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APPETIZERS

Dill Pickle & Horseradish Yogurt Dip

Greek yogurt loosened with pickle brine, loaded with chopped dill pickles, and spiked with prepared horseradish dip. Cold, sharp, and built for raw celery, carrots, and broccoli.

See also Olive Tapenade for Pimento Cheese·Whipped Apple Butter & Walnut Dip

OriginAmerican
Active10 min
Total70 min
EquipmentBox grater and a mixing bowl
Yield
1 3/4cups
Dips a full platter of crudite for 8
Drain
10min
Chopped pickles in a sieve, before they go in
Chill
60min
The horseradish needs the hour to spread out
Keeps
4days
Airtight; stir before serving, it separates
1 · PREP 2 · STIR 3 · CHILL 4 · SERVE
1 1/4 cups ≈ 296 mL plain Greek yogurt Base for everything else.1 Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.2
1/4 cup ≈ 59 mL prepared horseradish dip Whisk in.3
1/2 cup ≈ 118 mL dill pickles, chopped fine Chop to a rough mince, then drain in a sieve 10 min.4 Fold in drained, along with the grated onion, cilantro, and lemon juice.
2 tbsp ≈ 30 mL dill pickle brine, from the jar Whisk in a tablespoon at a time until the dip ribbons off the whisk.5
1 tbsp ≈ 15 mL yellow onion, grated on a box grater Grate rather than chop, straight into the bowl with its juice.6
2 tbsp ≈ 30 mL cilantro leaves, chopped Fold in. Reserve a pinch for the top -- it is the only color the bowl gets.
1 tsp ≈ 5 mL fresh lemon juice Fold in. Brine is sour but flat; the lemon is what makes it read as fresh.
to taste kosher salt and black pepper Taste cold, out of the fridge, and season then.7
6 cups ≈ 1.4 L celery, carrots, and broccoli, for serving Cut celery and carrots into sticks a finger long8 Drain the vegetables and dry them well9
  1. plain Greek yogurt · STIR Whisk smooth in a bowl before anything goes in, so no lumps survive to the end.
  2. plain Greek yogurt · CHILL Do not season before this -- everything tastes flatter cold and duller after it sits.
  3. prepared horseradish dip · STIR Start with 1/4 cup -- prepared dips range from mild to punishing, and you can add more after the chill but not take it out.
  4. dill pickles, chopped fine · PREP Reserve 2 tbsp of the jar brine before you drain -- that is the seasoning you actually want.
  5. dill pickle brine, from the jar · STIR It thins and seasons in one move.
  6. yellow onion, grated on a box grater · PREP Grated onion disappears into the yogurt; diced onion sits in it as crunchy nuggets.
  7. kosher salt and black pepper · SERVE It usually needs pepper and little or no salt.
  8. celery, carrots, and broccoli, for serving · PREP Broccoli into florets with a flat side. Hold in cold water in the fridge -- they crisp while the dip chills.
  9. celery, carrots, and broccoli, for serving · SERVE Water on a carrot slides the dip straight back off. Arrange around the bowl, scatter the reserved cilantro on top.
Protein
Produce
Dairy & Egg
Pantry & Grain
Spice & Seasoning
Liquid & Fat

Notes

Drain the pickles, keep the brine. Chopped pickles carry enough liquid to thin the dip past the point of clinging to a carrot, and they keep releasing it overnight. Draining them and adding brine back by the tablespoon puts you in control of the final texture.
Grate the onion. A cold dip gives raw onion nothing to soften it. Grating ruptures the cells so the flavor goes into the yogurt instead of arriving in bites.
Season after the chill, not before. Cold blunts salt perception, so a dip seasoned warm tastes right in the bowl and oversalted an hour later on the board. The horseradish also mellows over that hour -- judge its heat at the end too.
The vegetables need drying. Ice water buys an hour of crispness in celery and carrot, but a wet stick will not hold a yogurt-based dip. Spin or towel them before they go near the bowl.
Serve it with the other two. Built alongside Olive Tapenade for Pimento Cheese and Whipped Apple Butter & Walnut Dip as a three-bowl set -- salt, sweet, and tang, none of which needs the stove.
Original Developed in this project, September 6, 2026, from a standing pantry inventory -- a jar of Clawson dills whose brine was the more interesting half. The ratio is original to this project.