Baked pizza dip
- Preparation 25 min
- Cooking 35 min
- Servings 7 to 8
- Freezing I do not suggest
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🍕 A truly, seriously indulgent dip
This is a truly, seriously indulgent dip. Not the kind you nibble at while wondering if you should go back for more, this one you’d eat with a spoon if you had to. Cream cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni, two cheeses layered and baked until bubbly, all cooked in the same skillet that browned the onion and garlic first. No extra dish to wash, no fuss.
🏒 It’s not just a holiday thing
It’s not just a holiday thing. A hockey game, a soccer match, a friend’s birthday, any time people gather around a screen or a coffee table, this pizza dip fits right in. Set it on the table and everyone dives in like there’s no tomorrow.
😋 It smells amazing, and it disappears fast
The whole house smells like pizza while it bakes, and that already does half the work. People show up in the kitchen before it’s even out of the oven. Once it hits the table, they go crazy for it every single time, and there’s never enough left for the next day.
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🧀 It gets a little oily, and that’s fine
With this much cheese and pepperoni baking together, some fat rises to the surface. That’s normal, and honestly a good sign. Give it a quick stir before you dip, then dip away.
🍕 Build it with whatever’s in your fridge
Bell peppers, mushrooms, black olives, crumbled cooked bacon, all of these layer in fine without changing anything else in the recipe. It’s a base, not a rulebook.
📅 Making it ahead
You can assemble the whole thing the night before, cover it and keep it in the fridge. The next day it goes straight into the oven, same bake time.
🔥 If it firms up a bit on the table
That rarely happens given how fast it disappears, but if it does, a few minutes back in the oven brings it right back to bubbling.
🥂 How many people it feeds
Plan on 7 to 8 as an appetizer, more if it’s part of a bigger dip spread.
🧊 Leftovers
They keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat in the oven, not the microwave, so the cheese gets its texture back instead of turning rubbery.
✅ What to serve with my pizza dip?
Toasted bread, pitas or chips all do the job depending on what you’ve got on hand. For a real dip spread at your next party, pair it with my hot spinach artichoke dip, my caramelized onion dip or my bruschetta dip for bread, all set out at once.
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Ingredients
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Olive oil
- 250 g light cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Italian spices
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) garlic powder
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) pizza sauce
- About 40 slices (150 g) pizza pepperoni
- 2 cups (500 ml) grated pizza mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) grated Parmesan cheese
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C).
- In a 9” oven-friendly skillet over medium heat, add the onion and garlic and drizzle a good stream of olive oil. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring. Pour into a large bowl.
- Add the cream cheese, mayonnaise, spices, season with salt and pepper and mix well.
- In the skillet, spread 1/4 cup (60 ml) pizza sauce. Pour in the cream cheese mixture, spread on the bottom and add a little sauce on top.
- Add 1/3 of the pepperoni, half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Pour a little pizza sauce on top.
- Add half of the remaining pepperoni, the rest of the sauce, followed by the rest of the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni.
- Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, until it’s bubbling at the edges. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before eating. Serve with toast, pitas or Tostitos!
Mix the cream cheese with the mayonnaise and spices first, then build it in layers with the sauce, pepperoni and cheeses in the same oven-safe skillet you used to cook the onion and garlic. Bake until it’s bubbling at the edges.
Pulling it out too early is the big one. It needs to bubble at the edges, not just look warm in the middle, or the center stays loose once it cools.
Yes, assemble the whole thing the night before, cover it and refrigerate. Bake it straight from the fridge the next day, same time.
I do not suggest it. The cream cheese and mozzarella lose their texture after thawing and the dip turns grainy instead of creamy.
Plan on 7 to 8 people as an appetizer. A cold version of this dip is coming to the site soon, for anyone who’d rather skip the oven.
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