I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been seeing all these Superbowl recipes and although I'm not much of a football buff, they've made me a bit envious. So for the first time in a few years I turned on the TV and cooked up some ginger lime buffalo wings (which I'll post later), a fresh loaf of bread and this tofu spinach artichoke dip.
My last tofu post seemed to get a good reception (I didn't even get any hatemail), so here's another tofu dish. This one was inspired by the stove-top Spinach Cheese Dip over at the fantastic White On Rice Couple.
I hope Diane doesn't kill me for mutilating her recipe, but I love spinach dip, and seeing as I could eat a whole batch by myself, I figured I needed to do something to make it a little healthier (or at least to be able to justify it in my head). I've added artichoke hearts and swapped out the cream cheese and milk for silken tofu. I also use a 50/50 mix of Parm Reg and Gruyere, then sprinkle the top with some additional Gruyere before putting it into a hot oven to brown the top.
I won't lie to you, it's not quite as rich as the all cheese version, but it's still creamy and in some ways I like it better. It still has all the cheesy flavor but is lighter, so you can eat more of it. If by some miracle there are leftovers, put it in an omelet the next morning.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
- ½ small onion (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 14 ounces artichoke hearts water (quartered)
- 10 ounces frozen spinach (defrosted, squeezed and chopped)
- 14 ounces soft tofu (drained)
- 5 ounces water chestnuts (roughly chopped)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano (freshly grated)
- ¼ cup Gruyere (grated)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- Paprika (for garnish)
Instructions
- Move your oven rack to the upper middle position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Heat an oven proof skillet and add a splash of oil. Saute the onions until they are soft then add the garlic, continuing to saute until they are well caramelized and a nice rich brown. Squeeze the excess water out of the spinach and artichoke hearts and add them to the onions, stirring to combine.
- Add the drained tofu and mash with a wooden spoon, stirring to incorporate with everything else. Add the water chestnuts, mayo, Parmigiano Reggiano and ½ C of the Gruyere. Stir together until smooth and creamy then salt and pepper to taste.
- Sprinkle the remaining Gruyere on top and dust with paprika. Bake in oven until the dip is bubbly and the cheese is golden brown.
- Enjoy with a fresh baked baguette or crackers.
Christie @ fig&cherry says
Man, I LOVE this!!! Such a wonderful combination. Ah, do you really get hate mail? I find it hard to believe.
Colin Nederkoorn says
Marc, I'm definitely making this. Hooray to healthier spinach and artichoke. Wonder what the calorie count is on this bad boy relative to a restaurant version.
Stacey Snacks says
Marc,
I make a light version of spinach artichoke dip with panko crumbs. It is always a hit. I like the skillet version.
Great photos of Tokyo.
Stace
Christie @ fig&cherry says
Man, I LOVE this!!! Such a wonderful combination. Ah, do you really get hate mail? I find it hard to believe.
Colin Nederkoorn says
Marc, I'm definitely making this. Hooray to healthier spinach and artichoke. Wonder what the calorie count is on this bad boy relative to a restaurant version.
Stacey Snacks says
Marc,
I make a light version of spinach artichoke dip with panko crumbs. It is always a hit. I like the skillet version.
Great photos of Tokyo.
Stace
We Are Never Full says
see, tofu again. i'm intrigued and i'd love to taste this to see if i miss the "all cheese". i bet you i wouldn't.
We Are Never Full says
see, tofu again. i'm intrigued and i'd love to taste this to see if i miss the "all cheese". i bet you i wouldn't.
Jen says
Wonderful variations! It'll be a must-try for my next shindig.
Jen says
Wonderful variations! It'll be a must-try for my next shindig.
manggy says
Man, I miss artichokes. I thought I'd be neck-deep in them when I came here but there aren't any fresh ones to be found (wrong timing!). Maybe I can forget all about them with this dip-- but yeah, tofu does have calories, lol. I should've totally come by and helped you finish it 😉
Marc Matsumoto says
It's even better the next day after the flavours have had a chance to settle. I think next time I make this I'll do the skillet work the day prior and then warm/brown it the next day.
Marc Matsumoto says
Well it does still have over a cup of cheese in it and tofu does have calories, but I figure the cholesterol lowering properties of the tofu maybe sort of offsets the cholesterol in the cheese and there are lots of veggies in here too:-)
manggy says
Man, I miss artichokes. I thought I'd be neck-deep in them when I came here but there aren't any fresh ones to be found (wrong timing!). Maybe I can forget all about them with this dip-- but yeah, tofu does have calories, lol. I should've totally come by and helped you finish it 😉
chiensetofurecipes says
hello,your recipes are so cool,I hope it taste the way it looks I am a chinese food amateur and like cooking the dish myself,I'll try it,I hope I could cook this dish as yours,thanks for sharing again.
chiensetofurecipes says
hello,your recipes are so cool,I hope it taste the way it looks I am a chinese food amateur and like cooking the dish myself,I'll try it,I hope I could cook this dish as yours,thanks for sharing again.
Herr Yamamoto says
You think it would work well with japanese mayonaise?
Marc Matsumoto says
It should, although Japanese mayo tends to be more acidic than the American variety.
Kathy says
I made this for guests over the weekend, who loved it, and have been happily finishing off the leftovers. I tried using the "cream cheese-style tofu" that I found at my local supermarket in Tokyo but it turned out to have a sweetness that I didn't like that much -- next time I'll just use plain tofu. Anyway, I'm looking forward to making this again, thanks as always to Marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kathy, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I had no idea there was a such thing as cream cheese-style tofu. I guess in Japan they sweeten everything so it's not totally surprising that it turned out sweet.