Make This: Hot Italian Cheddar Dip

This cheddar cheese dip is the perfect accompaniment to chips, crackers, veggies, and sliced baguette… in other words, a crowd pleaser. Extra points for using Cabot Alpine Cheddar, the sharp and nutty flavor puts this dip over the top, we also recommend our Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, but really, feel free to use your favorite Cabot Cheddar, it will be a wonderful bowl of cheesy goodness any way you dip it! Read on for the how-to and see how easy it is to make, we guarantee you’ll have this recipe on repeat all year through.

Step 1: Prep your Ingredients

Preheat your oven to 400° and spray your ovenproof 2 1/2 cup-sized dip holder lightly with cooking spray. This dip comes together so quickly that we like to get all of the ingredients prepped and ready to go while the oven is preheating.

Remove the crust from your bread and pulse in a food processor to make fresh bread crumbs. Grate your cheese & remember to divide it, set aside 1/4 cup for later. Alright – lets get our dip on… crackers are ready and half-time is approaching…

Step 2: Make the Filling

Beat the Cabot Cream Cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy, we find this works best if the cream cheese is at room temperature. Either take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator a couple hours before you plan to make the dip, or if you’ve forgotten – just pop the sealed aluminum package of cream cheese into a bowl of hot water, it will be perfectly room temperature in about 5 minutes:

Add the chopped basil, salt and pepper and stir to combine:

Add the bread crumbs and the cup of grated Cabot Alpine Cheddar or your favorite Cabot Cheddar and stir it all up:

Put it in the prepared ovenproof container and top with the remaining grated cheese.

Pop it in the preheated oven! (which reminds us, this dip can be made ahead through to the point adding the 1/4 cup of cheese to the top, just refrigerate until ready to bake, pull the dip out of the refrigerator while your oven preheats and it will be good to go in when your oven is.)

Step 3: Prep The Toppings

This part is easy, chop your basil, tomatoes and red onion. You can either combine all three in one bowl, or feel free to keep them in their separate piles and top one by one, your choice.

Step 4: The Dip

Bake the dip for 15 minutes, but keep an eye on it – you want it melty but not bubbly.

Remove from the oven when done, cool for ten minutes and then top with the tomatoes, red onion and basil.

Adorn with crackers, sliced baguette and/or veggies and devour!

This dip is super easy to make and even easier to share! Thanks for reading this handy tutorial on how to make cheese dip for your game day gathering.

Click here to view the recipe in standard format: Hot Italian Cheddar Dip

For another step-by-step recipe, check out our Mac and Cheese Cupcakes! They’re a fan favorite, and super easy to make.

Prev Post Next Post

Comments (19)

Sue C. | January 18, 2018 | 3:54pm

The hot Italian dip looks delicious……….but you seem to have neglected the details (amount of each ingredient and the length of cooking time)!

Rachael | January 18, 2018 | 7:18pm

At the end we have a link to the full recipe, but here it is: https://www.cabotcheese.coop/hot-italian-cheddar-dip we hope you make it and love it! ~Rachael

Lynn | January 18, 2018 | 6:40pm

Looks delicious! Does the recipe call for 1 and 1/2 C cheddar and 8 oz cream cheese and how much bread crumbs?……..For some reason I can’t see the ingredient list

Rachael | January 18, 2018 | 7:20pm

The link for the recipe is at the end of the post, but here’s the link too: https://www.cabotcheese.coop/hot-italian-cheddar-dip which has all of the ingredients and quantities! Hope that helps! ~Rachael

Fran Moran | January 19, 2018 | 8:26am

Can you post the actual recipe please

Rachael | January 19, 2018 | 9:50am

The link for the recipe is at the end of the post, but here’s the link too: https://www.cabotcheese.coop/hot-italian-cheddar-dip we hope you love it!

Julie | January 19, 2018 | 1:14pm

I absolutely love your products. I purchase weekly, Butter, cheese and monthly cream cheese. All are awesome.

Rachael | January 24, 2018 | 7:55am

Thanks for letting us know! Our farmer owners appreciate your support 🙂

Susan | January 21, 2018 | 3:12pm

This Italian dip is a huge crowd pleaser for game day!! Thank you Cabot!

Rachael | January 24, 2018 | 7:54am

So glad you love it! Thanks for sharing 🙂

Nancy White | February 16, 2018 | 4:31pm

Would love to try this yummy recipe but need correct measurements!

Joseph Panciotti | February 16, 2018 | 10:44pm

I will do both recipes. Is this all there is to the survey?

Rachael | February 20, 2018 | 7:49am

Thanks for taking the survey and for your support of the farmers! The goal of the survey was to decide which of the new recipes we should create special blog posts for! Keep an eye out for the winning recipe! And meantime, this dip is a fan favorite and I totally recommend you make it. I don’t know anyone who has been disappointed! Thanks again 🙂

Barbara Kushner | February 26, 2019 | 3:34pm

Is your cream cheese lactose free?

Rachael | February 27, 2019 | 9:21am

Our cream cheese is not lactose-free. Only our cheddars are lactose-free as they are naturally aged which breaks down the lactose. Please check our packaging for the lactose-free icon to make sure! ~Rachael