Cheesy Baked Garlic Bread Dip

Cheesy, golden and delicious Baked Garlic Bread Dip! This is a delicious holiday recipe for garlic bread in dip form! Start with roasted garlic and add a few key ingredients and of course, five different kinds of cheeses to make the most delicious dip your guests will go nuts for!

GARLIC BREAD DIP.

Like, those have to be my favorite words put together.

We’re talking bout layers of layers of flavor. We’ll use garlic in three different forms, fold in some delicious ricotta and cream cheese, add fresh parsley, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and mozzarella and bake this dip in the oven until it’s golden. As an added touch, I love to drizzle it with a little white truffle oil. Because we’re fancy like that! And trust me when I say this – it tastes exactly like garlic bread but in dip form!

Trust me, this is the appetizer of your dreams! It’s a cross between baked ricotta and a garlic dip. And it’s perfect to serve for game day, Christmas or New Years with crackers, homemade crostini, or even some potato chips. It’s also a nice alternative to serving dipping oil on your next Italian dinner night. 

The idea comes from an Italian restaurant here in town that serve whipped ricotta with their truffled garlic bread. And can I just say that I’ve modeled my garlic bread after theirs? As if that wasn’t enough, now I’m serving it up to in dip form. I’m obsessed!

Step aside French onion and caramelized onion dip – we’ve got a new easy appetizer in town!

Ingredients for homemade garlic bread dip:

• Heads of Garlic + Garlic Cloves: I wasn’t kidding when I said this is a garlic bread dip! We’re starting off my trimming the garlic and roasting the heads. Then we’ll grate in a few cloves into the dish as well. 
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: or any good quality olive oil, really! We’ll use this to drizzle on the garlic heads before we roast them in the oven.
• Cream Cheese + Ricotta Cheese: these ingredients are the base of this dip. Make sure to remove them from the refrigerator a couple of hours ahead of time. It’s much easier to blend them together when they aren’t cold! Typically, I use mayo in my dips rather than ricotta, but ricotta pairs much better with garlic, so we’re making that swap.
• Sour Cream: We’ll add a big dollop of sour cream to add tang to the dip. We’ll use just ¼ cup as the main base is the cream cheese and ricotta.
• Parmesan and Asiago Cheese: Both the parmesan and asiago add nuttiness to the dip. They pair beautifully with the other ingredients and help enhance the other players in the dip.
• Seasonings: I add in some garlic powder and some kosher salt. If you’ve been keeping count, that’s garlic in three different intensities what I’ve added to the dip thus far. But of course, you can pack this with as many herbs and spice as you’d like. A big pinch of red pepper flakes would add some heat if that’s you’re thing!
• Fresh Herbs: I use fresh parsley and chives. Feel free to swap the chives for oregano, basil, or even some thyme if you prefer.
• Mozzarella Cheese: We’ll use the mozzarella primarily as a topping. It doesn’t get folded in like the other cheeses, but rather just layers on top of the baking dish before we bake this in the oven. Of course, if you don’t want to use asiago, you can add some mozzarella into the dip mixture as well.
• Truffle Oil: This is entirely optional, adding a light drizzle on top just makes this dip more holiday friendly! Plus I love the combination of white truffle oil with mozzarella and garlic! Leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.
• Crostini, Crackers, or Chips: grab some crusty bread and slice it on the biased. Drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle with some flakey salt. Bake until golden, I’ve got the full directions here. I also love the TJ’s multigrain pita crackers with this recipe. They are sturdy and hold up to the dip well.

How to make garlic bread cheese dip:

1. Roast the garlic. Start by trimming the top of the garlic and popping it on some foil. You’ll want to drizzle the exposed cloves with some olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper. Wrap the garlic up in foil and then place on a baking sheet. Roast the garlic checking on it around the halfway mark to make sure things are running smoothly. I like to roast several heads of garlic at once, but I use just three of them for this recipe! Once the garlic is roasted, allow it to cool completely before you attempt to squeeze it from the pod. You can also roast the garlic a few days in advance.
2. Mix up the dip. Squeeze the garlic into a bowl. Using a fork mash up the garlic into a paste. I know I didn’t do that when I shot this recipe (see picture above), but after testing it a few more times, this makes life so much easier! Then add the fresh garlic, cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream, parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, salt, chives and asiago cheese. Use a rubber spatula to bring the dip ingredients together. Taste and adjust the dip based on your sodium preference and how garlicky you want this dip to be – keep in mind that once you bake it the garlic flavor will be more pronounced.
3. Transfer and bake. Spray a small baking dish with cooking spray. This makes cleanup a bit easier! Then, transfer the dip mixture into the dish and smooth it out. Top with the mozzarella cheese. Bake the dip until it warms through and the cheese on top melts. I like to broil it to get the top nice and golden for the last few seconds.
4. Serve it up how you like! I like it with crostini but anything you like to dip works! Fresh no knead bread works equally well!

If you like this recipe, you might also like:

• Texas Green Chili Queso Dip
• Jalapeno Popper Dip
• Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip
• Philly Cheese Steak Dip
• ​Baked Tomato Goat Cheese Dip

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Yield: Serves 6-10

Cheesy Baked Garlic Bread Dip

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Cheesy, golden and delicious Baked Garlic Bread Dip! This is a delicious holiday recipe for garlic bread in dip form! Start with roasted garlic and add a few key ingredients and of course, five different kinds of cheeses to make the most delicious dip your guests will go nuts for!

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Ingredients

• 3 heads of garlic
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Kosher salt, as needed
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, grated or pressed
• 1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, room temp
• ½ cup ricotta cheese, room temp
• ¼ cup EACH: sour cream AND grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• ½ cup Asiago cheese (or use more mozz)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 teaspoons white truffle oil, optional
• Crackers, crostini, or chips for serving

Instructions

1. PREHEAT: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375ºF.
2. GARLIC: Trim the top of the garlic heads to expose cloves using a sharp knife. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Wrap heads in foil, place on a baking sheet.
3. ROAST: for 40-55 minutes or until garlic is tender when pierced with a knife or fork. Let cool before squeezing. See notes for make ahead option. Preheat the oven to 400ºF if you're making this dip right away.
4. MIX: To a medium bowl, add the roasted garlic. Mash it with fork until it becomes a paste. Add ½ teaspoon salt, grated garlic, cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream, parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, chives, and asiago cheese. Using a rubber spatula, combine the ingredients until thorough mixed. Taste; adjust with seasonings as desired.
5. DISH IT: Transfer dip to a small baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Top with mozzarella cheese.
6. BAKE: in a 400ºF preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese on top starts to melt. Switch to the broil setting for 15-60 seconds or until golden.
7. SERVE: Drizzle with white truffle oil and warm with crostini slices, crackers, or potato chips.

Notes

• Room Temperature: Make sure the creamc ehes, ricotta, and sour cream are all at room temperature so that it's easier to fold the dip ingredients together.
• Roasted Garlic: You can roast the garlic heads up to 2 days in advance. Once cooled squeeze the garlic out and pop into an airtight container, refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. You can freeze up to 2 months.

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