Recipe: A Quick Spinach Dip

Photo courtesy of masterfile.com

If you’re looking for a yummy appetizer to serve to guests, this is a great little dip that mixes up in no time and requires only a few ingredients from the grocery store. I know there are tons of these recipes out there, but after having this one at Diane’s house, and finding out it wasn’t mayo based, well, that was enough for me to scoop the recipe and share it today.

The key secret ingredient is the powdered Ranch Dressing mix that you add to season the dip. It really adds such a nice flavour of onions and other spices; I didn’t even know such a mix existed until I was introduced to this recipe. It’s been a long while since I made this, but since we were hosting the January Birthday Dinner, I thought this would be a quick appetizer to serve up while the rest of the food was finishing up. And since you only have to microwave it, you only have to dirty one bowl to serve. I opted for bagel chips and pita chips for dipping (both are good and sturdy), but bread or other chips would also be a great substitute.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 pkg Ranch Dressing Mix

1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)

DIRECTIONS

COMBINE all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heat on medium-high power for 2-3 minutes. Stir and heat again, if necessary, until smooth and creamy. Serve with your choice of chips, crackers, or bread.

This can easily be refrigerated if any leftovers exist after your guests leave, and simply reheated to snack on later. It would also be interesting to experiment with other seasoning packets, if any others exist. I was only looking for the Ranch one, but have since seen recipes that include soup mixes (onion or leek), for example, so other Dressing mixes might also be out there.