This Healthy Spinach Dip with yogurt, twice more spinach and four times less mayo makes the same creamy and flavorful spinach dip you know.
It is absolutely a crowd pleasing appetizer without extra calories!
Spinach Dip
This healthy spinach dip is the first to go at any party I bring it to. No one realizes it is healthy. And absolutely everyone asks me for a recipe. And you know where I send them, right?! 🙂
And hands down, it’s one of the easiest healthy dips to make. Any time you are asked to bring an appie, think of this spinach dip.
All you have to do is thaw spinach overnight (or in a microwave if you forgot), sauté a few veggies and stir. That’s it!
Ingredients for Healthy Spinach Dip
With twice more spinach (“hello”, superfood), 4 times less mayo (“goodbye”, saturated fat) and yogurt (“yesss”, protein) this homemade dip tastes same creamy, decadent and flavorful as you know it.
- Frozen or fresh spinach: Both work. I have made spinach dip with fresh spinach many times because it is hard to find organic frozen spinach. And I’m all for organic greens especially because they are heavily sprayed with pesticides. See instructions for fresh spinach below in How To Make section.
- Fresh onion, carrots and garlic: Instead of using a packet with preservatives and sodium, we use sauteed fresh veggies to add a lot of healthy flavours.
- Plain yogurt with at least 2% fat: Regular or Greek yogurt. Don’t use 0% (non-fat yogurt) as it is quite chalky and dip will lack creaminess. You will not enjoy it.
- Mayo: I use avocado oil mayo. Olive oil mayo or veganese work as well. Just don’t skip mayo, spinach dip needs a bit of that umph from mayo. I used 1/4 cup of mayo and that was plenty. Mayo in small amount is a healthy choice IMHO.
- Salt and pepper
How to Make Healthy Spinach Dip
- Prep frozen spinach: Place spinach in a colander and defrost for at least 8 hours or overnight. Using your hands, squeeze excess water. Spinach doesn’t have to be completely dry, some water is fine. Transfer squeezed spinach to a medium bowl.
- Or Prep fresh spinach: You will need two 11 oz boxes of spinach. Chop coarsely, then saute, adding to the skillet in batches as spinach wilts. Transfer to a colander, let cool, then squeeze excess water with your hands. Save liquid for a green smoothie (especially if it’s organic). Your “thawed spinach” is ready.
- Saute vegetables: Preheat ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion, 2 minced garlic cloves and carrot. Sauté for 7 minutes or until translucent, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl with spinach. Fresh veggies replace nasty packet of onion mix soup in traditional spinach recipe.
- Stir everything together: Add yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper. Stir well to mix and now add grated garlic to taste. Fresh garlic at the end makes all the difference! Trust this Ukrainian. 🙂
How to Make Ahead and Store
Make ahead and store: Refrigerate stirred dip in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Give it another stir before serving. Or add all ingredients to a bowl, cover and refrigerate like this, and then combine right before serving.
Freeze? I have not tried freezing it and am not sure whether yogurt will separate and dip become watery. Please report if you do. If serving 3 people or less, cut recipe in half.
Ideas for leftovers: If you have a lot leftovers, stuff chicken breasts with spinach dip, sear for 3 minutes per side and then bake for 25 minutes in preheated 375 degrees F oven. Similar to this chicken stuffed with brie.
Serving Tips
Warm or cold? This dip tastes amazing either way. It’s a personal preference and circumstances. We love it warm right after it’s made. We love it cold the next day because flavors had a chance to marry each other more. This type of dip benefits from flavours sitting together and “marrying” each other for a bit.
What to dunk into dip with?
- Bread bowl: You can put healthy spinach dip in a traditional bread bowl. Sourdough is a healthy choice. Here is a great video how to hollow out a bread bowl.
- Bread chips: Pita chips like Stacy’s of flat baked pretzel chips are sturdy vehicles to be loaded with creamy dip.
- Whole grain crackers: We love baked corn crackers like Salmas or brown rice crackers like Mary’s Gone Crackers.
This dip would be the perfect addition to any holiday charcuterie board!
More Healthy Dips to Try
- Healthy buffalo chicken dip
- Garlic olive oil dip
- French onion dip
- Healthy veggie dip
- Taco dip
- Avocado dip
Healthy Spinach Dip
Ingredients
- 2 x 10 oz packages chopped spinach frozen
- 1/2 large onion finely chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced + 1 small garlic clove, grated
- 1 medium carrot finely grated
- 2 tbsp oil for frying
- 2 cups Greek or regular plain yogurt at least 2% fat
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place spinach in a colander and defrost for at least 8 hours or overnight. Alternatively you could use a microwave.
- Using your hands, squeeze as much water out as possible and transfer to a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Preheat ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion, 2 minced garlic cloves and carrot; sauté for 7 minutes or until translucent, stirring occasionally.
- Transfer to a bowl with spinach along with yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper.
- Stir well to mix and add grated garlic to taste. If have time, refrigerate for a few hours to let flavours "marry" each other.
- Serve with pretzel chips or brown rice crackers.
Video
Notes
- Make ahead and store: Refrigerate stirred dip in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Give it another stir before serving. Or add all ingredients to a bowl, cover and refrigerate like this, and then combine right before serving.
- Freeze? I have not tried freezing it and am not sure whether yogurt will separate and dip become watery. Please report if you do. If serving 3 people or less, cut recipe in half.
- Plain yogurt with at least 2% fat: Regular or Greek yogurt. Don't use 0% (non-fat yogurt) as it is quite chalky and dip will lack creaminess. You will not enjoy it.
- Mayo: I use avocado oil mayo. Olive oil mayo or veganese work as well. Just don't skip mayo, spinach dip needs a bit of that umph from mayo. I used 1/4 cup of mayo and that was plenty. Mayo in small amount is a healthy choice IMHO.
- How to make dip with fresh spinach: You will need two 11 oz boxes of spinach. Chop coarsely, then saute, adding to the skillet in batches as spinach wilts. Transfer to a colander, let cool, then squeeze excess water with your hands. Save liquid for a green smoothie (especially if it's organic). Your "thawed spinach" is ready.
Nutrition
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Hello and welcome to iFOODreal.
My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.