cheesy spinach dip

cheese 3

You know what is hard to photograph?  Cheese.

It really seems like it shouldn’t be.  It’s like, ooey, gooey, melty, delicious cheese… it’s practically doing your job for you!  Except once you put it in front of the camera, it becomes a shiny, globby, hot, goopy mess.  (Note to self:  Due to the way you photograph and the rules of the transitive property, you may actually be made of cheese.  Look into this more later.)

Anyway, you know that I liked this recipe a whole lot, because I decided to share it with you anyway.

cheese 1

And… I ate that much on my own.  Just for you.  For pictures! (Well, that’s what I told my other half when he asked what happened to the rest of it, at least… but I know my secret is safe with you!)

And yes, I know that it’s fall and everything should be all pumpkin and apples which is great and all but… it’s also hockey season!  And I heard that there’s this thing called “football” too… or so I’m told.  Anyway, what that means is sports are happening, which means there may be more gatherings than your used to, and you may have a house full of hungry people who are looking for something delicious to shove into their face holes.

Well, my friends, this is your secret weapon.  It takes almost no time to assemble , it uses ingredients that you most likely have in your house anyway (much like my apple muffins), and then you just let it hang out in the oven for about 20 minutes or so and VOILA!  Hot and gooey cheese dip for all your friends to savor!

You can thank me later.

Cheesy Spinach Dip

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 (1-ounce) packet ranch dressing mix; I used Aaron's favorite
  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
  • 1 (7-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 (10-ounce) can tomatoes or tomatoe with chiles(like Rotel); drained
  • 1 + 1/2 cups cheese of your choice; separated (I used cheddar)

Instructions

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 375F
  2. 2. Ensure spinach is drained as much as possible (see notes)
  3. 3. In a large bowl, mix the ranch dressing, cream cheese, and sour cream together. Add spinach, tomatoes/chiles, and 1 cup of the cheese and stir to combine.
  4. 4. Pour mixture into greased casserole dish (I used a 2-quart baking dish) and cover with remained 1/2 cup of cheese.
  5. 5. Bake in preheated oven about 20 minutes, until dip is bubbly and cheese is browned to your liking. I like to broil mine a bit towards the end because we are a pro-burned-cheese family.

Notes

* I used cheddar cheese because we got a giant block of it at Costco, I suspect some monterey jack or pepperjack would do well here too... maybe even provolone or fontina, add a sprinkle of Italian herbs and you just went from Mexico to Italy, friends! Moral of the story is that you want something good and melty.

* To drain spinach, I wrap mine it in a couple layers of paper towels and press as hard as possible to extract the liquid over a collander. I usually repeat this about 2 or 3 times to get as much liquid as possible out.

https://wee-eats.com/2013/11/19/cheesy-spinach-dip/

[ Recipe adapted from Food.com ]

 

12 thoughts on “cheesy spinach dip

  1. hahahah, I love your comment about being made of cheese…but I’m going to have to politely disagree as you always look gorgeous in your photos! Also, I think this cheese looks nothing but cheesy (in a good way). My hubs is going to thank me for making this for him very soon, so I’m thanking you in advance 🙂

    • Haha – you’re sweet Amy! That’s because you only get to see the “approved” ones and not the 100000 more “unapproved” ones! 😉 And if you keep feeding Nate brownies and cheese he might not be able to run in NEXT year’s marathon! LOL!

    • Thanks, Holly! “The Hobbit Kitchen” sounds pretty amazing to me! And your lemon drizzle cake looks DELISH! Thanks for stopping by!

  2. cheese is unphotogenic: this is SO TRUE. i have this incredible smoked mozzarella spread that i want to post so bad, but what keeps me from it? photos. b/c no matter what, they look a little gross-ish. but this spinach dip post gave me the courage to put my poor little delicious cheese thing out there also.
    Maybe THAT should be a thing: you know how everyone does “cookie week” or “smoothie week” or whatever? maybe you and i should do UGLY CHEESE WEEK. Paving the way for other food bloggers to publish their difficult cheese photos.

  3. You make that cheese look good, Natalie! I can’t believe you almost didn’t share it – it makes me think my own standards are just way too low. This sounds really delicious. Makes me think of all the spinach dips my husband & I used to chow down on at Houston’s back in the day. I’ve yet to make a good one at home…my son loves it so I really need to give this a try.

    • Thanks, Monica! My other half LOVES the Houston’s dip… we haven’t had it for awhile but I’m thinking you might want to leave out the tomatoes and put salsa on the side?? I’ll have to go do some “research”. I’ll report back with my findings 😉

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