Popular addition to summer herb gardens, dill lends a distinctive flavor to everything from eggs to pickles. In seed form, dill is used as a pickling spice and to flavor breads and vegetables. The feathery leaves enhance seafood sauces, salad dressings, chicken and soups…and even make an attractive garnish.

Pointers for Seasoning with Dill

  • Dill seeds have a robust flavor, so use them sparingly.
  • Dill leaves can be dried or frozen. Simply snip off some with a kitchen scissors as needed.
  • One tablespoon chopped fresh dill = 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
    1/2 ounce fresh dill yields about 1/2 cup leaves.

Enhance Your Meals with Dill

  • For a quick side dish, finely chop some dill leaves into plain yogurt. Pour over fresh cucumber slices and toss.
  • Make an easy dill butter by combining minced fresh dill with half a cup of softened butter. Chill for at least 2 hours to allow flavors to blend. Use on bread or broiled seafood.
  • Use dill seeds to season vegetables like carrots and pumpkin while cooking. Or stir them with butter into the veggies after cooking.
  • Dill seeds taste similar to caraway, so you can substitute them for caraway in breads.
  • Dill also complements sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, dips and spreads, meats, eggs and potato salad.

Delicious Dill Recipes

Try these reader recipes featuring dill, pictured in the photo above.

Nuggets with Dill Sauce has a creamy sauce, seasoned with dill weed and relish, that enhances these fun-to-eat fried chicken bites. Carol Crooks of Jonesboro, Georgia shared the recipe.

“Here in Washington, we enjoy lots of fresh asparagus in the spring. The recipe for Sweet Pickled Asparagus shows just how my grandmother used to pickle it,” writes Valerie Giesbrecht of Othello.

Originally Published: April 19, 2007