Collard Greens Dip with Bacon

This Bacon and Greens Dip is a creamy collard greens dip made with a little crispy bacon, cream cheese, sour cream, and a kick of Cajun spice. You cook the greens and onion in a skillet, then purée everything in a food processor, and it's ready in about 40 minutes. Lighter cream cheese and sour cream keep it on the healthier side of party dips, and a small amount of bacon adds plenty of flavor.

I first made this dip to bring for Thanksgiving, and it works just as well for Christmas and New Year's parties or a game day spread. Serve it with pita chips and a glass of sparkling wine. I paired it with a crisp French Blanc de Blancs, and the bubbles cut through the salty bacon and creamy dip nicely. More on that pairing below.

I stumbled onto this pairing. Usually I’m plotting for awhile about what I want to do for the monthly Wine Pairing Weekend event. But this pairing started when I developed a Bacon and Greens Dip recipe to bring on Thanksgiving. Then as I was rounding up a few bottles of wine to bring for the holiday feast, I grabbed a bottle of tasty yet moderately priced sparkling wine that I thought would be a nice way to start out. Low and behold, this bubbly worked well with the Bacon and Greens Dip. I recalled that Jeff from Food Wine Click had picked Sparkling Wines and Hors D'oeuvres as our December #winePW theme, and I realized I had my pairing ready to go!

If you look at my photos closely, you’ll note that we did miss something when preparing this pairing for the blog photo opp. With all the food available on Thanksgiving, there was enough dip leftover to enjoy the next day after we did the photos. But alas, we “had” to pick up another bottle of the bubbly. For the sequel, all the bacon had been incorporated in the dip, so we didn’t have the bacon crumbles on top as in the photo below, taken after I first made the dip. I definitely recommend that touch for the presentation!

I originally made this Bacon and Greens Dip for Thanksgiving, but it certainly lends itself to serving around Christmas and New Year’s. This can start easing in some of those healthy eating habits. The dip features healthy collard greens, and uses lower fat cream cheese and sour cream. Lest you rush too quickly into those New Year’s fitness regimes, there is the indulgence of bacon…though it doesn’t take a lot to add some nice flavor. Recipe details follow the wine pairing description. Speaking of recipe details, the spice details were jotted down from my recall the next day. Feel free to play with the proportions to find the blend that works best for your palate!

Wine Pairing: I may not have carefully plotted out this pairing, but this one builds on a lot of good pairing basics. Sparkling wine is versatile, and is particularly good for cleansing the palate when eating salty foods. There wasn’t a lot of bacon, as I mentioned, but enough to give it a saltiness that was balanced nicely by the bubbly. Creamy foods? Again, sparkling wine is a great answer. Last time I checked, cream cheese qualified as creamy, so bubbly works with that element, too.

OK, time to talk about the bubbly we paired with the Bacon and Greens Dip. I went with the Varichon & Clerc Privilege Blanc de Blancs, made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Ugni Blanc and Colombard grapes. The method is similar to that of the Champagne region, but is priced substantially less, hailing from the area between Lyon and Geneva. This is a good value bottle.

So how did the pairing work? The dip has some spice, and a bit of saltiness from the bacon. The wine is clean and crisp, with peach fruit, refreshes the palate and gets you ready for that next tasty bite. A winning pairing, and certainly a holiday party friendly bottle of bubbly at this price point.

Recipe card

Bacon and Greens Dip

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4.5 from 2 reviews

Bacon and Greens Dip features collard greens for some nutritional benefit along with tasty bacon. Low-fat cream cheese and sour cream keep this appetizer reasonably healthy.

• Author: Cooking Chat
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Appetizer
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

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• 1 to 2 slices bacon
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch collard greens, thick stems removed and coarsely chopped
• ⅓ cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 8 ozs lite cream cheese, removed from fridge 30 minutes before preparing
• ½ cup low fat sour cream
• ½ tsp cajun seasoning mix
• 1 tsp cumin
• pinch cayenne
• salt to taste

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Instructions

1. Heat a large skillet with oil spray on medium high. Add the bacon, cook until crispy on both sides, about 10 minutes. Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate to cool. When the bacon has cooled, crumble it into bite sized pieces.
2. Wipe the heavy bacon grease from the skillet, then heat the olive oil on medium. Add the onions, cook until they are soft about 5 minutes.
3. Gradually stir the collard greens into the skillet, stirring gently to combine with the onion. Add the chicken stock and red pepper flakes, cover, and simmer on medium low for about 15 minutes.
4. Add the garlic to a food processor and give them a brief whir to mince. Add the cream cheese and sour cream, then pulse the processor again to combine with the garlic.
5. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the cooked collard greens and onion into the food processor. Reserve a teaspoon or so of the bacon, then put the remainder into the food processor with the greens. Puree until the greens are well combined with the cheese.
6. Add the cajun spice, cumin and cayenne to the dip. Puree again to incorporate the spices.
7. To serve, scoop some of the dip into a bowl, and top with the reserved bacon bit. Serve with pita chips…and sparkling wine, if you are so inclined!

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