5 Hot Dips You Should Be Serving In Bread Bowls

What's a gathering without a big bowl of dip around which to gather? With so many of the best dip recipes right at your fingertips, it's really a matter of picking your favorite for an unforgettable, shareable snacktime. In fact, if you truly want to level up your party offerings, try serving any of your favorite hot dips out of a bread bowl. In a similar vein to how you'd serve soup, you can just as easily select from any number of savory dip recipes and find a coordinating bread bowl and dipping implements to pair alongside it. Rather than needing a thick and creamy soup to prevent a soggy bread bowl, you simply need a warm and satisfying dip of the ideal consistency to do the job.

Whether you're using a baguette hack to create smaller, individual bread bowls or hollowing out a hunk of sourdough, there's a dip for all occasions that will fit in perfectly. This is best with savory dips like buffalo chicken, spicy black bean, or others so that you can use a good, crusty bread to accommodate. The wide variety of proteins, ingredients, and styles of dip means that you can make a lot of different dips for accessible offerings.

Our first option is the aptly-titled cheeseburger dip recipe. This dip boasts a bevy of delightful savory ingredients that mimic the taste and texture of your favorite fast food sandwich. Made from a mixture of cooked seasoned ground beef with onions, pickles, Thousand Island dressing, and shredded cheddar cheese, this dip is stabilized with a generous helping of cream cheese, giving it an extra level of thickness. The mixture of meat and cheese is first baked in the oven before topping with pickles and dressing for serving. Keeping this in mind, it's advised that you first bake your dip and scoop the mixture into your bread bowl before adding the toppings.

While sourdough bread is among the most common for bread bowls, you might try doing a riff on a homemade sesame bagel recipe for more burger bun-inspired ingredients. You can experiment with finding the right bread because you don't have to be limited to just one kind. As for dippers, tortilla chips are recommended but a nice kettle-cooked potato chip or even crispy-style steak fries would lean more into the cheeseburger flavor profile. In fact, fried pickle chips or spears would be the most aligned to your cheeseburger dip and you can easily make those using an air fryer.

One of the best snacks for game day or all year long, creamy Buffalo chicken dip is a super simple and surprisingly robust offering that you can easily serve in a bread bowl. Made using no more than six main ingredients, this dip calls for cream cheese, Buffalo sauce such as Frank's Red Hot, ranch dressing, shredded cooked chicken breast, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onions. You can make it as spicy and tangy as you'd like, and, similar to the cheeseburger dip, cream cheese is the main thickening ingredient, making this creamy dip ideal for a bread bowl.

Just imagine how good a creamy Buffalo chicken dip will taste served out of a sourdough bread bowl. The tanginess of the sourdough bread mixed together with this hot and savory dip is a winning combination. Serving sticks of carrots and celery is definitely the way to go to get the most authentic pairing for a Buffalo chicken-inspired snack. If you want to stretch this, you can even try using cucumber or jicama sticks if you wish. Don't forget to drizzle some extra hot sauce on top of your baked dip after transferring it from the dish to your bread bowl before serving.

For a simple snack that's filled with flavor and entirely vegetarian, try a spicy black bean dip recipe. The presence of jalapeños in this dish means you can turn up the heat as much or as little as you'd like while the canned black beans, cilantro, and garlic ensure a fresh-tasting dip that's convenient to assemble. Because this dip isn't baked, it's even easier to combine all the ingredients together and blend until smooth before transferring the mixture to any bread bowl of your choosing.

Playing on the aromatic ingredients in the recipe, try using a garlic bread bowl for serving the dip or even adding a hearty handful of shredded cheese or queso fresco on top before serving. If you're feeling extra spicy, get adventurous by using a loaf of hollowed-out jalapeño cheese bread to bring the heat. This is perfectly complemented with a handful of tortilla chips for dipping. In fact, if you want to spice things up even more, add similar seasonings from the dip recipe such as cumin and lime juice to your chips before serving up your dip.

For a dip that hits all the right umami notes, look no further than cheesy crab Rangoon dip. If you and your guests have an appetite for fish and cheese, this baked snack is ideal for a bread bowl. Following a similar style of serving creamy New England clam chowder in a bread bowl, you can easily whip up a dip made with savory lump crab meat and a blend of cheeses and season it with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic powder for a satisfying snack. What's more, baking your own wonton chips will definitely add to the overall taste and texture inspired by the humble crab Rangoon. For this one, you'll want a nice, crusty bread that doesn't have too overpowering a flavor as the ingredients in this dip should truly shine on their own merit.

If you're looking for more nutritious alternatives to fried wonton chips, consider trying out some complementary vegetables. Either snap pea crisps, fried or dried green beans, or even DJ&A Shiitake Mushroom Crisps would make a wholesome addition as dippers. If you want an extra hint of seafood flavor, try using shrimp chips. There's definitely no wrong way to enjoy crab Rangoon dip.

Another veggie-rich offering is elote-style corn dip, which is a good match for summertime barbecues and more. If you're feeling confident in your cornbread, you can even get extra corny with a bread bowl made from your favorite recipe. For individual serving "bowls" that would be more structurally sound, use a classic corn pone recipe or fry up bite-sized chunks of cornbread into croutons to use as dippers. With its mix of fresh corn, mayonnaise, and spices, this dip is not to be missed. In fact, if you really want to play up the cheese factor, try making a grilled cheese bread bowl out of which to serve your elote dip.

This dip is perfect for experimenting with different serving styles and spices whether you want to keep it plain and simple or turn up the heat. Tortilla chips are a gold standard for elote dip, but you can definitely elevate your dippers to new heights by trying out cheese crisps, black bean chips, or even fried yuca. Embrace the possibilities and enjoy getting creative with hot dips in bread bowls.