5 Ways to Spice Up Your Spinach Dip

This Spinach Dip is another one of the tasty treats I made last weekend while partying it up in my pjs. And while it might seem a little strange to make a casserole-size party dip when you are a party of one, lets not judge – I am just getting ready for the 2nd biggest food holiday of the year (yes, that is a thing). Whether you watch for the football or the commercials, we all know its the food everyone really cares about. So make people happy with spinach dip!

A Few Superbowl Fun Food Facts – 

I did some interwebs research for fun food facts about this wonderful holiday. Want to hear ’em!? Ok good. On Superbowl Sunday we will consume:

1.  1.3 billion chicken wings – which equals about 162.5 million lbs

2. 4,000 tons of popcorn

3. 8 million lbs of (store-bought) guacamole – which is only a small % of the 139 million lbs of avocados consumed

4. all washed down by 325 million gallons of beer – I am pretty sure this has to be gallons of beer purchased not actually consumed (because that would mean each of us has to chug a whole gallon)

Spinach Dip Tips –

You can make this ahead of time and just pop it in the oven when you are ready for some creamy dreamy deliciousness.

It plays nice with whatever dipping instruments you have – i would personally like a crusty baguette or na’an to go with it but I am a bit of a bread nut so feel free to just ignore me and go with whatever you like!

The 5 variations are explained in the recipe notes – what to sub in or add etc. I hope it is clear but drop me a line if you have any questions!! And let me know what variation you make!

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Spinach Dip - 5 Ways

Yield: about 10 servings

Ingredients

1. 1-2 tbl oil

2. 1 yellow onion, diced

3. 3 cloves garlic, minced

4. 3 10oz bags frozen chopped spinach

5. 16 oz mascarpone

6. ⅓ cup sour cream

7. 2 tbl dijon mustard

8. 1 cup freshly grated parmesan (1/4 cup of this will be for topping)

9. 1 lemon, zest and juice

10. 4 oz goat cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450˚F and have a 9x13 inch casserole dish ready.

2. Heat up the oil in a large sauté pan. Once hot, add the onion and cook stirring often until starting to turn translucent (3-5 minutes). Add the garlic and some salt and cook another minute or two.

3. Add the spinach and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until completely thawed (5-7 minutes).

4. In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, sour cream, mustard, ¾ cup parmesan and lemon zest and juice. Add the spinach to this and mix well. Season generously with salt and pepper.

5. Pour everything into your 9x13in pan, spreading it out evenly.

6. Crumble the goat cheese across the top and sprinkle remaining ¼ cup parmesan.

7. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until it is bubbling at the edges and the goat cheese has browned slightly.

Notes

Creamy Classic: follow the recipe Light & Lemony: - add an additional lemon (zest and juice), - whip the mascarpone until fluffy and fold ingredients in to retain lightness - you can do this by hand or in an electric mixer, you aren't making a soufflé you just want to get a little air in there Firey & Feisty: - remove 1 bag spinach - add 3 poblano peppers, roasted and diced (add pan along with onions) - add 1 jalapeño pepper, diced - Substitute 1-2 tsp chipotle puree for dijon mustard Bold & Briny: - remove 1 bag of spinach - add 1 15oz can artichoke hearts, chopped - add ¼ cup spicy green olives, chopped - substitute feta for goat cheese Hearty & Healthy: - substitute kale (frozen and chopped) for some or all of spinach - substitute plain greek yogurt for sour cream - add 1 15oz can artichoke hearts, chopped *To transport this easily, make in one of those foil casserole dishes and put in the oven at your destination (and its always polite to just make sure this is ok with your host!!)

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