Creamy Dill Mustard Sauce With Honey

This creamy dill mustard sauce is PERFECT to pair with gravlax. You might even think this sauce has similar Nordic / Scandinavian origins as gravlax… and you’d be 100% correct!

This creamy mustard and dill sauce is known as hovmästarsås or gravlaxsås. Traditionally, you make it by combining oil, vinegar, and mustard.

But this has now evolved into a more flavorful mustard sauce made with oil, vinegar, mustard, dill, sugar, and seasoning. It’s so easy, and it’s honestly one of my favorite sauces and condiments.

• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Whole grain mustard – optional (replace with dijon mustard if you like)
• White wine vinegar
• Dill
• Honey – can be replaced with regular sugar
• Salt
• Butter – optional (leave out if you don’t want to use butter)
• Chives – optional

Adding two types of mustard gives more flavor and depth to the sauce. But if you don’t have both, you can just use dijon mustard.

In addition to the olive oil, you can also add some melted butter. The melted butter adds a subtle creaminess and additional richness to the sauce. But this is an optional substitution and can be left out.

Chives are not really traditional in this sauce. But the garlic-scallion flavor from chives is a lovely herby addition to this sauce.

You could add some minced garlic instead, but the flavor of chives is more delicate. Again, you can leave this out if you want to keep this traditional, but I really love that flavor!

How to make honey dill mustard sauce

Step 1 – Chop and prepare the herbs

Wash and dry the dill (and chives, if using). Then finely chop the herbs and set aside.

I use about 1/4 cup of loosely packed chopped dill, but you can add more or less. Since dill and mustard are the main flavors, I like to be generous with the dill.

Step 2 – Melt the butter 

Melt the butter in the microwave in a large microwave-safe bowl (image 1). 

Step 3 – Add the rest of the ingredients

Add the olive oil to the butter along with the honey and vinegar. Add the dijon mustard and whole grain mustard (if using) (image 2). The mustard will also help to emulsify the mixture.

Whisk the ingredients together really well until you have an emulsified mixture that looks creamy (image 3). 

Step 4 – Adjust the flavor

Taste and salt the sauce base to season. You can also add extra vinegar, honey, or even mustard to get the flavor profile you prefer.

I like my mustard dill sauce a little sweeter, so I tend to add a little extra honey.

If the the mustard sauce is too thick, add some water to thin it out to the right consistency.

Step 5 – Add the herbs

Once you have a sauce with the preferred balance of flavor, add the herbs (image 4).

Add the chopped dill and chives and whisk to combine (image 5).

The honey mustard dill sauce is now ready to be served in a small bowl or jar (image 6).

Recipe variations

This recipe for honey mustard dill sauce doesn’t stray too far from the classic. But you can keep the same classic flavors, and make variations of this sauce as well. It’s a great condiment to have.

• Maple mustard dill sauce – Instead of honey or sugar, use maple syrup to sweeten the sauce.
• Adding other herbs – I make this recipe with dill and chives. You can also use cilantro, which will complement my dill cilantro salmon gravlax very well.
• Spicy mustard dill sauce – Adding crushed chili, cayenne pepper, or fresh chopped chili will give you a spicy variation of this sauce.
• Other spices that you can add – You can absolutely add other spices such as fennel, caraway, cumin etc. Make sure the spices complement what you’ll be serving with the sauce as well.
• Asian inspired dill mustard sauce – Instead of white wine vinegar, use rice vinegar and / or lime juice. Instead of salt to season it, use soy sauce or fish sauce. Add finely chopped cilantro and spring onions as well. Will be great paired with this Vietnamese lemongrass chicken rice bowl.