Italian cuisine features delicious traditional dips that pair perfectly with crisp vegetables, freshly baked bread, or as a side dish for many meals—and are a highlight of any Italian evening with friends. These delicious sauces, which we call dips, are known in Italy as “salsa fredda”—cold sauce.
Italian Tomato Dips
Cold sauces can also be served warm: The recipe for “Bagna Cauda,” a warm dip for fresh, sliced vegetables, comes from Piedmont. It’s especially popular there in the fall and winter.
To make a salsa fredda nice and creamy, ricotta is a great option. Ricotta, an Italian fresh cheese, is made from the sweet whey produced during cheese-making and contains almost no fat. This makes it a great alternative to cream, which is often used when mixing dips.
Many salsa fredda recipes are made with sun-ripened tomatoes and other vegetables, mixed with olive oil—a fruity variation that pairs perfectly with grilled meat or fish. It also tastes delicious with fried mozzarella sticks.
Why not surprise your guests with a homemade Italian “salsa fredda”? Serve it with freshly baked bread and perhaps an Italian red wine. Our three delicious dips are the perfect accompaniment for your Italian evening. This is how you bring a touch of Italian lifestyle to your table.
This fruity dip is ready in no time. Typically Italian: the careful selection of ingredients brings out their full flavor—deliciously fruity, sun-ripened tomatoes pair perfectly with fine olive oil. The classic trio of spices—pepper, salt, and basil—is the epitome of Italian flavor!
Here's how to make the fruity tomato dip:
Step 1
Place the cherry tomatoes in a bowl and mash them with a fork. Next, pluck the basil leaves from the stems and chop them finely. Now squeeze the juice from half a lemon and add all the ingredients to the mashed cherry tomatoes.
Step 2
Stir the dip thoroughly, season with salt and pepper to taste, and let it sit for at least an hour to allow the flavors to develop. Now you can serve your dip with freshly baked ciabatta.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 1 bunch of basil
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cans of ORO di Parma cherry tomatoes
- Juice of half a lemon
- A pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
Ingredients for 4 people
- 3 dried tomatoes
- 200 g ricotta (or low-fat cream cheese)
- 100 g quark
- 2 tsp ORO di Parma tomato paste (3x concentrated)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of sugar
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1–2 tbsp dried Italian herbs (or frozen)
Here's how to make the sun-dried tomato dip:
Step 1
First, cut the dried tomatoes into very fine pieces. Then place the ricotta and quark in a bowl and stir gently to loosen them up.
Step 2
Next, add the ORO di Parma tomato paste to the ricotta and quark mixture and stir it in carefully until the cream is smooth and evenly colored.
Step 3
Now add the sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs, and season the dip with salt and pepper to taste.
This dip also needs to sit for at least an hour before you can serve it.
Here's how to make the agrodolce-piccante tomato dip:
Step 1
First, add the ORO di Parma tomato paste, sugar, a little Argodolce Condimento Bianco, and the dried chili pepper to a pot and bring to a boil. Be sure to mix the ingredients well.
Step 2
Let the mixture cool, then season with salt and pepper to taste. While it’s cooling, you can chop the chives into small rolls and sprinkle them over your dip afterward.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 180 g ORO di Parma tomato paste, triple-concentrated
- 12 tbsp Condimento Bianco Agrodolce
- 200 g sugar
- 1 tsp dried chili pepper (coarsely crushed)
- 1 tsp fresh chives, cut into small rings
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
