Spinach artichoke dip is a timeless party favorite that will never get old. It is the perfect appetizer for any event and is sure to please guests of all ages.
Although delicious, making spinach artichoke dip from scratch can be time consuming, so sometimes it is easier to prepare it days in advance or make extra for a later event. Once you’ve mastered it, however, you’ll find yourself making it quite frequently.
If you plan on saving any leftovers or preparing your dip ahead of time, be sure to freeze your spinach artichoke dip so that it doesn’t go bad and so that it can be kept fresh until your next event.
Typically, the dip will keep for a couple of months if it is frozen properly.
How Do I Freeze My Spinach Artichoke Dip?
After you’ve made your dip, be sure to transfer it to an airtight container that won’t crack in the freezer. Make sure that the lid is on tightly so that no air gets inside of it.
Then, simply freeze. When you are ready to serve, be sure to thaw out your artichoke dip first. Typically, spinach artichoke dip can last for up to two months when frozen.
Another alternative to reheating is to simply place it in the crock pot and leave it there until it is no longer frozen and is once again gooey. Leaving it in the crock pot will also keep it warm for your guests.
If you don’t have an airtight container, you can always put your dip into a resealable bag that is closed very well. An aluminum pan will also work; simply make sure you wrap it up tightly before placing it into your freezer.
Spinach artichoke dip usually contains mayo or sour cream, which can be a hard substance to freeze. If you know for a fact that you are going to end up storing your dip in the freezer, use an alternative to those ingredients instead.
You can use cream cheese, milk, parmesan cheese, and even heavy cream instead. These are all ingredients that freeze better than mayo or sour cream.
No matter what, be sure that your dip is fully cooled down before freezing it.
Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe
Spinach artichoke dip is delicious because of how gooey it is, and as delicious as it may be, it still contains a decent amount of vegetables in it. It’s the perfect way to trick your kids into eating their spinach!
In order to make this dip yourself, you will need cream cheese, Greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, frozen spinach, and some chopped-up cloves of garlic. Once you have all of your ingredients together, you’re ready to go!
First, you want to start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. While that’s heating, be sure to spray your baking dish with some cooking oil to make sure that your dip doesn’t stick to it.
Grab a bowl and dump in your Greek yogurt along with your cream cheese. You want to be sure your cream cheese is softened so that it mixes easier. Add the rest of your cheeses in and continue to mix.
For your artichoke hearts, the canned version is the easiest option. Be sure to drain the can and chop up the artichoke hearts before you throw them in to the rest of the mix. We are also going to be using frozen spinach for this, so be sure to take it out and place it in the fridge the night before so it can thaw.
Once your spinach has thawed, take it out of the packaging and try to get as much water out of it as possible. You can do this by placing it in a strainer and pressing down on it with a spoon, or you can always wrap it up in paper towels or cheese cloth and then squeeze the water out.
Either method works, so long as you’re getting the water out of the spinach. Your spinach will also need to be chopped up a little bit smaller before you can throw it in with the rest of your ingredients.
While you’re at it, be sure to chop up your cloves of garlic. These can also go in with your bowl of ingredients. At this point, your oven should be warm enough, so go ahead and add your mixture into your already greased baking pan.
Be sure to spread it out as evenly as possible before putting it into your oven for about a half an hour.
When it’s finished cooking, be sure to leave the dip to cool. Spinach artichoke dip can be served with crackers, slices of bread, vegetables, and even pretzels and tortilla chips. No matter how you eat it, it’s delicious.
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
Despite the fact that it’s vegetarian, spinach artichoke dip is, unfortunately, not vegan — at least the traditional recipe isn’t. But luckily for you, we’ve got a recipe that allows you to make this scrumptious appetizer using only vegan ingredients.
For this recipe, you will need raw cashews, olive oil, garlic, shallots, almond milk, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, spinach, artichoke hearts and vegan parmesan cheese.
The most time-consuming part of this recipe involves the cashews, so you’re going to want to start with that. For this step, you have a couple of options.
You can either leave them sitting in room-temperature water overnight or you can soak them for one hour in boiling hot water. Once you’ve done either of these things, you can drain your cashews and set them aside.
Next up, you’ll want to take your chopped garlic and shallots and throw them into a hot cast iron skillet with olive oil in it. Saute them until they have started to turn brown, being careful not to burn the garlic. At this point, you should also preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
While your oven is heating, take your drained cashews and toss them into a blender along with half of the cooked garlic and shallots, milk, yeast, and salt and pepper. When you start to notice your mixture getting creamy, it should be ready to go.
Now you want to use the other half of your cooked garlic and shallots and add your spinach and artichoke, adding salt and pepper while you cook them. After about five minutes, you can turn the heat off and move the mixture from the blender to the pan.
Stir it together and add in your vegan parmesan cheese. If you want to add some extra texture or some spice into the dip, you can always add in breadcrumbs and red pepper flakes.
Transfer the mixture from the pan into a baking dish so that you can then place it in the oven for a few minutes. Be careful not to leave it in for too long as the dip can dry out if so.
You can transfer your dip into a bowl or make your own bowl out of bread. This vegan spinach artichoke dip will only last about five days in the fridge, so be mindful of that when you put away any leftovers.
When you reheat it, you can put it in the microwave or place it in the oven.
If you did end up cooking the dip a bit too much, you can always add in some more almond milk to make sure that it stays creamy and doesn’t dry out.
Nutritional Facts
Despite the fact that it contains many veggies, spinach artichoke dip has the potential to be high in calories in fat due to the amount of cheese in it. Typically, spinach artichoke dip has about 1600 calories and 100 grams of fat. It also contains 2500 mg of sodium.
The good news is that you can always substitute a bunch of the fattier ingredients or simply make the vegan version we mentioned above. Using the nonfat Greek yogurt is another great alternative.
Final Thoughts
Spinach artichoke dip is guaranteed to win you a lot of compliments at your next potluck. It’s delicious and goes with just about anything, not to mention that it’s versatile and you can substitute in a bunch of different ingredients.
Best of all, you can always freeze any leftovers you may have. All you have to do is place the remaining dip in a freezer-safe container, in a resealable plastic bag, or in an aluminum pan wrapped in foil.
When you are ready to reheat, be sure to thaw it out first in the fridge overnight. The best way to serve it would be in a bread bowl or in a crock pot if you want you make sure that it stays warm all night long.
This dip goes great with chips and veggies, but can even be added on to your burgers as a topping.
At the end of the day, it’s safe to say that spinach artichoke dip is the crème de la crème of dips!
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
Mary Bianchetti
Friday 19th of November 2021
Do you bake it first, cool, then freeze or can you freeze it before it is baked, then bake day of serving after it defrosts?