50 Delicious Dips You Can Make Tonight And What To Pair Them With

When it comes to appetizers, there are two routes you can go. You can, of course, carefully craft individual hors d'oeuvres, but a far easier method is to make up a one-pot (or pan) dip and then simply arrange a platter of chips, crudités, crackers, or other easy dippers. For easy entertaining or simple stay-at-home snacking, we're big fans of the latter low-effort approach.

Before we get into the recipes, we just want to go over what, exactly, constitutes a dip. Generally, a sauce is thought of as something that goes on top of food while a dip is something served on the side for, well, dipping purposes. There is, however, a certain amount of crossover between the two, so you will find certain recipes on this list that are labeled as sauces. Each one of them, we assure you, can serve double duty as a dip. What's more, all of these recipes come complete with suggested dippers.

The bean dip that comes in cans in the snack chip aisle may seem like pretty dubious stuff, but at least it's convenient since all you need to do to prepare it is to open the pull tab. This upgraded bean dip, however, is not only way more flavorful, but really isn't too much more difficult to make. You'll still open a few cans (in this case, refried beans), then you'll simply mix them with cream cheese and taco seasoning. Bake the dip until it's hot, then enjoy with the sturdier kind of tortilla chip.

Recipe: Bean Dip

Hummus is perhaps the most popular Middle Eastern dip, if supermarket snack aisles are anything to go by. In fact, so Americanized has hummus become that it's now even available in a wide range of flavors, both savory and sweet. Dessert hummus still tends to be a bit polarizing, though, so for parties and gatherings we recommend sticking with a classic type, like this lemon-flavored dip. It's tasty, tangy, and goes great with raw vegetables and pita triangles.

Recipe: Lemon Hummus

For a dip that's really cheesy, you can't do better than one made entirely out of cheese. How is this possible? By using brie. Brie is a cheese that's fairly soft even straight out of the fridge, but if you bake it, it becomes gooey enough to dip crackers into or to spread on slices of French or Italian bread. For a sweet and savory combo, top the baked brie with honey or maybe even some fruit jelly when it's still warm from the oven.

Recipe: Baked Brie

While you may know tzatziki best as a condiment for gyros, the yogurt-based sauce made with our recipe is actually thick enough to use as a dip, too. Our secret is using Greek yogurt, although if you have the plain kind, this can also work as long as you strain the liquid out first. Blend the yogurt with chopped cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, and dill, then use your tzatziki as a dipping sauce for pita bread or souvlaki skewers.

Recipe: Homemade Tzatziki

Most recipes for 7-layer dip tend to be made with typical Tex-Mex ingredients, and this one is no exception. It starts with a mixture of refried beans, cream cheese, sour cream, and spices -– and that's just layer #1. Layer #2 is another combo: guacamole and chopped tomatoes. More sour cream, then salsa, then shredded cheese and lettuce make up layers 3 through 6, while the 7^th layer is sliced black olives (swap these out for pickled jalapeños if you wish). This dip is meant to be served with tortilla chips, but they'll need to be the extra-sturdy kind if you want to get all 7 layers at once.

Recipe: 7-Layer Dip

When most produce gets soft and mushy, you generally want to reluctantly dump it in the compost bin. Not so with avocados — softness is cause for rejoicing, since you can now turn them into guacamole! While this dip can be made simply from mashed avocados plus a little lemon or lime juice and salt, this recipe ups the ante with diced tomatoes and onions and chopped cilantro. If you want more spice, you could also add some diced jalapeños (fresh or pickled) or hot sauce. As for what to dip in the guacamole, do you even have to ask? Tortilla chips, of course!

Recipe: Quick And Easy Guacamole

While all of the dips we've covered so far are savory ones, there's such a thing as dessert dip, too. This vanilla-flavored dip is made with a yogurt base sweetened with honey and flavored with cinnamon, orange zest, and vanilla extract. If you serve it with fresh fruit, it makes for a very light and healthy meal ender. For something a bit more indulgent, however, you could also use it as a dip for vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, or shortbread cookies.

Recipe: Vanilla Fruit Dip

Buffalo wings are famed as a football-watching food, so much so that they're often hailed as the official snack of Super Bowl Sunday. They can be kind of a hassle to make, though, and ordering takeout can cost big bucks if you're feeding a crowd. An easier way to get all of those great Buffalo wing flavors? Making Buffalo chicken dip. The chicken, blue cheese, and hot sauce are all there, plus some mayonnaise and cream cheese to make them dippable. Add some celery sticks for dunking, and you'll be all set for game day.

Recipe: Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip

Spinach and artichokes are two vegetables that you may not think to pair up, but they work surprisingly well together in this cold, creamy dip. The mild, sweet canned artichoke hearts help to temper any bitterness from the frozen spinach, while the mixture of cream cheese, mozzarella, and sour cream add richness to the blend. This dip goes nicely with pita chips, thin-sliced bread, and the buttery sort of crackers (Ritz, Town House, or similar).

Recipe: Cold Spinach Artichoke Dip

One of the things we love about hummus is how well it serves as a backdrop for other flavors. Okay, we may still be a bit skeptical about sweet hummus flavors like chocolate mint or pina colada (neither seems to go well with tahini and chickpeas), but when it comes to savory hummus flavors, we've seldom met one we didn't like. In this recipe, the basic hummus formula is enhanced with sauteed onions for an extra-delicious dip. While this hummus goes well with crackers and vegetables, it's at its best when scooped up with triangles of warm, soft pita bread.

Recipe: Caramelized Onion Hummus

Cilantro is one of the most polarizing herbs, although interestingly enough, there may be a scientific reason why some people hate the stuff. According to research studies, if you have a certain genetic marker, cilantro may taste like soap. If you don't like it, you don't like it, but you should still be able to enjoy some guacamole goodness.

The only green in this recipe comes from avocado and lime juice, with the guacamole getting plenty of non-soapy flavor from onions, tomatoes, garlic, and chipotle powder. You can use this guacamole on burgers or toast if you wish, or go classic and eat it with chips.

Recipe: Guacamole Without Cilantro

Making pico de gallo is quick, simple, and requires no cooking. In this 15-minute recipe, a food processor is used to chop onions, garlic, cilantro, and tomatoes, although you can chop them by hand if you prefer. If you're going the time-saving appliance route, though, be careful not to over-process the vegetables into a watery mush. If you manage to achieve the proper chunky pico de gallo texture, this salsa makes a great dip for sturdy tortilla chips. Should you make the mistake of over-blending the sauce, though, at least it'll work with thinner chips, as well.

Recipe: 15-Minute Pico De Gallo

Tomatillos may look like little green tomatoes, but they're actually a different type of fruit with a tart flavor and extra-firm flesh. They make for a great green salsa, though — or salsa verde, en español. Here they're combined with cilantro, garlic, lime, and onion to make a spicy, tangy chip dip. The kind of chips you use will depend on how enthusiastically you employ your blender. If you leave the sauce fairly chunky, you should probably use a more robust chip.

Recipe: Fresh Tomatillo Salsa Verde

We're all familiar with basic guacamole: mashed avocados, lime or lemon juice, and salt, maybe jazzed up with some chiles, cilantro, onions, and/or chopped tomatoes. It's good stuff, all right, but even a classic can stand for a few tweaks now and then. This guacamole recipe keeps all the standard components, including onions, tomatoes, and cilantro, but changes things up by cooking the tomatoes and limes and stirring in some dried oregano and fresh corn. Just like the more typical type of guacamole, this dip still pairs perfectly with tortilla chips.

Recipe: Unique Guacamole

Baba ganoush by any other name would still taste as great -– and that's exactly what you're getting here with this creamy eggplant dip that's made with the exact same ingredients as that classic Middle Eastern dish. It, too, combines roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil and also partners beautifully with triangles of pita bread. What, then, differentiates it from baba ganoush? Perhaps just the fact that for some, the name is easier to spell.

Recipe: Creamy Eggplant Dip

While this corn salsa is technically more of a salad, it can definitely work as a dip, as well. The bulk of the dish comes from fresh or frozen corn, although this vegetable is supplemented by smaller amounts of chopped tomatoes and onions and flavored by lime juice, jalapeños, and cilantro. While you can eat this corn salsa on its own by the spoonful or bowlful, you can scoop it up with thick tortilla chips, too.

Recipe: Roasted Corn Salsa

If you're reading this in January or June, your first thought might be "Yuck, spiders!" If the calendar reads October, though, you probably know what we're getting at here. Yep, this Halloween recipe is just perfect for spooky get-togethers. The base is a typical layered taco dip of refried beans, guacamole, salsa, and cheese, but its name comes from a tangy "web" of sour cream on top. While this dip goes well with tortilla chips of any kind, ones in Halloweeny shades of black, orange, or even green would add the perfect touch.

Recipe: Spider Web Taco Dip

Peanut butter is an interesting ingredient as it works just as well in savory recipes as it does in sweet ones. In this particular recipe, we're leaning into its sweeter side by adding some maple syrup to a dip made from peanut butter blended with plain yogurt. This maple-flavored peanut butter dip works well with fruit as a healthy dessert alternative, but if you omit the maple syrup you could use it for dunking sliced vegetables and celery sticks, instead.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

Caramelizing onions is no easy thing, it's true -– it can require 45 minutes or more of standing over a pan and stirring, stirring, stirring. Still, there's nothing like the flavor you get from onions that have been cooked so long that they release their natural sugar. Here caramelized onions are being put to good use in a creamy onion dip that's a more sophisticated take on the midcentury classic made with soup mix. One thing this dip has in common with its predecessor, though, is that it's the perfect partner for potato chips, particularly the kind with ridges.

Recipe: Caramelized Onion Dip

Want a quick and easy dip that's packed with protein and full of flavor? It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. Step 1: Open some cans of black beans. Step 2: Chop up a few fresh jalapeños. Step 3: Throw both in the blender with some lime juice, garlic, and seasonings and press play. (Okay, we admit, if you need to peel and chop the garlic yourself, that's a fourth step, but our recipe was made with the kind from a jar.) Break out the tortilla chips and get set to enjoy this delicious black bean dip.

Recipe: Easy Black Bean Dip

Bagna cauda is an Italian dip with a name that The New York Times Magazine tells us translates to "hot bath." While this may sound comfortable, it doesn't sound very tasty, but rest assured, this dish belies its not-so-appetizing name. It's made of butter, cream, anchovies, and garlic and, as per the name, is served warm. Bagna cauda makes a delightful dip for thin-sliced bread (break out the fondue forks if you're feeling fancy), but you might also wish to serve it with crudites to help offset some of the richness.

Recipe: Silky Bagna Cauda

This mango salsa recipe only calls for six ingredients and yet it manages to combine a wide range of taste sensations. You have the sweetness of the mango contrasting with tart lime juice and rich, ripe avocados, while tomatoes, onions, and cilantro add some familiar southwestern flavor. You may wish to sprinkle in a little salt, too, or even up the ante with some chopped chiles to make it an even eight ingredients. While his sweet-and-sour salsa makes a nice sauce for fish or chicken, it can also be used as a dip for tortilla chips.

Recipe: Fresh Mango Salsa

What can't you mix into hummus? These days, it seems that just about anything goes with this ultra-versatile condiment. Even if you're not a fan of some of the more out-there types of dessert hummus, though (cake batter, really?), surely you'll agree that fresh basil, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese pair nicely with chickpeas, tahini, and lemon. This pesto hummus, a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern crossover, works equally well with crostini or pita, or you can simply open a box of crackers instead.

Recipe: Homemade Pesto Hummus

If you order chips and salsa from Chipotle, you'll get a choice of several different types, but one is so hearty it's practically a side or an appetizer even without the chips — yes, we're talking about the corn salsa. Our super-easy copycat recipe is made with canned corn, so all you'll need to do is open a few cans, do some chopping, and squeeze some limes. Mix them all together and you'll have a corn salsa that tastes just like Chipotle's and can be eaten either as a dip for chips or as a salad.

Recipe: Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

What to do with an excess of zucchini? This is a dilemma that many gardeners (and their neighbors) face each summer as this prolific produce comes into season. Sure, zucchini bread is a tried-and-true solution to the surplus problem, but there's only so much of the stuff you can eat. May we suggest that you try using zucchini in place of cucumber in your next batch of tzatziki? It makes for quite a satisfactory substitute, and the resulting dip can be enjoyed with pita triangles, sliced vegetables, or shish kebab.

Recipe: Zucchini Tzatziki Sauce