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This warm, flavorful artichoke dip recipe is made with nutrient-loaded mayonnaise rich in healthy fats that you can buy or make at home. Only 4 ingredients!
My friend Paula Jager CSCS likes to host holiday parties at her Crossfit gym. It’s always a cozy affair attended by a few dozen friends and family. The buffet of food is entirely primal, which means that no grains were incorporated into any of the dishes. To these types of events, I like to bring a large pan of artichoke dip to share.
Many crossfitters follow a primal or even a paleo (no grains, starches, or dairy) approach to eating. It has achieved quite a degree of popularity in recent years as evidenced by the strong primal contingent represented at the annual Wise Traditions Conference.
I myself do eat traditionally prepared grains, but frequently eat meals with no grains whatsoever. In fact, most of my meals are entirely grain-free come to think about it!
As a result, I am very comfortable at Primal/Paleo parties and find the food to be, in a word – terrific! Paula supplies the meats and beverages and everyone else who attends brings a shareable covered dish.
Below is the recipe for my party-sized artichoke dip. It proved to be popular and I came home with very little leftovers (much to my husband’s disappointment!).
Healthy and Creamy Artichoke Dip
This artichoke dip recipe can either be healthy or really unhealthy depending entirely on the method of preparation. If you use canned artichokes (loaded with BPA) and store mayo (even from the healthfood store), this dish would be turn out rather toxic as cooking any omega-6 vegetable oil is a big no-no as it turns them rancid.
Rancid vegetable oils are very hard to digest and will give some folks a headache. Eat too many of these baddies and brown spots and uneven patches of skin pigmentation may even begin to appear. Note that the dish would still be very tasty, just really hard on the digestion.
If you take the time to make your own mayo with avocado oil and source artichokes in glass jars, however, this dish is healthy as well as incredibly tasty. It is best to make your own healthy avocado oil mayo, which I recommend over any other oil for making this particular condiment.
But, if you must buy, this is my preferred brand. Avocado oil is not only mild tasting, but is heat stable, and as such, can be used for cooked dishes like this artichoke dip without turning rancid.
If you aren’t able to make or buy decent mayo or need the dish to be egg-free, you can substitute creme fraiche or another type of cultured cream instead.
Here is the method I used to transform this conventionally unhealthy dish into one that you can proudly take to any party. It will please both foodies and fast food junkies alike.
If artichokes aren’t your thing, check out this recipe for cheesy onion dip instead!
I recommend this easy recipe for sourdough tortilla chips for healthy dipping!
Homemade Artichoke Dip Recipe
This warm, flavorful artichoke dip recipe is made with healthy mayo that you can buy or make yourself which can be baked in the oven without turning rancid boosting your energy but not your backside.
Ingredients
- 60 oz artichokes drained, quartered
- 1.5 cups mayonnaise
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2-4 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
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Mix ingredients together well in a 9x13 glass baking dish.
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Bake at 350 °F/ 177 °C until bubbly and browned on top, about 20-30 minutes.
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Serve with cut pieces of organic celery, carrot sticks, healthy chips or sourdough crackers. This recipe for no grain pizza crust (made with almond meal flour) makes excellent crackers too!
Recipe Notes
You may substitute 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder for the cloves in a pinch.
If you choose to make the mayo yourself instead of buy it, make sure it is made with mild tasting avocado oil. Avocado oil is primarily an omega-9 fat like olive oil. Omega-9 (monounsaturated) fats can be heated without becoming rancid. This dish will be cooked and heating mayo made with sunflower oil or another omega-6 vegetable oil will create free radicals which are health damaging although the dish would still deceptively taste great.
Sarah, I have looked at the glass-jarred artichokes at the store but they all contain veggie oils… isn’t that what we try to avoid?? Looks like buying fresh is the way to go.
Sounds great!
Yummy! Love artichoke dip, thanks for sharing this version!
MMM that sounds so good
http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fats#poly. PUFAs are no good.
Can you link us to some articles about the “omega 6 vegetable oils get rancid when cooked” thing?
OMG, the “baddie” version of this used to be a signature holiday party dish of mine! Two cups each of mayo, artichoke hearts and parm cheese, nuked in the microwave and served with Ritz crackers. Bad bad bad. My bad, everyone’s bad.
I’m intrigued by what you said about the ill effects of bad oils on your skin and complexion, “Eat too many of these baddies and brown spots and uneven patches of skin pigmentation may even begin to appear.” Over the last 4 years, after transitioning to traditional fats and getting all the hydrogenated margarine and rancid veg oils out of my system, I noticed my skin is nicer looking and I no longer seem to sunburn or need sunscreen of any kind (and you know I’m fair with blonde hair and blue eyes). I know I’ve seen the explanation for this somewhere, but I can’t remember where (WAP site? your site?). Maybe those fake fat cells fool your body and actually enter your cells and wreak havoc over time, making it reactive to the sun and prone to acne, cancer, spots, etc.? It might make for a fascinating post or follow-up post somewhere down the road. I’d love to see that, as well as an article comparing skin of SAD Eaters and Trad Eaters, akin to the live blood analysis comparison article on the Weston Price website.
By the way, for making mayo, do you know if anyone has done further testing of olive oils (beyond the frig test) since the olive oil adulturation scam was revealed in The New Yorker, and if any of the nicer store-bought varieties are 100% pure olive oil (like Bionatura, or Napa Valley Naturals, etc.)?
Hi Beth, my husband is fair skinned with blue eyes and has experienced the same thing as you – once he began eating the whole saturated fats again he found he no longer burned very easily – even in midday FL sun! It is because the skin cells (every cell actually) has a cell wall that is supposed to be made of saturated fat which is very strong fat and resistant to heat and other sources of oxidation. When people eat primarily rancid vegetable oils in the diet which would happen on a lowfat diet or a processed food heavy diet, the skin cell walls would begin to be made up of inferior fats that would get damaged very easily by the sun. This is why eating a diet full of whole, saturated fats is important not only for your health, but for your looks as well!
Don’t know about the olive oil scam . . best to buy from a small producer to avoid this type of problem so quality is ensured. There are a couple good ones posted on my resources page (hopefully up by Friday, 12/17 so check there for sources that have been vetted).
Thanks for the skinny on skin. Here’s the article from The New Yorker on the slippery slope of spurious olive oil, cut with all manner of lesser oils including canola, soy, hazelnut and sunflower:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller?currentPage=all
Also, here’s a more recent publication on olive oil fraud, a study released this past summer by UC Davis:
Wow, a simple internet search turned up a whole slew of articles resulting from these exposes. Looks like we need to be as diligent about vetting EVOO sources as we are for grassfed meat, pastured eggs, etc. I’ll check your resources page for sure.
thanks Sarah, I will have to try this for my Christmas party! I hope I can find artichokes in glass jars.
Hi Marina, I found the artichokes in glass jars at my regular supermarket, believe it or not!
Great recipe! I LOVE artichoke dip! Thank you.