Adding bacon to spinach cheese dip takes it to another level.
Bacon on most anything is amazing and adding bacon to cheesy spinach dip doesn't disappoint. This easy hot spinach dip recipe is a perfect addition to any snack table for Super Bowl parties, game nights, or holiday gatherings. Plus this dip is ready in just 30 minutes!
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Ingredients
Bacon. Dice your bacon into small pieces before or after cooking. We like to do ours before in this recipe to make it cook a little faster.
Fresh spinach. While we always opt for fresh spinach when possible, you can use frozen here if necessary.
Base ingredients. We use sour cream, cream cheese, and Greek yogurt. This gives a creamy smooth dip with a little 'tang' from the Greek yogurt! We use Chobani Greek yogurt but use what you like. NOTE: Not all Greek yogurt is the same, so check the nutritional information if you're concerned about the nutritional value in your yogurt.
We love Chobani Greek yogurt but use what you like. NOTE: Not all Greek yogurt is the same, so check the nutritional information if you're concerned about the nutritional value in your yogurt.
Cheese. If possible shred your own parmesan cheese, most store-bought shredded parmesan is treated with preservatives that prevent it from melting smoothly, and you'll end up with a dip with clumps of cheese instead of a smooth creamy dip. For best results, buy a block of parmesano reggiano cheese (AKA "real" parmesan cheese) and grate it yourself with a microplane or the small side of a box grater.
How To Measure Spinach
If you love spinach and want a spinach forward dip, pack the cups of spinach. If you want a less spinach forward dip then just fill the cup but don't pack it into the cup. We made our dip using loosely packed cups of spinach. Each cup weighed about 1 ounce. This recipe is very forgiving so don't worry if you pack the spinach or just eyeball it!
How to Make Baked Spinach Dip with Bacon
- Cook bacon. Use the oven or the stove top to cook the bacon until it is crispy. Cut the bacon into pieces before or after cooking. Both ways work great.
- Sauté the garlic and fresh spinach in bacon fat. We like giving our fresh spinach a rough chop before sautéing so there are smaller pieces of spinach in the dip.
- Make the cheese mixture. Whip the cream cheese, sour cream, and Greek yogurt together. Add the parmesan cheese and stir to combine.
- Stir in spinach and bacon. When thoroughly combined, spread dip into cast iron skillet or baking dish.
- Sprinkle remaining parmesan and bacon on top of the dip.
- Bake until bubbly.
- Serve with crackers, bread, or veggies.
Make Ahead Tips
- Make the bacon in advance. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days in the fridge or up to a month in the freezer. NOTE: If made in advance you can use olive oil in place of the bacon drippings to sauté garlic and wilt spinach.
- Prepare dip up to 3 days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to bake and serve. When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator, place in oven safe dish (if not already done) and bake in a 350°F oven until bubbly. If placing a cold dip into the oven it may take extra time until the dip is ready.
- Put the dip into small baking dishes (like a ramekin) if you are serving this over the course of many hours. Store individual, unbaked dishes, in the fridge until ready to bake. Bake one dish at a time as needed and replenish the table with hot, fresh dip.
REMINDER - Do not place a cold glass or ceramic baking dish into a hot oven. The temperature difference can cause the dish to break. Place the dish into a cold oven and then heat the oven or let the dish warm on the counter for at least 30 minutes before baking.
Some of our Favorite Riffs
Spinach. Use a 12 ounce package frozen chopped spinach instead of fresh. Thaw the spinach and squeeze any excess water out then pat the spinach until it is very dry. NOTE: Using the spinach without removing the water and patting dry will make for a runny dip.
Bacon. This is a great base recipe for spinach dip. Increase or decrease the amount of bacon in the recipe based on your preferences. Love bacon? Add more. Not a huge fan? Add less. Use crispy prosciutto instead of bacon.
Cheese. Substitute gruyere, swiss, goat, yellow or white cheddar for some of the grated parmesan cheese. We recommend leaving all of the cream cheese since it contributes to a smooth and creamy dip.
Substitute mayonnaise for the sour cream or Greek yogurt. Use all sour cream or all mayonnaise instead of sour cream and Greek yogurt. We don't recommend using only Greek yogurt since it has a different fat content and might alter the texture of the final dip.
Other Add-ins. Add some chopped artichoke hearts to the cheese mixture for a bacon spinach artichoke dip. Spice it up with some red pepper flakes in the cheese mixture.
How To Serve Bacon Spinach Cheese Dip
We love serving this with tortilla chips, crackers, or baguette slices. It is also great with fresh veggies like carrots, celery, broccoli, or snap peas.
We like presenting this in both a cast iron skillet (if there is enough room on the food table) or in smaller dishes, like ramekins, when the food will be sitting out for a period of time. This helps us keep the dip fresh and helps ensure we are meeting FDA recommendations for food safety.
Saving Leftovers
The FDA recommends discarding any perishable food that has been out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
If you are within the FDA recommendations you can save this dip in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in a 300°F oven or the microwave until warm and bubbly.
Other Favorite Dip Recipes
Some Common FAQs
We don't recommend freezing this dip. Frozen sour cream and greek yogurt have a tendency to break and become full of liquid and grainy. This can cause the dip to be runny and have a granular texture.
We recommend serving this dip hot. It is safe to serve it cold but the texture is not smooth and creamy.
We recommend baking this in the oven the first time. This melts the parmesan cheese and crisps up with the bacon on top of the dip. Heating leftovers (if they are within the FDA recommendations) in the microwave works great. You can also top any leftover dip with a little more parmesan or bacon (or both) and reheat in a 300°F oven.
📖 Recipe
Bacon Spinach Cheese Dip
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups dip 1x
Description
Adding bacon to this cheesy spinach dip makes this one of our favorite appetizers. A perfect appetizer for big game day, holidays, game nights, or casual evenings at home!
Ingredients
- ⅔ pounds bacon, divided
- 3 cups fresh spinach (3-4 ounces)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ¼ cup sour cream (62 grams)
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt (71 grams)
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese, divided (3 ounces)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Crackers, bread, or veggies for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F .
- Chop bacon into small pieces and cook on stove top or in the oven. Remove cooked bacon to dish lined with a paper towel to drain.
- When bacon is done, transfer (or leave) about 1 Tablespoon bacon drippings into a skillet.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook on medium heat until golden, 30-60 seconds.
- Give spinach a rough chop. Add to the skillet with the garlic and cook just until it is wilted, 1-2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl whip cream cheese, sour cream, and Greek yogurt until smooth and completely combined. We used a hand mixer for this step. A stand mixer also works. It can be done by hand with a little work.
- Add ¾ cup parmesan cheese to the bowl and continue to mix until combined. Save remaining parmesan cheese for the top of the dip.
- Add spinach mixture and ⅔ of the chopped, cooked bacon to the cheese mixture. Stir until well combined. Save remaining bacon for the top of the dip.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread mixture evenly in a 9-10 inch cast iron skillet or an equivalent baking dish.
- Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese and bacon over the top of the dip.
- Bake at 350°F 15-20 minutes until bubbly.
- Serve warm with crackers, bread, or veggies.
Notes
Favorite Riffs. Increase or decrease the amount of bacon and spinach to your liking. Use 1 package frozen chopped spinach instead of fresh. Thaw frozen spinach, squeeze liquid out, and pat until very dry before using. Add some red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit. Substitute gruyere, swiss, goat, or cheddar for some of the parmesan cheese. We don’t recommend replacing the cream cheese in this recipe since that helps keep the creaminess of the cheese mixture.
Make ahead. Make the dip up to 3 days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to bake. REMINDER. Do not place a cold glass or ceramic dish into a hot oven, as the temperature difference can cause the dish to break
For longer parties. If the party is lasting of many hours, consider putting the dip in smaller dishes, like a ramekin. Bake and replace them on the table as needed.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dips and Spreads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon
- Calories: 82
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 208 mg
- Fat: 7.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Protein: 3.1 g
- Cholesterol: 16.2 mg
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