s flexible.
Add the fresh dill to the dip and…
Now you’ve got a really tasty dip for vegetables!
Soooo good. Especially with really crunchy vegetables. Here’s a tip: the vegetables will stay ultra crisp if you store them in water. I just place the vegetable sticks in plastic storage containers, then cover with water. They’ll stay ultra cold and crisp this way. :D
This was amaaaaaaazing! I subbed a little mayo for some of the sour cream… maybe about 2 tablespoons, just to cut down on the zippiness of the the sour cream.
This really came out awesome! We used light sour cream, and maybe a tablespoon or two of mayo. I also successfully swapped the fresh dill for dried, and used about 1/2 a teaspoon.
My mom used to make this all the time, she would use 1/2 sour cream, 1/2 mayo sometimes too but seriously this dip is the best! Dill should be put into virtually all dishes :)
Could I substitute dried dill? If so, how do I calculate the correct amount?
It’s going to be mostly up to your taste preferences, but I think I’d start with 1/4 to 1/2 tsp and let it chill for 30 minutes or so before tasting and adding more if needed. After you experiment and get the right amount for your taste buds the first time, no more guessing is needed in the future. :)
I have actually made this recipe before, but used my homemade yogurt. I make half my yogurt batch “regular” tangy for eating normally but ferment the other half longer so it is more tangy, like sour cream. The best part is it freezes quite well in ice cube trays so one batch works for a long time.
Can’t believe you didn’t make a single dill-icious pun in this entire post!
Hahahaha … wow, I can’t believe that slipped by me. :D
I like this small amount , so many times I have to cut in half for just the two of us. Thanks for the recipe for one or two. WW
LOVE the idea behind this blog-always pinching pennies around here! The dip looks sounds healthy and looks yummy- we like having a little herb garden to spiffy up leftover sour cream and yogurt for nice sauces and dips too!
This recipe looks so simple and yummy! Substituting Greek yogurt or plain yogurt for some of the sour cream would make a great lower fat option.
Any thoughts on using plain nonfat greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream?
You could, but it will definitely be more tart. If you use a full fat or lower (but not non-fat) Greek yogurt it will definitely taste better. The fat helps mellow out the acidity a bit.
This dip would taste absolutely delicious with potato chips!! :-)
If you don’t have lemon pepper why not use lemon zest and pepper so you maintain consistency?
I like the tartness that you get from the lemon pepper or lemon juice, that you just don’t get from the zest. The zest provides a great lemony essence, but none of the acidity. :)
This looks yummy and so easy. And I’ve found that using fresh ingredients, where possible, definitely adds a lot of flavor.