My friend texted me the other day, “Dear Food Marriage, Help! I need a Halloween-Themed Mexican Dish to bring to a party!” So I told her I’d do some brainstorming and get back to her. I thought of a great Taco Dip that I make….but couldn’t think of how to make it Halloween themed aside from inserting tortilla chips and saying they were gravestones, but I didn’t think that the tortilla chips would ever look remotely like gravestones.
So I did some research online and came across a recipe from Sandra Lee of Food Network! She called it “Spider’s Nest Dip.” Here’s my adaptation of her recipe. I made it in a white pie dish this time, but next time I may try for a clear pie dish so you can see all the layers!
Ingredients:
- 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
- 1 packet of taco seasoning mix
- 1 container Sour Cream
- 1 can of refried beans
- 1 bag of shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1 jar of salsa
- 1 can of chopped black olives
- 1 cup guacamole
- Tortilla chips
Directions:
- Set cream cheese out in advance to allow it to get soft.
- Mix the cream cheese, about 2/3 of the taco seasoning packet and 1 cup of sour cream together in a bowl. I used a hand mixer to blend. Save the rest of the sour cream until later to decorate.
- Get a pie dish and spread a thin layer of refried beans on the bottom.
- Add about 2/3 of the bag of cheese on top of the refried beans.
- Microwave your dish with beans and cheese for about 2 minutes to melt the cheese.
- Drain your jar of salsa in a strainer. Remove most of the liquid. Add the chunks of tomato, etc on top of the layer of cheese.
- Drain your chopped olives and then add about 2/3 of the can on top of the salsa.
- Next, add the layer of your cream cheese/taco seasoning/sour cream mixture.
- You can then add your final layer of guacamole.
- Now it’s time to decorate! Put your extra remaining sour cream into a plastic baggie. Squeeze the excess air out and zip the bag closed. Cut a small amount off the corner of the bag so the cream cheese can come through.
- Decorate the top of your dip like a spider web!
- Seve with tortilla chips.
Tips:
- It’s a pretty thick dip. It is hard to scoop your chips in and get all the layers. I recommend serving with plates and a serving spoon so you can scoop sections out of the dip and get a taste of each of the layers.
- I decorated the spider web with black beans that served as the spiders for the web. If I made it again, I would not use them because I only used about 15-20 beans and ended up throwing away the rest of the can (I’m not a huge bean person so would not use them for something else). I think the dip would be cute just with the spiderweb alone! OR you can decorate with a plastic spider or two for show!
This dip was absolutely delicious and I would definitely make it any time of year (without the sour cream spider web of course!) Happy Halloween!
Hey BA! I made this as well and it was a huge hit! Thanks! Keep up the good work!
Glad you liked it!! I left the leftovers of my dip at a friends house and I heard the next day they put it in the blender to mix everything together. I can’t imagine that it looked pretty after that, but they said it tasted good. Haha.