Dirty Martini Dip
by Sommer Collier — on Nov 26, 2025 Turn any gathering into a party with my fun and delicious dirty martini dip recipe! This simple yet punchy snack dip is made without alcohol but has the flavors of a classic martini, garnished with blue cheese olives. If you love a creamy cold dip, and you also love green olives and blue cheese, this is the snack for you!
My husband has a special relationship with martinis. He loves a gin martini but is extremely particular about how he orders it. It cannot be dirty in any way, shape, or form, so no olive juice. And he despises vermouth. So he often tells a waiter to make him a “gin martini, straight up, no vermouth.” They ask for clarification, “So extra dry, no vermouth at all?” He responds, “Tell the bartender to think about vermouth while he’s shaking the ice and gin.”
But there’s more. Even though he hates the “dirty” olive juice, he always wants them to add blue cheese-stuffed olives, especially if they’re made in-house. It’s a pretty hilarious exchange to watch. Anyway, although he doesn’t like heavy olive flavor in his actual martinis, he’s crazy about this dirty martini dip! In fact, he says it’s the perfect snack to serve alongside an actual martini… Extra dry, of course. Similar to our clam dip recipe, I make this olive dip whenever I want to serve a cream cheese-based cold dip with some pizzazz.
Sommer’s Recipe Highlights
All Flavor, No Alcohol – Whether you like martinis or not, I’m confident you’ll agree that this dip is unique and delicious. It’s rich, creamy, and cool, with a flavor that’s sharp, briny, and pleasantly funky. As you probably guessed by the name, it tastes just like a good martini. But nope, there’s no actual alcohol in here!
Limitless Dip-ibilities – It seems pretty obvious, but I’ll go ahead and say it… Dirty martini dip is great for dipping! Serve it with any number of crunchy chips, crackers, or veggies of your choosing.
Holiday Hit – I like to mix things up and serve unexpected snacks at parties, and this one always gets guests talking. Especially for Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties, martini dip adds a little cheekiness to the festivities and is a fabulous conversation starter.
Key Ingredients and Tips
- Cream cheese – I like to live in the now and always use full-fat blocks of cream cheese. You can use low fat if you like, but the flavor won’t be quite the same.
- Sour cream – Same thing here, you are going to get the most flavor from full-fat sour cream. I’ve also used plain full-fat Greek yogurt as a replacement, and it works well!
- Olives – I am really going for that classic martini taste here, so use pimento-stuffed green olives and brine.
- Blue cheese – I use blue cheese with tiny crumbles vs big chunks. Small crumbles are easier to mix into the dip, and folks might not be fans of biting into a thick piece of blue cheese. (I am not one of those people, but I get it.)
- Chives – I know some people like chives in their dip, and others prefer just a sprinkling on top to garnish. I’m a “mix it all in together” fan, but you do you.
How to Make
Find the full ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, storage tips, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Prep & Stir – I gather all the ingredients and get as much prep done as possible while the cream cheese softens. Then the cheese gets added to a mixing bowl and is combined with sour cream.
Time for Olives – I chop the green olives into small minced pieces, without going overboard. This is one of those prep things you can do while the cream cheese softens.
Next, I add the olives and brine to the bowl with the cream cheese and sour cream blend.
In it All Goes – Then add the remaining crumbled blue cheese and chopped chives to the bowl.
Stir (Don’t Shake) – I use a silicone spatula to combine everything so the olives, blue cheese, and chives are mixed evenly in.
Expert Tips
I can’t stress this enough, you’ve got to let the cream cheese soften first. It’s essential to stir the dip until it’s even and smooth. Take the block out of the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes; it needs to be long enough to soften but not so long that the cheese gets warm. Ick.
I always make the dip ahead, at least 1 hour earlier in the day or even the night before. It saves some time when you’re getting things together for guests, and the flavor really develops and intensifies as the dip sits and chills in the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
The creamy, thick, and smooth dirty martini dip needs sturdy munchies for scooping. Serve it with sliced cucumbers or celery sticks to keep the martini vibes rolling without clashing with the strong olive and blue cheese flavors. Other veggies like carrots and bell peppers are a bit too sweet, in my opinion.
Likewise, just about any hefty, crunchy, carb-y, and fairly mild pretzels, crackers, and potato chips are great. The pretzel chips I’m using here have a light sprinkling of salt that goes well with the dirty dip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Three cups of dip yields 12 servings. To break it down, each serving of martini dip is about 1/4 cup, so that translates to 4 tablespoons per person.
No time to soften cream cheese on the counter? No problem! Sometimes when I’m in a rush, I unwrap the block (of course) and put the cream cheese in a microwave-safe dish. Then microwave in 10-second bursts at low power, just until it’s easy to smoosh with a spoon, but not really warm.
Adding olive brine to a martini makes it dirty, because the cloudy brine turns the entire drink a bit cloudy. I’ve added just the right amount of brine in this dip recipe to mimic that same salty, tangy flavor.
Nope, this martini dip is alcohol-free and all-ages friendly. So consider having a dry or an extra dirty pickle martini cocktail on the side if you’re still looking for that sharp vodka or gin taste!
Storage Notes
For casual snacking, I usually serve the dip in a storage bowl with a snap-on lid, so I can just pop that on and put the container in the fridge. When I use a “real” serving dish for parties, it’s easiest to cover the dip in plastic wrap. But you can also transfer it to an airtight storage container.
Whatever vessel you’re using here, keep it cold in the fridge for up to 5 days.
More Dips & Spreads Recipes
Dirty Martini Dip
Video
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 1 cup pimento stuffed olives finely diced
- 3 tablespoons olive brine from jar
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
- 2 tablespoons diced chives or green onions
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Set the cream cheese out to allow it to soften to room temperature. Once the cream cheese is nice and soft, set out a medium-sized mixing bowl. Combine the cream cheese and sour cream and smash it together until it is extremely smooth, no chunks of cream cheese whatsoever.
- Measure out 1 cup of pimento stuffed olives. Place them on a cutting board and dice them finely. Then add the diced olives to the cream cheese mixture.
- Add 3 tablespoons of olive juice from the jar, crumble blue cheese, and chives. Mix well. Then taste and add salt and pepper if needed. *Olives and blue cheese are already salty, you may not need to add any salt.
- Cover in place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. You can serve the dip immediately, but the flavor does develop and intensify over time. We suggest allowing it to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
