Roasted Garlic Dip

Roasted Garlic Dip is a creamy and versatile dip made with simple ingredients. Serve this irresistible make-ahead marvel with chips, crackers, veggies, crostini, or spread it on a sandwich!

When I think of “party food,” it begins and ends with dip for me. Personally, I feel that no party is complete without chips and dip, veggies and dip, crackers and dip, bread and dip, buffalo chicken dip, or maybe all of the above.

And OK, maybe some charcuterie cups or shrimp deviled eggs, but those are in no way as important as the dip.

When I was a kid, I would look forward to my parents’ get-togethers with their friends only for the dip. I knew that a party meant that my mom would be buying potato chips and French onion dip, and I was probably going to eat half of it by myself.

Nowadays, I still love a good creamy dip with simple, delicious ingredients. This Roasted Garlic Dip recipe has a pretty short list of ingredients, but the roasting of the garlic imparts an incredible flavor into the cooling sour cream and creamy mayonnaise mixture.

Add the citrus zing of some lemon juice, and this dip is positively irresistible. 

Use this garlic dip for chips, crackers, toasted bread, or even as a dipping sauce for mini Hasselback potatoes or lamb lollipops.

What you’ll need for roasted garlic dip:

• garlic – 3 heads of garlic might seem like a lot, but the longer you roast garlic, the more its flavor mellows, so you need to use quite a bit so that the dip has a nice garlic flavor. Garlic lovers need to check out my roasted cauliflower pizza and balsamic steak marinade, too.
• olive oil – for drizzling over the heads of garlic to help them brown while they roast.
• salt and pepper – for seasoning the heads of garlic before you roast them, and also for seasoning the final garlic dip.
• sour cream – one of the creamy ingredients for this dip. But, I have alternative ideas below. Save your extra sour cream for chicken stroganoff!
• mayonnaise – the other creamy ingredient in this roasted garlic spread, and again, there are alternatives discussed below.
• lemon juice – a generous amount of lemon juice really lifts the flavors of this dip and makes it truly irresistible.
• chives – I grow chives in my garden to use in seafood pasta salad all summer long, so I like to sprinkle chives over this roasted garlic dip for garnish, too. You could also use thinly sliced green onions, another type of herb, like thyme, or skip the garnish altogether.

Some garlic roasting tips:

Before roasting, you’ll need to remove SOME of the papery outermost layers of the garlic skin. Rub the bulbs around in your hands and remove whatever comes off easily.

Take care not to remove the innermost garlic skin because we want to make sure the whole bulb stays intact as it roasts.

Once you’ve taken off the papery skin, use a sharp knife to trim off the top 1/4-inch of each garlic bulb. You want to expose just the tops of the garlic cloves themselves.

Drizzle the garlic with oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and then very loosely wrap it in foil. No need to smother it tightly.

Roast the garlic for 50 to 70 minutes, or until the garlic feels very soft when you poke it with a pairing knife.

Now, you’ll need to let the garlic bulbs cool off enough so that you can handle them, but don’t let them FULLY cool, or they’ll become hard to squeeze. I usually make myself a cocktail like an bourbon apple cider cocktail while they’re cooling, or just set timer for about 10 minutes.

Squeeze the individual cloves of garlic out of each head. Mash them with a fork and you’re ready to finish making the roasted garlic dip.

Options for the creamy elements in this roasted garlic spread:

I like the balance of 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup mayonnaise, but this roasted garlic dip recipe is very forgiving. You can use half sour cream and half mayonnaise if you want.

You can also substitute Greek yogurt for one or both ingredients. Just like with the sauce for my corned beef egg rolls, lowfat mayonnaise tastes totally fine here, too.

Want this garlic dip to be even creamier? Use cream cheese in place of the sour cream! It’s so rich and decadent that way.

Just make sure the cream cheese is room temperature or even slightly softened before stirring it in. The cream cheese variation of this dip is especially great when served with homemade garlic breadsticks.

Add some Parmesan cheese if you want!

One of my favorite ways to take this roasted garlic dip recipe to the next level is by adding a handful of Parmesan cheese. This adds a bit more saltiness and that umami flavor that our tastebuds love.

Because Parmesan contains rennet, please note that this roasted garlic spread will no longer be vegetarian if you add Parmesan cheese, unless you use a vegan Parm substitute for your garlic Parmesan dip.

My favorite ways to serve this garlic dip recipe:

When I’m not serving spicy potato chips, this is my all-time favorite chip dip for plain potato chips. You can also follow Step #1 in my crostini pizza recipe card to make the best homemade toasted bread for this garlic dip.

Spread garlic dip on crostini and top with blistered tomatoes for the best summer snack. Or serve this dip as the centerpiece of any of my food board ideas.

This roasted garlic spread is an amazing condiment for sandwiches, particularly ham and turkey sliders or even a salmon sandwich.

This garlic dip is even better if you make it in advance!

This is a great make-ahead dip, and putting it in the refrigerator really allows the flavors to meld together.

Just like my feta dressing, you CAN serve roasted garlic dip immediately after making it, but I highly recommend refrigerating it at least a couple of hours if you can. It can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 48 hours.