I love dips. Love them. My only issue with restaurant dips and pre-packaged dips, is that I don’t know what they’re really putting in there. And also, why are they filled with so many calories? I got to thinking that there has got to be a better way to make my favorite dips with a lot less calories and without sacrificing taste. Let’s be honest here, sometimes when calories are reduced, flavors dull. I’m not about that life. I won’t eat something that doesn’t taste good just to cut calories. So I set out to make “skinny/healthy” Spinach Artichoke Dip.
Problem #1: Any and all spinach artichoke dips involve a ridiculous amount of cream cheese, or sour cream or both. That actually goes for most creamy dips. What’s with the cream cheese obsession people?!
Problem #2: I only had fresh Baby Spinach (you know, the container that you buy and it ends up sitting in the fridge for eternity until it starts going bad. That one.)
Problem #3: No pita chips in sight. This one was easy to resolve, since I always keep a few pitas in the freezer.
My mission was to create a creamy spinach artichoke dip with one tablespoon (or less) of cream cheese, use the baby spinach in the back of the fridge, and make this the best “skinny/healthy” Spinach Artichoke Dip ever created. [If you don’t know me personally, hello, my name is Zayna and dramatization is my middle name.]
I’m happy to announce that I succeeded on all fronts.
Did I mention that this dip (4 servings) comes in at 35 calories per serving. Do you know what this means people?! It means, you can eat the whole bowl guilt-free for 140 calories. That’s my kind of snack.
Ingredients
- 1 can quartered Artichoke
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped (or one box frozen chopped spinach)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tablespoon 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In the base of a food processor, add quartered artichoke, garlic cloves and onion. Puree the ingredients until smooth, and no large clumps remain.
- Pour mixture into a medium mixing bowl and set aside
- If using fresh spinach, wilt the spinach by heating a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spinach one cup at a time and stir until wilted. Remove from heat. If using boxed frozen spinach, defrost the spinach and squeeze out all extra moisture.
- Add spinach to the artichoke mix
- Stir in one tablespoon cream cheese until combined
- Pour into a baking dish and top with parmesan cheese
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top browns and bubbles
- Serve with homemade pita chips
