Dilly Sunflower Seed Dip is perfect for crackers and veggies at your next party. Soaked, raw sunflower seeds are the star of this hearty, nut-free vegan dip.
Sunflower Seed Dip
If you know me, you know that I. LOVE. DILL. Specifically, I love ranch seasoning, which is basically just dill, onion, and garlic. Despite having some ranch flavors in the mix, though, I wouldn’t call this Dilly Sunflower Seed Dip a ranch dip.
It’s doing its own thing. Don’t try to force this dip into a category. Just spread it into a bowl, and devour it!
Soaking Your Sunflower Seeds (and what kind to use)
Just like when you make a cashew-based sauce or dip, soaking your sunflower seeds is mission critical. Raw sunflower seeds take on liquid and get easier to puree when you soak, so this is not a skippable step.
If you can find raw sunflower seeds for this recipe, definitely use them. Roasted sunflower seeds will medium work, but you won’t get as smooth a texture as you will with raw.
Soak roasted seeds, too, and skim off any skins or debris that floats to the top of the bowl before you drain – that will help the texture out a bit.
Sunflower seeds will not get as smooth as cashews, no matter how much you blend them. This dip is deliciously creamy, but it does have a bit of texture from the seeds, which gives it almost a pâté-like feel.
If you want a dip that’s totally smooth, I recommend using raw cashews instead.
How to Make Dilly Sunflower Seed Dip
Like most of my dips and spreads, this is a blender recipe, because why do work by hand that your blender can do for you?
To make this dip, you just soak your sunflower seeds in hot water for 15-20 minutes, then drain. Once you’ve got your seeds ready, toss them into the blender with the rest of your dip ingredients.
A high speed blender certainly helps here, but you can get a nice, smooth dip with a regular blender. Just don’t give up! Keep blending, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed, until you have a nice puree.
Transfer your dip to a small serving dish, chill, and serve with crackers and veggies for dipping. Easy peasy!
Dilly Sunflower Seed Dip
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds – soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes, then drained
- 1/4 cup lemon juice – 1-2 lemons, depending on how juicy they are
- 1/2 cup water – NOT the soaking water – new water!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil – optional, but recommended
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 2 tablespoons dried dill – or more, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped bell peppers – any color you like – chopping helps it blend up smoothly
- 1 plum tomato – chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients except the tomato into your blender and puree until as smooth as possible. This is going to take a while, and if you’re using a regular blender, you’ll need to stop to scrape down the sides of your blender and give the mixture a stir several times as you’re blending. Just be patient, and keep on blending until the dip reaches the creaminess that you’re looking for.
- Transfer the dip to a serving bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes. Garnish with the chopped tomato just before serving.
Laura
Thank you for the sunflower seed recipe. I love, love, love sunflower seed butter, “sun butter”. Did you know the large, blue & black Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly’s host plant is the dill plant, the parsley plant and there are 2 other herbs the lay their eggs on & the babies eat the leaves, I saw one in my yard 2 days ago & read this info and now I am being very careful about harvesting the parsley. Thank you for all your hard work.
Becky Striepe
So glad that you’re enjoying the recipe, Laura! 🙂
Melody montminy
Thanks for the butterfly info Laura very nice to know this. How lucky you ate to have such beautiful butterflys by you.???
Sarah De la Cruz
I love that you use sunflower seeds in this one! Hooray for nut free treats! Can’t wait to try it!
Becky Striepe
Yay! I thought of you when I was making it!
jacquie
yum. i love dill as well. Have you ever put it in quick bread w/ perhaps similar seasonings and some wheat germ? i think i had something like that years ago and would love to be able to eat again. You up for a challenge?
Becky Striepe
I’m sure you could! Check out my homemade ranch seasoning recipe – I think you could add a batch to bread and it would be great.
jacquie
i was kind of hoping that you might be willing to do the recipe development as i don’t even have a good basic bread recipe 🙂
Cadry
This sounds so good! I love snacky meals, and I’m always looking for a new spread to add to the mix.
Becky Striepe
Snacky meals are my favorite!
Katie Koteen
I LOVE dill. I’m always looking for new lunchbox ideas and this is just perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Becky Striepe
Oh yay! Enjoy it, Katie!
Dianne
This dip looks amazing! I like to make sunflower seed cheese, but I’ve never thought to make a dip with them. Such a great idea!