Does Dirty Martini Dip Actually Contain Alcohol?

Dirty martini dip isn't your run-of-the-mill chip dip. It's a smooth, sophisticated, scoopable James-Bond-in-a-bowl concoction that hits all the savory notes your taste buds love. As you probably suspect, it's aptly named after its inspiration: the dirty martini. This cocktail uses vodka or gin along with dry vermouth and olive brine — also known as the dirty in a dirty martini; however, before you go down the internet rabbit hole trying to find a definitive answer as to whether or not dirty martini dip contains alcohol, we'll save you the trouble. The answer is generally not. It can, but it doesn't have to.

At its most basic, dirty martini dip is made using cream cheese as its base, olive brine, blue cheese, your choice of olives, lemons, salt, and pepper. It may sound more like a dirty blue cheese martini with all those flavors, but it gets a little complicated. Some people like adding sour cream or yogurt to give it a creamier texture. Others like some shaved onion, but if you stopped there, you would still have a variation of dirty martini dip. Still, some culinary explorers like to add a little dry vermouth and/or gin to the olive brine and then splatter the liquid on top of the alcohol-soaked olives piled in the middle of the dip. 

Alcohol or no alcohol? It's a matter of preference and who will be consuming it, but once you make that decision, the real fun begins with this dip. Nothing says you can't incorporate other flavors you might enjoy with a dirty martini. If you prefer a spicy hot and dirty martini, you can use it for inspiration and add a little kick to your dip with a dousing of hot sauce or a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. A pickle dirty martini gives you the license to replace the olive brine with pickle brine and chopped pickles as an adornment — sweet or tangy.

Want a little crunch? Crumble up some bacon — candied or otherwise — and this sweet, smoky, and savory addition will amp up the flavor of this spread in all the right ways. What do you serve a dirty martini dip with? It tastes delicious with usual suspects like veggies, crostini, pita, slices of warm baguette, and crackers, but don't limit yourself. Put a dollop on a burger, use it as a sauce to give your chicken or fish a bump in taste, or let the flavors of a dirty martini bring out the best flavors of your pork chops. The possibilities are endless.