Artichoke Dip & Homemade Garlic Pita Chips

Artichoke Dip & Homemade Garlic Pita Chips ~ artichoke dip and those homemade garlic chips make the best ever snacking!

My daughter's first real job was as a bus person for a restaurant her grandfather and my step-dad owned. They also had her help with some prep work in the kitchen. For some event they made a huge batch of artichoke dip and my daughter wrote down all of the ingredients (smart girl) and we scaled it down to make it here at home. This is one of those dips that we savor on special occasions and for entertaining family and friends. The dip itself is absolutely delicious and tastes even better with the homemade garlic pita chips.
I am going to give you both recipes here in one post! Let me tell you one thing in advance: you'll never want just a plain pita chip or one from the bag again. And the "betcha can't eat just one" applies here to these chips!

Yesterday we had a gathering of friends here at our home and I made this Artichoke Dip & Homemade Garlic Pita Chips as one of the snack offerings. We also made other snacks and our friends brought some great snacks as well. I just love seeing what everyone brings! It's always potluck and it's always good.

ARTICHOKE DIP:

• 2 cans artichoke hearts - drained and finely chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups mayonnaise (I prefer Hellmann's)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. granulated garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Use your food processor to chop the artichoke hearts. Keep pulsing until they are small.
2. Then place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend with a spoon.
3. Put the mixture in a casserole dish and bake in the oven at 350° until the top is a light golden brown and the mixture is bubbling.
4. Serve with garlic pita chips.

GARLIC PITA CHIPS

• 1 pkg. pita bread (I used white, but wheat is fine)
• 2 sticks of butter - melted
• 1 tbsp. granulated garlic
• 3 tbsp. (heaping) - minced jar garlic (or chopped garlic)
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried basil

1. Slice each pita bread in half. Then open the pocket and run your knife and split each half into two pieces so you get four halves. Continue until all the pita bread is done.
2. Cut the sticks of butter into chunks then place in a large Pyrex measuring cup.
3. Melt in the microwave using some sort of cover over the Pyrex like a paper towel or plastic wrap. Otherwise your microwave will be splatted with butter. Microwave for 1 minute, then longer if need be.
4. To the melted butter add in the garlic, basil and granulated garlic. Mix well. Let this sit for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the pita bread to the sheet trays. Using a pastry brush, brush on the mixture getting lots of the garlic on each one. 
   
6. Top with extra cheese is optional - but you can never have enough cheese!
7. Bake in a preheated 350° oven until crisp and golden brown.
8. When they come out of the oven cut them into triangles as best you can.

I have huge restaurant sized sheet trays and used 2 of them. You may have to do these in batches to bake them all. Also if you don't have a pastry brush, just spoon on and smooth out the butter mixture.

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts approximately, serving many
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Cost: for both the dip and pita chips the approximate cost is $15.79.

Click to Tweet:
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I really hope you fall in love with this delicious Artichoke Dip & Homemade Garlic Pita Chips! If you happen to have any left over, it reheats quite nicely using your microwave, toaster oven or regular oven.