SUPERBOWL Stovetop Spinach Dip

I’m publicly admitting that I have an eating disorder when it comes to anything warm, rich, cheesy and gooey. Add a bold red glass of wine and a crusty baguette, I’ll inhale a big bowl of any  cheese dip that was accidentally left in front of me. I’ll even confess to the fact that I troll all party buffet tables until I can be the last one to scrape the bottom and the edges of the dip bowl. That’s where the best part of the charred, burnt and crispy parts of the dip lie. Knowing where to find tastiest part of the dip was my hidden little secret, until now.

Oh, my pathetic heart. Cheese dips are my weakness and I know it won’t be long before I keel over from a heart attack or start popping meds to lower my cholesterol.  My only salvation is afterwards, when I take out all my “post dip eating gluttony guilt” with uppercuts, hooks, and left cross punches. Thank health goodness that I turn to kickboxing as my cheese calorie burning therapy.

It’s not often that I make my appetizer dips outside of the oven. The slow, warm love that the oven lathers on to my cheese dip is amazing and there’s no substitution to how well the oven melts everything together.

But when my brother #2, who also happens to be my #1 dip fan, made one of my appetizer dips on the stove top,  I screamed out loud in dip mutiny. How could he rip apart my recipe and cook it in 10 minutes in a FRYING PAN?! I’ve always nurtured all my dips in the oven for about one hour and patiently waited out the long bake time. The results for my dip recipes were always so wonderful that I never, ever considered changing my cooking technique.  Why mess with perfection?

“It’s good, try it,” he told me. Brother #2 has always been a quiet, gentle guy of few words. So when he made the effort to share his ideas, it was powerful enough to  convince me to pull out my cast iron pan, think out side of the oven and give my warm spinach dip a try via the stove top.

Lo and behold,  he was right on the money. I made my spinach dip in a frying pan and within 10 minutes I had a rich, cheesy, beautifully melted and flavored dip that rivaled the 60 long minutes of oven cooking. I couldn’t believe how fast, and well combined all the ingredients came together in the frying pan. The flavors  of this spinach dip were actually BETTER in this stove top method because I was able to caramelize the onions and garlic until they became fragrant. The oven version never had that same caramelized epiphany.

I’m completely hooked to my brothers fast technique on this spinach dip and am thankful for his bachelor style cooking methods. But I blame him for making me eat this spinach dip more often because it’s so EASY! Thanks Bro! – Diane

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Stove top Spinach Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry of excess water
1 8 0z can water chestnuts
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
splash of grapeseed/olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 large cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup milk
1/4 mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt
lots of fresh cracked black pepper to taste
crusty bread or crackers

1. Over medium heat, heat up large saucepan, then add oil, onions and garlic. Saute until fragrant and light golden brown.

2. Add spinach and water chestnuts and continue to saute till spinach cook together with onions and garlic. Add salt and pepper

3. Add cream cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, mayo and milk. When cheese melts, turn down heat to low.

4. Continue stirring and allow dip to simmer until cheese and rest of ingredients are blended well together.

5. Serve warm with bread and/or crackers.

6. Add additional salt/pepper to personal taste.

caramelize onions & crisp the garlic..

add spinach & water chestnuts…

the best part: cheese, cheese and milk…

allow cheese to melt…

party time with spinach dip!