Are you guys as into appetizers as I am? They are my most favorite part of any meal - and today we’re giving the traditional Caprese a spin. Meet this Hot Caprese Dip that you can enjoy with all the bread!
Caprese Salads are mandatory should I ever see them on a menu. There's nothing I love more than fresh mozzarella with basil, tomatoes and some salt and pepper. It's perfect and I intend to eat more than my fair share when I'm in Italy this summer. Chances are, I'll probably just turn into a giant ball of mozzarella and to be honest, I'm 100% okay with that!
But for the days when a traditional Caprese won't cut it - or you need to feed a crowd with a delicious and easy appetizer - why not turn it into some Hot Caprese Dip! It's bubbly/melted cheese, pesto, cherry tomatoes and that's basically it! You can serve it up with crostini, seedy crackers, or scoop it up with a fork and call it a day. I’ve used a store-bought pesto for this recipe to keep things simple, but you could easily use your favorite homemade recipe as well! Either way, I promise this snack is going to be the talk of the town once you serve it to your friends and family. Just make sure to make it right before you serve it - if it sits for too long it won't be melty!
Hot Caprese Dip with TWISTOS Bruschetta Flavored Baked Snack Bites
Ingredients
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 8- ounce containers of fresh mozzarella cut into cubes
- ½- cup store bought or homemade basil pesto
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- Crostini or Bread sticks or any kind of Cracker
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- In a medium skillet, add the halved cherry tomatoes.
- Drain the mozzarella from any water that it’s packaged with and add a layer of the mozzarella over the tomatoes. Drizzle the pesto over the top and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until very hot and bubbly. Serve IMMEDIATELY with all sorts of crostini and crackers
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe from What’s Gaby Cooking
I like the idea of adding the cream cheese to keep it a good consistency for dipping or spreading. I wonder how Sun-dried tomatoes would work to prevent the runny tomatoes? Also, has anyone tried drizzling a balsamic glaze over the top after removing from the oven?
That's my question too. I'm going to use the balsamic glaze on Saturday.
Very easy to throw together and delicious!!
This does taste as good as everyone has said. Serving it in a 12" cast iron skillet is the perfect presentation. However, as some have commented and the picture shows, it is very watery. It would have to be from the tomatoes. You could serve it with crostini and let it soak up the liquid. I served it with Triscuits so that thought won't work. Next time I think I will try putting the oven on broil and heat from the top so that the tomatoes are warm but not thoroughly cooked. Another problem was the gooey cheese that was VERY hard to cut through. Perhaps shredded mozzarella would be easier to portion out??? Excellent recipe that just needs a couple of tweaks to make it easier to serve.
Love this dip, have made it several times for my family and it is now has a permanent home in my appetizer menu.
Tasted great! Looked terrible! Not sure what I did wrong..... mine was really runny, like all of the oils had separated and laid on the top of the dish. Cheese seemed really stringy too like I could not get all the ingredients incorporated together - is that normal? I really want to serve this at an upcoming party but I need to figure out where I went wrong. Any help and suggestions greatly appreciated.
It looked perfect.....until it sat 10 minutes. It was just one giant blob of cheese that even the toasted baguette chips couldn't dollop up! Suggestions?
Hey Patti!! It needs to be eaten immediately as it says in the directions. Otherwise, you could try keeping it warm in a slow cooker so the cheese stays melty!
I had the same problem- half a block of cream cheese mixed in fixed the problem!