I always embrace the winter. Half-lit grey days, a chill in the air, smoky evenings, Bonfire Night, Hallowe’en, the promise of Christmas ahead. Time to slow down with one-pot suppers, comfort food, in layers of my favorite oversized knitwear, hunkering down by the fire. Finding time for the simple pleasures: reading a book, finishing that puzzle, writing recipes, baking a cake, spending time with your favorite family and foods.—Emily Scott
Why Our Testers Loved This
There are a whole bunch of reasons our recipe testers gobbled this easy artichoke dip up. They love that it requires only 3 ingredients, can be made ahead of time, and only takes 20 minutes to toss together.
What You’ll Need to Make This
- Canned artichoke hearts–Use the best quality that you can find and drain well. If you can only find marinated artichoke hearts, they’ll still work here. If you’ve got some extra time and some fresh artichokes, try using garlic-braised Italian artichokes in place of canned.
- Mayonnaise–Use high quality mayo here, such as Duke’s or Hellman’s, or better yet, make your own one minute mayonnaise.
- Parmesan cheese–This is not the time for the stuff in the green bottle or the pre-shredded stuff. Use good quality Parmesan and grate it yourself.
How to Make This Recipe
- Heat the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Have an ovenproof baking dish ready.
- Blitz the dip ingredients. Dump the artichoke hearts, mayo, and Parmesan into a food processor and blitz until smooth.
- Bake the artichoke dip. Pop the dip into the oven and bake until golden and bubbling. Serve warm.
Common Questions
Because the base of this dip is mostly mayo, make sure that you’re not trying to bake it faster by cranking the heat or cooking it too low in the oven. Mayo will separate if it gets too hot. As well, don’t use pre-shredded Parmesan. Pre-shredded cheeses are coated in cornstarch, and you won’t get a smooth mixture.
You can. It can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Purée and mix the artichokes, mayo, and Parmesan and place in an oven-safe serving bowl. Cover with foil and store in the fridge. When ready to serve, let the dish come to room temperature, preheat your oven, remove foil, and bake.
Store your leftover dip in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Helpful Tips
- If you prefer a chunkier texture to your dip, chop your artichoke hearts by hand and stir them into the dip, or only pulse the dip briefly in the food processor.
- To keep this dip warm at a party or potluck, after baking, scoop it into a mini Crock Pot and take it along with you.
- The dip is suitable for a gluten-free diet. Offer gluten-free crackers or pear slices for scooping.
- To get a more golden color to the dip, broil it for a couple of minutes after baking.
- Tester Tricia M. says –“Use leftover dip as a sandwich spread.”
More Great Dip Recipes
Write a Review
If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Hot Artichoke Dip
Ingredients
- One (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, drained
- 1/3 cup (3 1/2 oz) mayonnaise
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Toasted bread, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- In a food processor, combine the artichokes, mayonnaise, and Parmesan, and blitz until smooth.
☞ TESTER TIP: If you prefer to have chunks of artichoke in your dip, process only until well combined, but not smooth, or reserve a few artichokes, coarsely chop, and stir into the blended mixture.
- Dump the mixture into an and bake until golden brown and bubbling, 15 to 18 minutes.
☞ TESTER TIP: After baking the dip, switch the oven to broil for a couple of minutes to get more browning.
Notes
- Make-ahead instructions–Assemble and process the dip. Place in your baking vessel, cover, and stash in the fridge for up to 24 hours before serving. When ready to serve, uncover and bake until bubbling.
- Make it chunkier–For a chunkier texture, chop the artichokes by hand and stir them into the dip or pulse the dip only briefly in the food processor.
- Dietary–To offer the dip to gluten-free folks, serve it with gluten-free crackers and pear slices for scooping.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This version of hot artichoke dip is the absolute most basic one I’ve ever come across; it’s almost not even a recipe! That said, it’s completely delicious and addictive, proving the point that a recipe doesn’t really need a million ingredients if they’re high quality.
What makes this one particularly good is puréeing everything in the food processor. I thought I wouldn’t like it this way because I always leave my artichokes a bit chunkier for texture, but puréeing everything in the food processor made it turn out super sexy and silky and bubbly. I used Hellman’s mayo and really good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Next time, I’d probably still add a teaspoon of lemon juice and/or zest as I’ve always done. Served it with toasted garlic sourdough crostini and 4 of us polished off the whole gratin dish in about 20 minutes flat. It was so good that we attacked it before I remembered to snap a pic!
Few appetizers can top this classic combination of artichokes and cheese. Served warm with freshly baked sourdough bread invites yummy memories of holiday traditions, late-night snacks while studying, and cool autumn days. I love that this is such an easy recipe to make, and also can be made ahead of when needed.
Storing the recipe in a small crockpot dish makes it easy to just pop in the warmer when serving for a group.
This hot artichoke dip is a great dip for last-minute company. It goes together quickly and still tastes great even after it has been sitting out for a while.
It’s versatile too. You could add chicken or spinach if you needed to clean out the fridge. It would also be great with some herbed panko breadcrumbs on top for a little extra texture. Good Parmesan cheese is the key.
I’ll keep the ingredients on hand so I can whip up a batch at a moment’s notice. Served with sliced pears and several varieties of crackers.
This is a healthier rendition of the classic hot artichoke dip I know and love: it is less creamy and less cheesy but nonetheless tasty. My only quibble is that I prefer a bit more texture to my dip and would chop rather than process the artichoke hearts, or perhaps chop some and process the rest.
We served it with a crusty wheat loaf, which we felt would complement the healthier feel well, and this was correct. Both the crustiness, which added texture, and the wheatiness, which added flavor, were a plus.
This hot artichoke dip really works as a nice starter with thin crackers, but with less mayo and cheese can even be used as a sandwich condiment.
I add half the mayo and half (or even a quarter) the amount of cheese so the artichoke flavor really shines. Other additions according to your taste: add a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice to the mixture before baking, add fresh herbs–thyme is especially good, and I always add freshly ground pepper.
Process the mixture a few seconds for a chunky texture, or longer for a smooth texture. This is a very flexible recipe and you can make many changes with the confidence that it will be delicious.
Because this is such a simple dip, take the time to go all out on the accoutrements. The author recommended rosemary focaccia bread, and I agree the consistency of the dip is more suited to bread than crackers. If you’re inclined to use plain bread, maybe slice it into crostini and crisp it in the oven to create some textural variations. In summary, this dip is lovely, straightforward, and a cinch to make–perfect for the busy holiday season!
Been making this recipe for more years than I care to remember. So delicious, why muck up a good thing with un-necessary ingredients.
How wonderful, Lee Ann. I love this dish, even though I’m not much of an artichoke fan.