I love what spinach artichoke dip represents. Which, to me, is extreme creamy deliciousness with a lovely guise of healthiness. OH IT HAS VEGETABLES. I AM MAKING A HEALTHY CHOICE. Nevermind all the cheese. Don’t look behind the curtain. The good news is, you can easily skinny-up this dish by choosing the low-fat versions of all the good stuff (cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheese) and because of the spices and the way this combo melds together, you’ll never notice. It will be healthIER but I am not crazy enough to name this recipe “skinny” on it’s own.
Anyhoo, I love making this in the crock pot so you can slow-cook the flavors together while saving room in your oven for the main course, as well as serve the dip warm (as it should be, cold spinach-artichoke dip isn’t quite as appealing as, say, cold pizza). Give this one a shot. It’s always a hit at my parties and I get mad requests for it when we head out for get-togethers with friends.
Get our recipe for The Best Crock Pot Spinach Artichoke Dip after the jump…
Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbls lemon juice
12 ounces fresh Spinach (frozen, thawed and drained is okay too)
2 14-ounce cans artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
3 green onions, diced (optional – also if you really love onion flavor, go ahead and use a finely chopped white or yellow onion instead)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
Garlic powder (approx 1 tsp, or more to taste)
Chili powder (optional)
Salt & pepper, to taste (go with a minimum of a teaspoon of salt is my reco)
Instructions
Combine first four ingredients (cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, lemon juice) in a bowl. Mix until smooth.
Add garlic powder, chili powder, and salt & pepper. Taste. Add more if desired.
Lightly coat crock pot with cooking spray. Add artichoke hearts, spinach, green onions, and cheese. Stir.
Pour liquid ingredients from mixing bowl onto crock pot. Stir to combine.
Cook until bubbling. You can choose a low setting for a longer period (approx. 4 hours) or high setting for a shorter period (approx 2 hours). Once bubbling, set crock pot to warm.
Serve warm with crackers.
Note: You can easily just bake all of this in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, but the benefit of the crock pot is keeping the dip warm while you serve (as well as not taking up oven space on a busy cooking day).
