This recipe comes once again from inspiration while visiting and eating at Mythos Restaurant at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Florida. My frozen butterbeer, fried potato and onion strings, and steak with gorgonzola butter recipes have all come from trips to Florida to go ride rollercoasters. Add spanakopita dip with fried pita to the list.

Pretty soon I’ll be recreating all of the food from our visits there, I guess. A way to enjoy it without spending as much money on travel. Though I don’t yet have a rollercoaster available in my backyard…

The Greek-inspired appetizer dip is loaded with flavor.

The simple spinach and feta spanakopita dip is a perfect appetizer for parties or simply served as an appetizer at home. This Greek spinach dip recipe is easy to make. Spinach, feta cheese, and cream cheese are the main ingredients that come together in this tasty Greek spinach dip that is super delicious and perfect for snacks!

I love the tanginess that goes with the spinach and feta combination. Make sure you have some extra pita bread lying around. So, let’s get started.

What Is Traditional Spanakopita?

Spanakopita is a traditional Greek dish. The name comes from the Greek words meaning spinach pie. Very aptly named because it typically consists of thin layers of filo or phyllo dough, chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions, and eggs.

Filo is a thin dough used for making pastries like baklava and börek. An egg wash makes it crispy and golden brown on top.

Baked until the outside is golden brown and crispy, the inside of the spanakopita should be delicate and cheesy.

The result is a flaky crust and a soft filling. It is normally cut and served in a triangular shape, but it can be served as a square or in any other shape.

It’s almost like spinach, feta, and filo lasagna.

What Goes Into Spanakopita Dip

To make traditional spanakopita into a dip, we’ll use the same general building blocks and adjust it as needed.

So, of course, we’ll keep the spinach and feta. Trade in some shallots for the onion and add garlic, lemon, and dill for even more flavor. The tangy, salty flavor of the feta will be the main focus.

To turn it into more of a dip, we’ll include some cream cheese. Greek yogurt and sour cream help to smooth things out even more. This makes it actually dippable.

And then we need something to replace the filo. Something we can use to scoop up and eat the spanakopita dip itself. That’s where the pita comes in. But this recipe takes things over the top and uses some fried pitas for dipping. Mmmmmm.

Cheeses to Use in Spanakopita Dip

I’m trying to recreate a recipe from a restaurant and don’t know their exact ingredients or proportions. So it takes some experimentation and educated guessing.

The traditional cheese for spanakopita is feta. So, to keep the original soul of spanakopita in the dip, we’ll use feta as the main cheese in this recipe. Feta doesn’t melt especially well, so it’ll need some other assistance to get to a perfect super-smooth dip consistency.

For that, I turned to my other dip-making experience with cream cheese dill dip. The cream cheese in that recipe is what really helps make the dip smooth and

Cream cheese is perfect because it doesn’t have an overpowering flavor of its own. It has great consistency and could easily take on the flavors we want. So feta and cream cheese are the cheeses of choice.

How to Make Spanakopita Dip

Start with a lot of fresh spinach. Lots of it.

Chop up the spinach along with the garlic and shallots. Sautee the garlic and shallots in olive oil over medium heat. Once the shallot is nearly translucent, it’s time to add in the spinach.

It’ll seem like too much at first, but it will cook down into a much smaller amount. Believe me, I had to up the amount of spinach two times while trying to get the right ratios for the recipe.

Stir it around until the spinach is cooked and wilted.

Once the spinach has cooked through, add in the feta, cream cheese, sour cream, Greek yogurt, salt, and pepper. Mix it all together as it warms up and the cheese fully melts together. It should be a fairly smooth mixture. Make sure that the cream cheese melts down.

For a final punch of flavor, toss in the dill, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Give everything a good stir and it is ready to go.

How to Fry the Pita

Pitas are fairly easy to make and delicious in their own right. But, taking them one step further and frying them really takes them to the next level. Frying the pitas makes them crispy on the outside and still soft and tender on the inside. But – most importantly – frying makes them strong enough to use for dipping into the spanakopita.

I highly recommend that you make your own homemade pitas using my pillowy-soft puffy pita recipe. But you can use whatever recipe you like, or store-bought pitas if pressed for time.

To get to frying, start by slicing the pitas into wedges. I use a pizza cutter because I’m essentially cutting them exactly like a pizza.

Add a 50-50 mix of olive oil and vegetable oil to a slightly deep pan up to about half an inch up the side of the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and let it warm up.

Then gently put enough sliced pita wedges to fill most of the pan, with a bit of space between. Cook them for 2 to 3 minutes and then use some tongs to flip them and cook for another 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Remove them from the oil and onto a paper towel-lined plate.

Sprinkle salt and za’atar seasoning over the fried pita wedges.

Repeat until all of the pita wedges are fried.

Garnish and Serve the Spanakopita Dip

With pitas fried and spanakopita dip made, it’s time to serve and eat.

This recipe works best as an appetizer, set out so everyone can enjoy it at their leisure. You may want to use some method to keep the spanakopita dip warm, depending on how long it’ll be out. A small food warmer (I have a mini Crock Pot warmer) or a chafing dish would work.

You can serve the dip as is, or try topping it with fresh minced dill, toasted pine nuts, a drizzle of olive oil, or some freshly shredded parmesan.

Now, obviously, I really enjoy using these homemade fried pitas to dip into the spanakopita dip. It comes from the initial recipe at Mythos and just tastes divine. But don’t feel like that boxes you in. Try pairing this dip with pita chips, other chips, carrots, celery, or anything else that you think will suit the spinach and feta flavors.

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this spanakopita dip! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Spinach and Feta Spanakopita Dip with Fried Pita

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: AppetizersDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Total time

40

minutes

A creamy spanakopita dip with crispy pita chips makes an appetizer everyone will love!

Ingredients

• Spanakopita Dip

• 1/2 cup chopped shallots

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 6 cups fresh baby spinach

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 cup cream cheese

• 1 cup feta cheese

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

• 1/4 cup sour cream

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon minced dill

• Fried Pitas

• 4 cooked pitas

• Olive oil and vegetable oil for frying

• 1/2 tablespoon za’atar seasoning

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

• Spanakopita Dip
• Chop the shallots and spinach, and mince the garlic
• Add the olive oil to a pot over medium heat, stir in the shallots and garlic, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until fragrant and the shallots are nearly translucent
• Stir the chopped spinach into the pot and continue stirring while the spinach cooks and wilts
• Add the cream cheese, feta cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, salt, and pepper to the pot
• Stir the mixture and heat through for 5 to 7 minutes until the cheeses have melted together
• While the cheeses are melting, zest and juice the lemon and mince the dill
• Remove the pot from the heat and mix in the dill, lemon juice, and lemon zest until fully combined
• Keep the dip warm while frying the pitas
• Fried Pitas
• Heat a 50/50 mix of olive oil and vegetable that comes to 1/2 inch up the sides of a deep pan over medium-high heat
• Slice pitas into triangular wedges with a knife or pizza wheel
• Working in batches, gently add the pita slices to the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden, be careful not to overcrowd the pan
• Remove the fried pita wedges from the oil to a paper towel-covered plate to drain and generously sprinkle with salt and za’atar seasoning
• Repeat steps 3-4 until all pita slices have been fried
• Serve the spanakopita dip with the fried pita

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The post Simple Spinach and Feta Spanakopita Dip with Fried Pita appeared first on Do You Roux?.

This one comes to you courtesy of my wife. She loves cream cheese dill dip and it is one of the few things that she has made so many times that she is comfortable doing it without any recipe. That is typically how I operate, but she tends to go with cooking and baking to exact recipes.

So I asked if she would make it while measuring ingredients, letting me photograph it, and giving me the steps. And she so kindly obliged. It helps that she is always looking for an excuse to whip together some dill dip.

The dip comes out any time we are having a get-together. So we’ve had it far less in 2020 than we normally would have because of social distancing efforts. But we still brought it out for our own family holiday meals and so we’ve had it 3 or 4 times in the last month or so.

Tips for Making Dip

You will want to soften the cream cheese before making this recipe. To accomplish this, you can remove the cream cheese from the fridge about 30-45 minutes beforehand, or put it into the microwave in a bowl for 30 seconds. One requires more forethought, the other can heat it up too much or cause hot spots within the cream cheese if not heated evenly.

The dill should be chopped finely and evenly. You can do this with a knife or use a pair of herb scissors to help speed up the process. A lot of the smaller herbs can be a little frustrating to chop with a knife, and I really like how easy the herb scissors are to use. Plus it gets everything into relatively similar sizes because the blades are spaced evenly.

Include the leafy greens of the dill, but do not chop up the thicker stems into the dip. The more delicate and flavorful greens are much better than the chewier stems.

If you’d like to, you can reserve some chopped dill for garnishing the dip. This won’t affect the flavor much and is all about appearances. It can be really useful when setting the dip out for a party.

You can serve the dip immediately, but you can also make ahead and let the flavors meld together. The extra time gives the ingredients a chance to mingle and become even more flavorful. It seems like the sour cream and cream cheese have more of a chance to take on the flavors when you make it ahead.

Use fresh dill. Dried dill just doesn’t cut it in this recipe.

What to Pair With Dill Dip

What can’t you dip in this? I don’t know, but there are some things that pair extremely well with the dip:

Chips – Our house’s gold standard for cream cheese dill dip is a large bag of Ruffles Orignal. Any potato chips will work. Plain or original flavor chips will let the flavor of the dip stay at the forefront, but don’t be afraid to experiment and try some radical flavors. Jalapeno, dill pickle, BBQ, or salt and vinegar chips will all work.

Vegetables – Carrots and celery are the usual vegetable pairings for dill dip. But we’ve also branched out and tried bell peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers. Slice everything into 3 to 4 inch long pieces that would make it easy to hold and dip. Make sure to wash any vegetables before slicing.

Cream Cheese Dill Dip

Course: AppetizersDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking timeminutes

Total time

15

minutes

Bright, fresh dill lifts up this homemade dip that you can use with chips, vegetables, and more.

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

• 3/4 cup sour cream

• 2 tablespoons diced dill pickle

• 1/4 cup dill pickle juice (from the jar)

• 1 small clove of garlic, minced

• 5 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• Gather, prep, and chop up all ingredients as needed
• Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly
• Add more salt and/or pepper to taste as needed – take into account what you will be dipping since chips tend to have a lot of added salt already
• Garnish with chopped fresh dill and serve immediately or reserve in the refrigerator for up to 4 days

Notes

The post Cream Cheese Dill Dip appeared first on Do You Roux?.

Ham and dill potato cream cheese soup is dangerous. I always go back for seconds… and too stuffed to eat any more but still slurping down soup thirds. You have been warned, proceed at your own risk.

A comforting mix of ham, dill, potatoes, and cream cheese simmers in a velvety broth-based soup with a touch of cream that pairs perfectly with rolls. This silky soup will warm you up on even the coldest of nights.

The recipe here is made possible by a restaurant chain in Arizona called Wildflower Bread Company. There is a location at the Chandler Fashion Mall that my family would frequent. When dining in, they would serve the soup in a bread bowl. So you can do that if you want here, but it is a lot of extra work and the soup still tastes amazing in a non-edible bowl.

The restaurant bills their dish as potato cream cheese soup. But that is a terrible name because it has a lot more going on and I don’t think it lets you imagine the soup properly. My name for it is a bit of a mouthful, so it may not be much better, but it does paint a better picture.

Soup Traditions

When my mom was growing up, grandma would make clam chowder for their Christmas Eve dinner. Mom loved the tradition but didn’t really love the clam chowder. However, making the clam chowder did introduce her to the steps of making a roux. But she still wanted to keep up the tradition and share it with her own family, so she would make either broccoli cheese soup or three clam chowder without the clams (so, zero clam chowder?).

Then one pivotal day my mom ate at Wildflower Bread Company and tried out their potato cream cheese soup. She enjoyed it enough to try making a copycat recipe at home. Then it became the traditional meal served for our family’s Christmas Eve dinner.

When I first started cooking for myself, I asked my mom for some of our family recipes and this one was included in the mix. So I learned how to make it. Then I lost the actual recipe but generally remembered what went into it and how to make it. Every once in a while I would text my mom a list of the ingredients and ask her if I had forgotten anything. It slowly evolved into how I make it and has become this recipe.

To this day I generally keep up with the tradition. I don’t necessarily always have it for Christmas eve, but I always make it within the week leading up to Christmas. And many other times year-round because it is so good.

Potato Cream Cheese Soup Recommendations

Ham – For a while I used a pre-cubed bag of ham. Now I like to get ham from the deli, cut extra thick, and then cube it myself. Or, wait until you have made a large spiral cut ham and have tons of leftovers – and use the leftover ham for this soup.

Dill – Fresh dill is best – especially homegrown fresh dill that you just clipped from the garden. But that isn’t always possible. So if you don’t have any in season or can’t find any in the produce section, then you can use dried dill in a pinch. It isn’t quite as good, but it works. Just remember to cut the amount of dill used in half if using the dried stuff.

Rolls – This soup is best enjoyed with some freshly made rolls. My mom (or in later years my sister) would always make a huge double-batch of the family roll recipe when we were having this soup. You can also try some saltines, pita chips, or even some goldfish crackers. Basically, this soup is good with some salty carbs.

Ham and Dill Potato Cream Cheese Soup

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: SoupsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

35

minutes

Total time

50

minutes

A comforting mix of ham, dill, potatoes, and cream cheese simmered in a velvety broth and cream-based soup that pairs perfectly with rolls

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ham

• 1 large onion

• 4 stalks celery

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1 package (30 ounces) frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

• 12 cups chicken stock

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese

• 1 cup sour cream

• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped (or 1/8 cup dried dill)

• 2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

• Cube the ham, chop the onion and celery
• Melt the butter in a large stock pot on medium heat, add the celery and onion, and sauté for 5 minutes until softened
• Stir in the flour and let cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Remove the onion/celery/flour mixture from the pot and set aside in a bowl for later
• Pour the chicken stock and frozen has brown potatoes into the pot, turn the heat to high, let it come to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes until the potatoes are softened
• While waiting for the pot to boil, place the cream cheese and sour cream into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 2 minutes, until softened and stir together with a fork
• When the potatoes are ready, mix in the sour cream/cream cheese mixture, the onion/celery/flour mixture, and the ham
• Stir together while it simmers until there are no more clumps of cream cheese or flour
• Turn the heat down to medium and add salt, pepper, dill, and cream
• Let it cook for at least 5 more minutes together and then serve and enjoy

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