This Smoked Salmon Dip is the perfect appetizer for your next holiday party. The smoked salmon, fresh lemon juice, and chives give an irresistible flavor to the cream cheese base, and the whole recipe comes together in less than 5 minutes. Serve the dip alongside your favorite crunchy crackers or veggies sticks.
If you’re planning a sophisticated menu, this smoked salmon spread is a bit more fancy than our other fan-favorite appetizers, like Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip and Grape Jelly Meatballs, but just as irresistible. It feels decadent and always disappears immediately!
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Easy Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
I spent quite some time developing the perfect salmon dip recipe, and I lit up when I tried it and told my hubby, “This is it!” I was so excited! Then, I tested it out for my sister’s baby shower, and it was a huge hit! It’s now my go-to recipe. I love it so much that we featured it as part of our Bagel Bar in the Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook!
Why do I love it so much? This salmon dip recipe is a great way to stretch a pricey package of smoked salmon and impress a hungry crowd. The ingredients are so simple, and it’s better than any store-bought version I’ve tried.
Why this Recipe Works
- Make Ahead—keeps well in the fridge for easier party prep
- Crowd-favorite—the fresh ingredients make this a show-stopper appetizer
- Diet-friendly—Gluten-free, low-carb, vegetarian, and Keto-friendly (substitute baguette for sliced veggies)
- Festive—see our tips for presentation below
- 6 Ingredients—after you have the fish, you need only 5 more pantry staples
- Quick and Easy—comes together in 5 minutes!
Ingredients
If you’re looking for smoked salmon recipes, this salmon dip has only 6 ingredients, so it’s simple to make something truly delicious.
- Cream cheese – room temperature so it mixes well
- Sour cream – give the dip a bit of tanginess, but can be substituted with plain Greek yogurt if needed
- Lemon juice – freshly squeezed juice is best since it cuts through the thick cream cheese flavor and gives it the easy-to-dip texture
- Salt – to taste—this depends on the saltiness of the smoked salmon, taste first, season second.
- Tabasco hot sauce – add to taste for more or less heat. You can substitute Sriracha in a pinch for a slightly different flavor
- Smoked Salmon – 1 cup of chopped fish. We use Lox but hot-smoked salmon flakes will work.
- Fresh Chives – 1 Tbsp chopped, and save extra for garnish
- For Serving: Sliced baguette, Bagel chips, Pita Chips, crostinis, veggie sticks, cucumber slices, etc (see our How to Serve section below for more ideas)
Pro Tip:
You can make your own Homemade Lox Salmon, but we get ours at Costco. When buying smoked salmon at your local grocery store, make sure it isn’t pre-seasoned and try to get wild-caught, cold-smoked, and without added sugar.
How to Make Smoked Salmon Dip
This one-dish salmon dip comes together in only 5 minutes and with two easy steps:
- Combine softened cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, and Tabasco in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well blended.
- Add chopped smoked salmon and chives and pulse a few times just to combine. Add more salt or pepper if desired and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Pro Tip:
You can stir the mixture together in a bowl with an electric hand mixer if you don’t have a food processor, just be sure there aren’t lumps remaining in the first step before adding the salmon.
Common Questions
Smoked salmon is the star ingredient in this dip. The base is cream cheese with sour cream to thin the cheese. Then flavors like lemon, chives, and hot sauce give the dip incredible acidity and kick.
We usually serve smoked salmon dip with crackers or veggie sticks as an appetizer, and you can also serve on bagels. See our How to Serve section below for more ideas.
Once you open the package, the fish only lasts for a week, so if you’re looking for more smoked salmon recipes, try our Smoked Salmon Salad (Shuba) and Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches.
Absolutely. This recipe is a great way to feed a crowd, and any leftovers keep well in the fridge.
Yes, the terms are used interchangeably and this dip can be served as a spread for bagels.
How to Serve Smoked Salmon Dip
This is one of our favorite appetizers to serve—it’s so versatile and looks great on the appetizer table. Here are some ideas:
- Serve with dippers: crackers, Pita Chips, bagel chips, crostinis, mini breadsticks, baguette slices (like our Bruschetta), or veggies cut in sticks or scoops such as peppers, celery, carrots, or cucumbers
- Bagel Bar – The perfect spread to include as part of a bagel bar (as seen in our cookbook)
- Build-your-own dip: serve salmon dip alongside a variety of dippers/crackers and small bowls of toppings, such as capers, chopped olives, chopped red onion, fresh dill, lemon zest, minced garlic, or shallots.
- Charcuterie board – perfect to serve as part of a meat platter
- Create a Mold – After mixing, spoon the dip into a festive mold and refrigerate before releasing the mold on a serving tray
Make-Ahead
This smoked salmon dip recipe is easy to make ahead. Simply store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- To Refrigerate: store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (or until the expiration date on the fish
- Can I freeze Smoked Salmon Dip? Since the ingredients in this dip don’t hold up well to freezing, we don’t recommend freezing this smoked salmon dip.
Smoked salmon dip is the perfect appetizer recipe to serve if you’re looking for a sophisticated, fancy spread, but it’s quick and easy to make. Your guests will love the creamy taste, so be sure to add this to your next holiday menu.
More Appetizer Recipes
If you’re searching for more appetizer recipes to serve with Smoked Salmon Dip on your holiday menu, here are some of our favorite recipes:
- Coconut Shrimp
- Fresh Spring Rolls
- Hummus Recipe
- Cheese Ball Recipe
- Stuffed Mushrooms
- Shrimp Cocktail
- Jalapeno Poppers
Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream, 4 oz
- 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp Tabasco hot sauce, or to taste
- 4 oz smoked salmon, (about 1 cup chopped)**see note
- 1 Tbsp Chives, chopped plus more for garnish
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, add 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce. Pulse until well blended.
- Once evenly blended, add 4 oz chopped salmon and 1 Tbsp chives to the food processor and pulse a few times just to combine. Taste, and add more salt or pepper if desired. Then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
**Note: Lox (as pictured) or hot-smoked salmon flakes work in this recipe. Look for cold-smoked, wild-caught salmon that isn’t pre-seasoned.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Hi, I came across a similar recipe several years ago but it also used capers (maybe instead of the lemon juice). Have you tried that?
I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure. I bet it could work, but the color might be a little off if you’re ok with that 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! We didn’t have Tabasco, but used Siricha. Also, my husband added a tiny dollop of dill paste on top of each and it was delicious! Quick and easy, too.
Mmmmm! That sounds good! Thank you for sharing your review Donna 🙂
Hi Natash, can i make the spread the night before?
Thank, connie
Hi Connie, yes absolutely! 🙂
Thank you, can not wait to make it for Christmas Eve .
Connie
Mmmmm does look really way good Natasha unfortunately I cannot eat salmon would this work with another fish like whitefish or sable or semga always like recreating things soooo much fun
HI Tzivia, this might work with a smoked steelhead (trout) but I don’t know if it would taste right with any other kind of fish.
Oh okay I’ll hafta try it sometime with a steel head trout always looking for ways to recreate something that these type of food stores do thanx luv i will definitely keep this in mind cheers
Smoked walleye would taste good as well!
Hi! Love your recipes but just wanted to let you know if you didn’t already know but your blog (well the appetizers part) was mentioned in a tv show called Young & Hungry 🙂 I sent a snapchat video but your private so you couldn’t receive it but it was really cool! Followed your blog since 2012-13ish time. Awesome to see how known you’ve got!
That’s so awesome!! I heard about that and it’s very exciting :). Thank you so much for sharing that with me and following my blog all this time. That’s quite a compliment 🙂
can i freeze the leftover dip/spread ?
Donna, I haven’t tried freezing it so can’t tell you how well it will freeze. If you decide to freeze it, let me know how it goes.
I am so Excited to try this recipie. My husband and I went to a restaurant recently and they had this appetizer. It was the most amazing thing that I have every tried. I was guessing what they put inside it. And I was so close. Thank you so much I am excited to try…..
I hope you love the spread! 🙂
Hello. Can I use frozen dill or is fresh preferable? Love your recipes. Diakuyu!
Luba, frozen dill is fine as well 😀, na zdodovlya.
This looks delicious, but I don’t see dill in the recipe. Did I miss something? Thanks for your post!
Hi Kathy, you can use dill if you wish. I used chives instead but I do think it would taste great with dill.
Just whipped this dip up for lunch using hot smoked salmon. Delicious. Went great with cucumbers just picked from our garden. The best part – kids loved it too!!!
That’s wonderful! Thanks for the great review. That does sound great with fresh cucumbers!
It’s really good. I used homemade hot smoked salmon, minced onion instead of chives (didn’t have) and plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It turned out really good too.
Thanks for the recipe.
Bethany, thank you for the great review and great job on improvising :).
Tried this spread this morning! So good!!! Thank you so much for sharing it!
I’m so happy you liked it! It’s a great choice for breakfast 🙂
I have the Kirkland canned salmon at home and I’m trying to figure out what I can make with it. Do you think I can sub that in for the smoked salmon in this recipe? Or would it drastically change the taste?
It would be a good experiment. It would still be a salmon spread but wouldn’t have that smoky flavor. I haven’t experimented with canned salmon so I can’t say for sure, but if you try it, make sure you drain well so the dip isn’t too wet.
Hello from Russia! Came across with your blog two weeks ago and since that time became your fan)) Each recipe looks so delicious and easy to cook))
Off topic)) Насколько я поняла у Вас и Вашего мужа славянские корни. На каком языке Вы общаетесь со своими родственниками?))
We really speak a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian. I was very young when we moved to this country so I get the two languages mixed up sometimes. To be honest we speak mostly English at home.
Great recipe Natasha! Looks delicious and it is so easy to make! I like to buy the same salmon from Costco 🙂
Thank you Lyubomira, it was easy to make indeed and was gone pretty quick :).
My hubby fishes a lot here in central Oregon and we smoke a lot of fish! Been known to can it also. I make a dip /spread very close to what you made up but use fresh dill instead of chives when I can get it. Dried is not bad either.
I bet fresh dill tastes great as well. My parents are big on smoking fish as well :).
Will try this, but question for you, presentation…can this be made into a log or rolled ball shape?? Just would like to up its looks more for a graduation party this June.
Thanks…
You might be able to make it into a log or a ball if you refrigerate it first. It still spreads pretty well even after being refrigerated but it will hold it’s shape better that way. I’m just not sure how long it will last in that shape once it’s served and gets to room temp.
I cannot even look at this recipe, it’s making me hungry!!! I have an urge to run to the store and get everything for it. Absolutely love salmon/lox cream cheese and this looks incredible. Will be making ASAP. Thank you!!
This recipe has the same effect on me! 🙂
Yummmm! I love smoked salmon..this would be so good on a bagel in the morning 🙂
oooh I love how you think! This does sound amazing on a bagel!
This dip looks perfect for crackers, bread and even bagels! Except its even easier because the salmon is already mixed in!
It does make for an awesome appetizer or meal! I do love that the salmon is already mixed in. Although there’s nothing wrong with putting a big strip of smoked salmon on top and eating it as a sandwich! 🙂
I was just at Whole foods the other day and they were sampling a delicious salmon spread. This looks just like it! Can’t wait to try it out!
I haven’t tried the Whole Foods version but I can tell you this one’s delicious. I hope you love it just as much (or more!) 😉
Just made this but with homemade hot smoked salmon. I think it’s a little different because it’s flaky and mine looks more pink. I also omitted the chives just because my hubby isn’t a fan of them and it came out so delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe!
I do think there is a difference between the hot smoked home-made salmon (flakier) and lox (the one in the photos from Costco), but this recipe would work well with either one. I love both the flakier one and the lox versions – It’s hard to have self control around that stuff! How nice to be able to have homemade hot smoked salmon. Do you catch it yourselves? It’s one thing I definitely miss about living in Seattle. Anyway, I’m so glad you enjoyed the dip! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your great review 🙂
I am actually from the Seattle area but my husband isnt really into fishing so we usually buy ours from Costco. Last night we had grilled salmon for dinner and had some left over and I told my hubby about your new recipe and he went out and put it in the smoker so I could make some 🙂 Perfect timing!
It’s awesome that you have a smoker at home. That’s something that I’m hoping to get in the future. For now, or parents do all the meat smoking for us.