This Hot Spinach Dip is made with chopped fresh spinach, cream cheese, Parmesan, mozzarella, and seasoning. It gets a spicy kick from jalapenos. One of the easiest vegetarian dips to make ahead of time for a simple dinner get-together, game night, or a party.

Time and again I go back to my easy recipes for entertaining my guests like these vegan tortilla roll-ups or these coleslaw sandwiches. This Spinach dip is no exception. A party without a dip is no fun!

Baked Spinach Dip

As much as I like cold dips like this Cannellini bean dip. I prefer warm dips in fall and winter. The classic combination of spinach and cheese when baked turns into gooey creamy goodness that is hard to resist.

A simple 5 ingredient dip

This recipe uses mainly five ingredients that is fresh spinach, cream cheese,sour cream, garlic, mozzarella. Rest is a simple seasoning of salt and pepper. Adding jalapeno, onion, fresh Parmesan is completely optional. So is the chopped basil, chili flakes that I have used for garnish.

Spinach – I like to use fresh spinach for this dip recipe. I buy the one that you get in the bag. You can use baby spinach as well. Just roughly chop it or tear it with your hands before cooking. You will require a lot of spinach for this recipe. Did you know 10-12 cups of spinach when cooked, turns into approx 2 cups only.

Garlic – A generous amount of minced garlic is good enough to pack in a lot of a flavor to this dip.

White onion – Chopped white onion or leeks make a wonderful addition to this dip.

Jalapeno– Being from an Indian origin, I love spicy food. Adding even a little bit of jalapenos to this dip cuts the creaminess from the cheese and adds a nice kick to it. I have used tames chopped jalapenos that comes in a jar. Fresh jalapenos will be amazing instead. Just remember to de-seed as much as you can to avoid the dip to be overly spicy.

Cream-cheese – Use full-fat cream cheese for the cheesiest flavor. It is fine to use flavored or herb cream cheese spread as well.

Sour Cream– It gives a nice tangy taste to the dip. If you do not have it on hand, Greek yogurt works very well.

Parmesan cheese – I like adding fresh Parmesan cheese to the dip. If you don’t have it you can skip it. If you are a vegetarian make sure you use Parmesan made with vegetable rennet and not an animal.

Mozzarella Cheese – Shredded mozzarella cheese adds an extra cheesy flavor to this dip. Low moisture part-skim one is fine. Do not use the fresh Mozzarella or Burrata here.

Fresh Vs Frozen Spinach

I prefer using a bag of fresh spinach. It takes just two minutes to roughly chop the spinach. If you are using baby spinach, you do not even have to chop it.

Frozen Spinach is very convenient at times when you are super busy. But you will have to squeeze out all the extra water from it. If you directly add the cubes of frozen spinach to the dip, it will make it very watery.

Step by step recipe!

• Add oil to a wide bottom pan. Once hot add in the onion, garlic, and jalapenos.
• Saute for 1 minute or until the onions turn translucent.
• Add in the spinach in batches. Press it in and let it wilt before adding another batch until all spinach is used.
• Once all the spinach is wilted switch off the flame.
• Now add in the cheeses, sour cream, ½ cup mozzarella cheese, seasoning and give it a stir.
• Taste to adjust the seasoning if needed.

• Transfer the dip to a 7*7” oven-safe bowl or any small casserole.
• Top it with the remaining shredded mozzarella cheese.
• Bake at 375 deg F for 30 minutes, or until the top is crisp, a little golden brown on the edges, and bubbly.
• If you are using a broil-safe bowl then you can turn off the bake and broil for a minute to get the top extra crisp.

• Take it out of the oven and wait for 10 minutes before you dig in.
• Serve it with some tortilla chips, crusty bread, celery, carrots.

What to serve with the Spinach Dip?

• Just plain tortilla chips work well with this dip.
• If you are planning ahead for a party then an assorted platter works great with the guests.
• You can have crusty French bread, crackers, chips, carrots, and celery sticks board for a great start to your party.

Possible substitutes

1. Spinach – 12 oz spinach is approx 10-12 cups packed spinach leaves. You can use 2 cups of  frozen spinach instead. Just squeeze out as much water as you can.
2. Jalapeno- You can skip it completely. Or swap it with dried red chili flakes. You can add finely chopped 1 fresh jalapeno too. Just de-seed to reduce the heat. Adjust the spice to your preference.
3. Cheese- If you are in India, Amul cheese works great in place of Mozzarella. If fresh parmesan is unavailable, use jar one if you prefer so, or skip it.
4. Sour cream – Greek yogurt works fine instead.

Make ahead of time tips

• You can assemble this dip (Pre-baking) and refrigerate it up to 3 days in advance. 
• After baking, leftovers will stay good for 2-3 days refrigerated. Just warm up a desired portion in the microwave or enjoy it cold.

A Party Is No Fun without a dip!!

I host a lot of get-together and parties. From my experience I can tell that your party is no fun without a dip platter. It doesn’t have to be very complicated. A simple recipe like this cheesy spinach dip is good enough for your party to get started. Honestly, if you have a big batch of this dip with assorted munchies on the platter you do not even need an extra appetizer.

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