Description
Healthy spinach dip is the perfect appetizer for any party, or gathering. A restaurant quality recipe, only a lighter version. Grab some tortilla chips, or celery, and get dipping.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 15 ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 brick) – use brick cream cheese, not whipped
- 2/3 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as chardonnay (see notes)
Dip
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons avocado oil, or olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- optional: 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 15 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained, and roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 5 ounces spinach, chopped (see notes)
- 5 ounces shredded parmesan cheese (1 1/4 cup), divided
- 5 ounces shredded mozzarella or gruyere cheese (1 1/4 cup), divided
- chopped parsley, for garnish, if desired
Options for serving
- tortilla chips
- celery
- toasted bread
- pita chips
Instructions
- Blend the sauce: To a blender add the drained and rinsed white beans, the cream cheese, the yogurt, and the white wine – (see notes for substitutions) – blend until the mixture is really smooth. Set aside.
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. At this time, chop the veggies – chop the onion, mince the garlic, chop the spinach, and artichoke hearts. And, if needed, shred your cheeses. Once the cooking process has started, it goes fast, so it’s helpful to have everything ready to go.
- Sauté: Heat a 12 inch oven safe skillet over medium high heat (I love using my cast iron skillet for this recipe). Melt the butter, and add the oil to the pan. Add the onion, sprinkle with a little salt (helps the onion to sweat and break down faster), sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the red pepper flakes (if using) and the garlic, sauté for 1 more minute, or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the chopped artichoke hearts and sauté for another 2 minutes, or until they look dried out and most of the liquid on them has evaporated. Stir in half of the spinach, give it a minute to wilt, and then stir in the remaining half of the spinach and allow it to wilt.
- Simmer: Once the spinach is wilted, add the sauce. Turn the heat up to high to allow the sauce to come to a simmer – simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Add the cheeses: Reduce the heat to a medium low, and stir in 1 cup of the parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of the mozzarella or gruyere cheese, along with the salt, and pepper. Stir, until the cheeses are fully melted. At this time, taste the sauce, and adjust the seasonings as needed.
- Bake: Sprinkle the sauce with the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, and 1/4 cup of mozzarella or gruyere cheese. Transfer to the oven and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Broil (optional step): If you want a more crusty cheesy topping, then pop your skillet under the broiler for 2 to 5 minutes. Be careful to not let it burn, you just want that nice bubbly, baked cheesy topping.
- Cool: Allow the dip to cool for 10 minutes.
- Serve: I personally like to serve this dip, family style, straight from the pan. But, if you want, you can spoon some dip out onto serving dishes for dipping. Serve with tortilla chips, celery, bread toasts, or pita chips. We usually go with tortilla chips, and celery – yum!
Notes
wine: The alcohol in the recipe is cooked off completely, leaving behind the flavor. If you want to omit it, I would substitute low sodium chicken broth, or vegetable broth.
Spinach: If you want yo use frozen spinach you can, just make sure it’s fully defrosted, and squeeze as much of the excess liquid out as possible. Make sure it’s really dry. You can skip the step of sautéing the spinach in the pan, just stir it in and then add the sauce right away,
parmesan cheese: Please use a high quality parmesan cheese that you either grate yourself, or buy already grated from the cheese deli section. It’s so much better than the canned stuff.
gluten free: If needed, be sure to use gluten free dipping options. Such as, the tortilla chips, celery, or gluten free bread toasts.
Leftovers: Allow the dip to cool completely, transfer the dip to airtight containers. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week. To re-heat, I just spoon whatever amount out I want and re-heat into a bowl and heat gently in the microwave. It’s not as good as fresh, but still really, really good.
Serving size: I know 20 kind of sounds like a lot, but it really depends on if you’re truly eating this as an appetizer, or if you ‘re eating it as part of a meal. As I said above, it does make great leftovers, and re-heats well.
The idea to use beans in the sauce to lighten this dip up was inspired by Ambitious Kitchen’s bubbly hot chicken enchilada bean dip. Looks so good!
