Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
This Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese is here to zip up your life – or at least your bagels! With fresh dill, chives, and garlic, this easy homemade cream cheese spread is lick-the-spoon good. Not that I have ever done that, nope not me. Okay fine, I totally did, and I’ll do it again, too!
I’ve been making this Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese constantly lately! My selective kid really likes it (and there’s a little bit of green in there, so, bonus!) and we love it too. It livens up bagels and is so good in sandwiches.
These days, we always have a batch of this garlic cream cheese hanging out in the fridge.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
How to Make Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
Jump to the Full, Printable Recipe
The Story Behind the Recipe
I first whipped up this garlic and herb cream cheese when I was making some cucumber tea sandwiches to take to my kid’s school for teacher appreciation week (I also made these cheese and olive skewers that are super tasty!)
It’s PERFECT in cucumber sandwiches, for sure, but I quickly realized that garlic and herb cream cheese deserved its time in the spotlight. So I decided to share the recipe here, and also obsess over the recipe at home.
Sometimes the story behind the recipe is not very exciting. But it can still result in something tasty!
Why You’ll Love Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
This tasty cream cheese really couldn’t be more bagel-friendly. One of its secrets is that it has a smidge of mayo in it, so it’s spreadable straight out of the fridge. Hard cream cheese be gone!
Ingredients
Cream cheese – I use full-fat, but lite cream cheese or even vegan cream cheese will work just as well.
Mayonnaise – Just a couple of tablespoons of mayo add flavor and make this cream cheese easy to spread. Sour cream will work if you don’t have any mayo.
Garlic – Just a half a clove, very finely minced or grated using a Microplane, adds tons of fresh garlic flavor. If you realllllly love garlic, add the whole clove or even two! I won’t judge.
Dill – Fresh dill is a must for this garlic herb cream cheese. You’ll find it in the produce section with the other herbs.
Chives – I grow chives in my garden (they’re one of the easiest herbs to grow!), but you can find them at the grocery store in produce with the herbs, too. If you can’t find chives, you can finely chop up some scallions (green onions) for similar flavor.
Salt & pepper – Just a pinch of both, then taste and add more if you’d like.
Adaptations/Variations
Chop up some fresh jalapeños and/or add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to give it some heat.
Add a touch of citrus taste with lemon zest.
Vegan/dairy-free option: Grab a vegan cream cheese. It will work great!
How to Make Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
Add all the ingredients to a bowl, and, using a hand-blender, mix it all together. Add more salt and pepper if you’d like, and voila! You have your own fancy garlic and herb cream cheese.
Tips for Success
Start with soft, almost room-temp cream cheese, which will be much easier to mix.
Use a Microplane Grater to add your fresh garlic. This helps make it super-fine so you get all the garlic taste without any chunks.
I hope you love this herby cream cheese as much as we do! It’s creamy, easy, and so full of flavor. I think your bagels (and you) will adore it!
More Dips & Spreads
Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition
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