Garlic Potato Dip (Skordalia)
Silky mashed potato whipped with raw garlic, good olive oil and a splash of vinegar until it turns into a bold, creamy dip. Serve with crusty bread, fried salt cod or raw vegetables.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Boil the potatoes
Put the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water by a few centimetres and add half the salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently until a knife slides into the centre with no resistance. Cooking them whole and unpeeled keeps them from waterlogging, so the mash stays dense rather than watery.
- 1 kg potatoes
- 3/4 tsp salt
✅ Done when: a knife or skewer slides into the thickest potato with no resistance
Crush the garlic
While the potatoes cook, put the garlic on a cutting board with the remaining salt and crush with the flat of a large knife, or use a mortar and pestle. Keep working it until it turns into a smooth, almost liquid paste: the coarse salt acts like sandpaper, breaking the garlic down so it won't bite into sharp, stringy chunks in the finished dip.
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3/4 tsp salt
✅ Done when: the garlic looks like a smooth, wet paste with no visible fibres
Peel and mash hot
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Beat in garlic and oil
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Rest and season
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Serve
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Boil the potatoes
Put the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water by a few centimetres and add half the salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently until a knife slides into the centre with no resistance. Cooking them whole and unpeeled keeps them from waterlogging, so the mash stays dense rather than watery.
- 1 kg potatoes
- 3/4 tsp salt
✅ Done when: a knife or skewer slides into the thickest potato with no resistance
Crush the garlic
While the potatoes cook, put the garlic on a cutting board with the remaining salt and crush with the flat of a large knife, or use a mortar and pestle. Keep working it until it turns into a smooth, almost liquid paste: the coarse salt acts like sandpaper, breaking the garlic down so it won't bite into sharp, stringy chunks in the finished dip.
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3/4 tsp salt
✅ Done when: the garlic looks like a smooth, wet paste with no visible fibres
Peel and mash hot
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Beat in garlic and oil
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Rest and season
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Serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Thick garlic sauces bound with bread or crushed nuts appear in Greek cooking long before the potato ever reached Europe. Once potatoes became a kitchen staple in Greece, cooks folded them into the same garlicky base, which gave skordalia the smooth, almost pourable texture it is best known for today.
It became fixed to the Lenten calendar, especially Palm Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th, when fried salt cod and skordalia are the traditional meal allowed during the fast.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Its fearless raw garlic punch, softened by good olive oil and a little vinegar, makes it one of the boldest and most loved dips on the Greek table.
💡 Fun Fact
Older, pre-potato versions of skordalia were made with crushed almonds or soaked stale bread instead, and some island cooks still make it that way today.
Greece, found across the mainland and islands
37.98°N, 23.73°E
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