Lightened-Up Spinach Artichoke Dip

When trying to eat healthy, you don’t always have to give up your favorite appetizers. I think that dips are one of those dishes that typically can be heavy or pretty caloric, so I wanted to give an option to people who wanted to still enjoy them without worrying about the calories. This Lightened-Up Spinach Artichoke Dip is an example of how simple it can be.

Traditional artichoke dip is usually made with some sour cream, mayonnaise and a lot of cheese. Instead, this recipe uses things like light cream cheese and Greek yogurt, and it is still just as flavorful and satisfying.

Simple Ingredients

While this may be a reduced-calorie artichoke dip, it still uses the base ingredients of artichoke hearts and garlic that make it so tasty.

The recipe calls for two cloves of garlic, but you can adjust it to your liking. Add more if you want or cut back if it’s too much. Mince the cloves using a 7″ Santoku knife.

Drain the artichoke hearts and chop them into pieces using the same knife.

When cutting the artichoke hearts, keep in mind that they should be small enough to incorporate into the dip for easy scooping, so you may want to keep the pieces bite-sized.

Making the Dip

Where this recipe diverts from the traditional is the use of that reduced-fat cream cheese and Greek yogurt. However, you could put light mayonnaise in there if you wanted.

The dip comes together by mixing the cream cheese, Greek yogurt, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and garlic together. Add frozen spinach that’s been thawed and squeezed, and the chopped artichoke hearts. If you wanted to add a little zing, you could toss in some red pepper flakes.

Transfer everything to a baking dish, top with shredded mozzarella cheese and cook in a 375 F oven until the cheese is bubbling and it’s lightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve warm alongside tortilla chips, crackers or your favorite dippers.

When serving you could also keep the dip warm in a slow cooker if you wanted to.

This Lightened-Up Spinach Artichoke Dip is very easy to make and comes together quickly. In fact, the longest part is the baking.

I love to repurposed recipes, so you might also think about using this as an artichoke spread in a wrap.

Give this one a try and let me know if you notice any difference from traditional artichoke dip recipes. Enjoy!

Nutrition (per serving): 95kcal, 4.3g total fat, 26mg cholesterol, 212mg sodium, 3.6g carbohydrate, 0.7g fiber, 10.8g protein