I'm not trying to brag but this really is the best spinach artichoke dip ever if you've gotten used to ordering this at any restaurant like I have you are going to love this easy homemade version.

sometimes creating a white sauce like this where you're adding flour to like a creamy ingredient like milk or heavy cream if you click that on the stovetop it's really easy to burn the trick is to use the microwave so to my bowl I'm going to add a cup and a half of half-and-half I'm going to urge you not to skimp and use milk the half-and-half adds a really delicious creaminess that you're probably not going to get if you opt for milk.

I'm going to add two tablespoons of flour that's what's gonna thicken the sauce we're also going to add a pinch of black pepper not too much just a little bit to add flavor and a pinch of coarse kosher salts and you can add more salt towards the end if you don't feel like you have enoug.



I'm a firm believer in tasting as you go we're gonna mix this up you may not get every single lump of flour out it's okay try not to be too upset about that it doesn't have to be perfect you'll find that as it cooks in the microwave it's going to even out a lot and it's gonna be really smooth and creamy so to this mixture I'm gonna add a little garlic powder I've actually found that I like garlic powder more than I like fresh garlic in this recipe which I know is a travesty to some people so if you want to use fresh garlic that's totally fine we can still be friends but for this particular recipe garlic powder is where it's at it kind of helps the sauce be a little bit smoother and creamier that is my professional opinion.

 I'm gonna pop this in the microwave for about a minute I cook it on one-minute intervals stirring in between and probably in about 4 to 5 minutes it's gonna be thick and creamy so after it comes out of the microwave for that first minute you may not notice much of a change it's going to be fairly liquidy still and just slightly warm to the touch but as you keep microwaving it for one-minute intervals it's gonna thicken up .

 I'm gonna go ahead and get started grading some of the Parmesan cheese now I have really strong feelings about cheese I firmly believe that in recipes like this where you want the cheesy creamy flavor to come through you need to grate the cheese yourself I don't know if you know this but pre-shredded cheese is coated with this powdery substance which is great because it means the cheese doesn't clump together but it makes it so the cheese doesn't melt quite as well.

 I highly encourage you to create your own mozzarella and Parmesan cheese for this plus you'll just kind of feel like a rock star and you'll get an arm workout neither of those are bad things.



 I'm integrate about a cup of Parmesan cheese I already have my mozzarella cheese grated and the other thing that you can be prepping is your cream cheese so we're gonna want about 8 ounces of cream cheese softened so pulling that out ahead of time will make sure that the cream cheese is perfectly soft that way when you add it to this warm white sauce it's gonna melt and be really creamy instead of clumpy so at the end of those four or five minutes in the microwave the sauce is gonna be noticeably thicker kind of like a pudding that's not quite set so I'm just gonna whisk this up get rid of any small lumps that might be in there and then we're gonna start adding our other ingredients.

 the first thing I'm gonna add to this is the softened cream cheese that we already talked about it's okay at this point if there's a few small lumps of the cream cheese once it all bakes together in your baking dish when you spread it all out and put in the oven you're not gonna notice any of those small bumps and lumps so I'm gonna let that sit for just a second in the warm mixture while I prep the rest of the artichokes so this recipe calls for two cans of artichokes.

when you go down the grocery store aisle you might be a little overwhelmed at all the artichoke options out there it's a little ridiculous but I'm here to tell you you really can't make a mistake with artichokes you can use marinated artichokes grilled artichokes you can use artichokes just in water it's really your choice I like to use whole artichokes personally I find the texture is a little better they're not quite as mushy as the artichokes that are often sold already quartered so go ahead and just chop up the artichokes into bite-sized pieces it's not rocket science however you decide to cut them up is just fine but you'll want the equivalent of two cans of artichokes.

I'm gonna give this another good stir at this point the cream cheese is already softening really well into that warm white sauce mixture now here's the thing with this recipe if you like a tiny little bit of flavor kick now is the time to add a little hot sauce you don't have to go crazy just a couple drops to start out it's the thing that takes this from just okay to really great promise me you're gonna add it so let's mix that up and at this point I like to taste just a little to see if I need any extra salt and pepper it's really important with this dip because a bland spinach artichoke dip is no dip at all let's see that's good but I'm gonna add just a tiny bit of extra salt so now you can go ahead and add all of the other ingredients I like to add the cheese's first .


 I'm gonna add that Parmesan cheese that I graded and then the mozzarella cheese I find that mozzarella cheese melts the best you could probably use Monterey Jack or another kind of creamy white cheese but mozzarella is my favorite I like to save the spinach for last.

 I'm gonna go ahead and add the artichokes so I use chopped frozen spinach for this recipe I thought and then I squeeze out all the water you can do this with a clean kitchen towel a potato ricer a nut milk bag any way to get the water out but you definitely want it dry enough that you can piece it through your fingers and there's no liquid there it's not dripping with water and the reason I like to add it at the end is because I like to kind of separate it a little bit with my fingers so that the clumps of spinach which is really natural after you've pressed all the water out that they kind of separate and that means that the spinach really incorporates throughout the whole dip instead of having lots of clumps of spinach so I'm just gonna fold that all together seriously whenever I'm making this I'm like I don't even want to wait for it to bake

 I could literally dig in with a spoon right now so I'm gonna mix this around until all of that spinach is really evenly combined throughout the dip and then we're gonna put it into a baking dish I like to use about a 9 by 13 baking dish for this recipe I'm gonna grease my baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and once you kind of get it all out of this bowl.

 I'm telling you you need to get every little bit we're just gonna spread it into an even layer and pop it in the oven now this dip needs about 30 minutes at about 350 degrees you'll notice it's done when the edges are really golden and bubbly and it's really hot throughout plus you're gonna smell it before it's done baking and you're gonna want to dig right in we love to serve it really warm but you can also eat it cold if you want it's great with baguette slices tortilla chips crackers the options are endless and I won't judge you if you dig in with a spoon either.

I hope you love this best ever spinach artichoke dip recipe it's such a family favorite of ours and I hope it quickly becomes a favorite of yours.