Chicken dip is a dipping sauce made of chicken as one of the primary ingredients, besides others such as cream cheese, salad dressing and hot sauce. It is served as an accompaniment to snacks like crackers and veggies. The chicken dip recipe is a simple one and the dip can easily be prepared by usual kitchen leftovers in a very short time. Buffalo chicken dip, Mexican chicken dip and Hot chicken dip are some of the many versions of this delectable dip.
Chicken Dip Recipe Overview
Ingredients: The usual ingredients for the sauce are cooked and shredded chicken, cream cheese, shredded blue cheese, a salad dressing and hot sauce such as cayenne pepper sauce. The chicken is cooked by simmering in boiling water or chicken stock, after which it is allowed to cool a bit and then shredded.
Method of Preparation: The preparation is as simple as mixing all the above ingredients and baking till the mixture is bubbly. Before baking, if the mixture appears thicker than the desired consistency, a tablespoonful of chicken stock can be added to it. The dip may be served warm or may be refrigerated or frozen for future use.
Serving Chicken Dip
The dip is served with snacks like crackers, chips, veggies, breadsticks, etc. It can be served at parties, or with snacks while watching a movie, or to children as after-school snacks. Some people also use these dips to smear a burger, sandwich or turkey tacos for additional taste.
Chicken Dip Recipe Variations
The recipe for chicken dip is a versatile one, and one can experiment with the quantity of sauce used (depending upon how hot the sauce needs to be) or the type of cheese used (as per individual preference), besides addition of many other ingredients. Here are some of the popular variations to the basic recipe for the dip-
- Mexican Chicken Dip: The dip is made with southwestern chicken strips, refried beans, sour cream, ripe olives (sliced), tomato, salsa, cream cheese, shredded cheese and lime zest. The dip is made by combining the ingredients and refrigerating them for a few hours, after which they are topped with cheese, salsa, tomato and cilantro and served with tortilla chips.
- Buffalo Chicken Dip: This is a very popular dip which imitates closely the taste of a chicken dish called Buffalo Chicken Wings. It is made by baking boiled and shredded chicken with cream cheese, ranch dressing and hot sauce and a topping of celery. It is best served warm with crackers.
- Smoky Chicken Dip: This contains chopped smoked almonds, chopped celery, onion, mayonnaise, honey, salt, pepper and cooked and shredded chicken. All the ingredients are mixed well in a bowl and then covered and chilled for a couple of hours before serving with crackers.
- Hot Chicken Dip: This is a spicier variant of the dip which can be made by increasing the quantity of hot sauce used in the basic dip.
- Jalapeno Chicken Dip: The dip contains chopped Jalapeno peppers besides the other usual ingredients of chicken dip. The jalapenos are stirred in after the dip is ready, just before serving.
- Chicken Enchilada Dip: It is made with shredded chicken breast, green chili peppers, jalapeno pepper, mayonnaise, cream cheese and Cheddar cheese. It is made by mixing the ingredients and then baking them.
- Vegetarian Chicken Dip: This is a vegetarian imitation of the popular dip that uses vegetarian strips (like Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips) instead of the chicken. Other ingredients remain much the same. A Buffalo Chicken Dip version of the same can be made by use of buffalo wing sauce. The delicious dip is enjoyed by vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
- Tomato and Green Chile Pepper Chicken Dip: This can be made by use of tomatoes (diced), green chili peppers, turkey chili and sour cream besides processed cheese and shredded cooked chicken. It is made by mixing the ingredients and heating till well blended. It is served warm.
Nutrition Information about Chicken Dips
Chicken is a good source of protein, trace mineral selenium and also contains the B vitamin niacin which has cancer protecting properties. A single serving of Buffalo Chicken Dip contains about 284 calories, 22.6g total fat and 54mg cholesterol, which may vary as per individual recipes.
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