Hovmästarsås is a dill mustard sauce from Sweden. It is a traditional pairing to gravad lax – cured salmon with dill and spices – but it is wonderful with salmon in all its preparations and many other fish recipes. Learn to make this easy mustard sauce with dill and bring it along to your next BBQ party!

If you have visited Sweden or eaten at an Ikea restaurant chances are you have tried this mustard sauce once. You may have even bought a jar as Ikea sells it as Sås Senap & Dill. Traditionally, it’s a classic pairing to salmon. But you can also use it as a salad dressing – and if it’s a salmon salad it’s going to be a delectable one!

What this sauce is is an emulsion of vegetable oil (Swedish rapeseed oil in the original), honey mustard, sugar and vinegar. Once you have your sauce ready, in goes the minced dill. Making this Swedish sauce from scratch is actually pretty simple. Don’t have fresh dill? Frozen will work just as well.

Dill mustard sauce ingredients

• Mustard – a coarser whole-grain mustard is to be preferred to a smoother Dijon-style mustard. This sauce should not turn out too spicy, so choose a honey mustard if available.
• Vegetable oil – my preference is rapeseed (canola) just as in the original Swedish recipes.
• Dill – to be finely minced. Fresh has a nice and strong flavour, but so does frozen so if fresh is not available the use of frozen dill is perfectly acceptable. Dried is not recommended.
• Sugar – even if using honey mustard, we want to add sugar as this sauce has a sweet quality.
• White pepper – to add more spiciness and flavour depth.
• White wine vinegar – to give the sauce a tang and balance the final combination of flavours.
• Salt.

How to make mustard dill sauce

• Combine the mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and white pepper in a bowl. Whisk on low speed as you pour in the oil in a slow and continuous stream. The sauce should thicken in about one minute. You can do it old-school and whisk by hand, but the use of an electric mixer is recommended as it will make the process mush more effective and easy.
• Add the minced dill and fold it in.

How to use it

Wondering how do you use Ikea mustard and dill sauce? Fish is the main pairing in Sweden, but I think that this dill sauce can do great with many more options.  This sauce has a sweet quality that works well with lighter foods like fish, so white meat is another great option. Try it with chicken or turkey, or with a leaner cut from the pork like a loin roast or a thick slice of cooked ham.

The peculiar herbaceous scent from the dill is a great match for potatoes, but in my opinion this sauce is too sweet for carrots or sweet potatoes. But dill and potatoes are a great match – especially if the potatoes are boiled. Other great options in the vegetable world would be green veggies that do well grilled or roasted: asparagus, zucchini, broccoli.

As I mentioned before, this sauce can work great as a salad dressing, too – just mix it with more oil if you want something thinner. Try a drizzle of this dill sauce on salmon bagels or on deviled eggs. Thank me later, seriously. Oh and if you love deviled eggs and you want to try a Swedish version you need to check out these Scandinavian deviled eggs with salmon mousse.

This mustard dill sauce keeps in the fridge for up to a month.

You may also like

• Real Swedish meatballs in cream sauce
• Swedish shrimp salad
• Easy pickled red onion Swedish style
• Rhubarb and redcurrant syrup
• Swedish chocolate cake kladdkaka

If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave me a comment and a star rating. I always appreciate your feedback. And please let me know, did you ever try this sauce in Sweden, or maybe at your local Ikea?

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5 from 2 votes

Dill mustard sauce

Swedish hovmästarsås is a mustard sauce with fresh dill. Its unique flavour makes it a great pairing to many fish dishes, as well as white meats and green vegetables or potatoes. The original use in Sweden is with gravad lax or pickled herring.

Course Condiment

Cuisine Swedish

Keyword ikea dill sauce, mustard sauce, swedish salmon sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 10 portions

Calories 99kcal

Author Eva | Electric Blue Food

Ingredients

• 75 g mustard coarse and sweet (not too hot)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 100 ml rapeseed oil canola oil
• 15 g dill minced
• 1 pinch white pepper

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Combine the mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and white pepper in a bowl. Whisk with an electric mixer at low speed as you pour in the oil in a slow and continuous stream. The sauce will thicken in about one minute.
• Add the minced dill and fold it in. Keep the sauce chilled.

Notes

Instead of using an electric mixer you can do it old-school and whisk by hand, but it may require more time than just one minute. I also usually tilt the bowl when I'm mixing by hand, and that would make it harder to also pour in the oil simultaneously, calling for the help of an assistant.

Please notice that the nutritional information provided in this recipe card is made by an online calculator and based on a suggested serving size. Take it as a guideline only.

Nutrition Facts

Dill mustard sauce

Amount Per Serving

Calories 99 Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Trans Fat 1g

Sodium 115mg5%

Potassium 22mg1%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 121IU2%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 8mg1%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.