Chicken BBQ Bacon Dip

My teacher husband starts back at school today, so we crammed in as much as we could last week. Painting, priming, touchups, staining furniture, cleaning, school supply shopping... and a trip to the lake in there somewhere. I've still got some work to finish on the furniture, but hopefully in a week or two the master bedroom makeover will be ready for a big reveal.



Saturday we got the chance to relax with some friends, good food, and fun games. I made a cheesy, chicken, BBQ dip that I've been working on a while, and I think it's finally right (adapted from here). The dip tastes incredible, but the first time I made it, we tried scooping it only to have our chips break every time. And we are talking thick Kettle chips! We figured it was the layer of cheese on top... perhaps it had hardened too much? I rearranged the layers & tried again and it was still un-scoopable! Unless you spooned some on your plate, then it was fine? We wondered if it was the layer of chicken towards the top that time, and were determined to try again.

So this time around I ditched the layers and mixed everything together, topped it with the sauce and garnishes, and I think it worked much better. You're probably still going to want to spoon some on your plate for dipping, but it was able to pass the chip test as-is. Either way, this recipe only takes a few minutes to throw together and is a big time winner. Our friend said he wished he could dive into a vat of the stuff!




Chicken BBQ Bacon Dip

8 oz cream cheese
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups diced/shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (+ more for garnish)

½ cup BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp. real bacon bits (or 2 slices, cooked & crumbled)
1 green onion, thinly sliced


1) Preheat your oven to 375 F.

2) In a microwave save bowl, heat the cream cheese for 1 minute (or longer) until it stirs easily. Stir in the mayo, garlic, and salt until well combined, then mix in the chicken and shredded cheese. Spread into a 1 quart casserole dish (I used two smaller dishes, so the pictures show a half batch).

3) Top the cheese mixture with the BBQ sauce, then garnish with about 2 Tbsp. of shredded cheese and then the bacon bits. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Top with sprinkle of green onion slices and serve with original Kettle Chips.