Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Where This Goes Wrong

Wring the spinach until your hands hurt. Everything else is easy; this is the recipe.

Softened cream cheese, genuinely at room temperature. Cold cream cheese leaves lumps that never smooth out.

Assemble ahead and refrigerate; add 8 minutes to the bake from cold.

Making Spinach and Artichoke Dip

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1. Pile the thawed spinach into the middle of a clean tea towel, gather the corners, and wring it over the sink as hard as you can manage. Keep going until nothing more comes out — you should extract well over a cupful.

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2. Squeeze the artichoke hearts in kitchen paper too, then chop them.

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3. Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F.

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4. Beat the cream cheese, soured cream, mayonnaise and garlic together until completely smooth.

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5. Fold in the spinach, artichokes, half the mozzarella, half the Parmigiano, the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and lemon juice.

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6. Spread into a 1.5 litre baking dish and scatter the remaining cheeses over the top.

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7. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until bubbling at the edges and golden in patches.

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8. Rest 5 minutes, then serve hot with things to scoop it up.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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What's Going On Here

Frozen spinach holds an astonishing amount of water — often a third of its weight — and any of it left in will separate out in the oven and pool under the crust. Wringing it in a tea towel is the only reliable way to remove enough. Beyond that, the dip is an emulsion held by cream cheese and soured cream, both of which are stable in the oven where double cream alone would split, and the mozzarella is there for stretch while the Parmigiano is there for salt and savour.

After You've Cooked It

Refrigerated for 4 days. Reheat covered at 180°C / 356°F for 15 minutes.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serving Spinach and Artichoke Dip

• Tortilla chips or toasted sourdough
• Celery and carrot sticks
• A cold lager

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

Vegetarian when made with a hard cheese made without animal rennet in place of the parmigiano-reggiano.

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