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The 10 Unhealthiest Store-Bought Spinach Dips – The Daily Meal

Spinach dip tends to be a crowd-pleaser. Creamy, yet packed full of vegetables like spinach, garlic, and bell peppers, it’s hard to imagine a more delicious way to get your greens in. Some spinach dips also feature artichokes, as well as a variety of cheeses, such as mozzarella, parmesan, and Monterey Jack. When spinach dip is topped with shredded cheese, it usually gets baked in the oven until the edges are melted and golden brown. On top of all of that, spinach dip is usually eaten with crispy tortilla chips or slices of toasted bread, making it one of the most delicious snacks imaginable.

Making spinach dip from scratch is fairly simple, but it can also be time-consuming. Even just the process of washing and chopping bowls full of vegetables can be tedious. Taking advantage of store-bought spinach dips removes just about all of the effort from the equation. All you really have to do is pop the top and dig in. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

That said, convenience comes with a price. When spinach dip is made for mass consumption, it’s often packed full of additives and preservatives. The recipes often lack fresh vegetables and tend to be loaded with fat and sodium. If you’re going to indulge in some store-bought spinach dip, there are a few that you might want to steer clear of, for a variety of reasons.

1. TGI Fridays Spinach & Artichoke Cheese Dip

TGI Fridays

The casual vibe at TGI Fridays has a lot of mass appeal. Whether you want to throw back a few drinks, share some mozzarella sticks, or go to town on some chicken fingers, Fridays often fits the bill. The restaurant’s Spinach & Artichoke dip is a classic on the menu. It’s even become so popular that it’s available outside of the restaurant, in the frozen food sections of countless grocery stores.

The TGI Fridays Spinach & Artichoke Cheese Dip is made with a blend of ingredients that includes spinach, artichoke hearts, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, Neufchatel cheese, and cheese powder. Tasty as this spinach dip is, the reality is that it’s overly cheesy. Spinach dip should definitely have a good amount of cheese in the recipe, but this feels a bit overboard. As you can imagine, all of that cheese comes with a hefty dose of salt. This spinach dip is loaded with sodium — just two tablespoons of this stuff contains about 125 milligrams of salt.

This spinach dip also uses a flavor enhancer called disodium guanylate. This is a salt derived from guanosine monophosphate, which is added to a lot of highly processed foods. According to Healthline, people with a history of gout or kidney stones may want to avoid disodium guanylate since it metabolizes into compounds that can raise uric acids.

2. Tostitos Creamy Spinach Dip

Tostitos

Tostitos is a popular brand of chips and dips. The company sells everything from blue corn tortilla chips to avocado salsa to spicy queso chips to nacho cheese dip. Tostitos also sells a Creamy Spinach Dip that’s made with a mix of ingredients that includes water, spinach, oil, red bell peppers, water chestnuts, and whey protein concentrate.

The main issue here is that there’s just not enough spinach. The first ingredient is water and that’s abundantly clear from its consistency, which is runny. Instead of being thick and chunky, this spinach dip is diluted and oily. The recipe here would benefit from bigger chunks of vegetables, just for the sake of texture. More vegetables would also make this spinach dip more nutritious. 

This spinach dip is also excessively salty, containing a whopping 200 milligrams of sodium every two teaspoons. Of course, just about anything that’s jarred is going to contain some sodium — that’s just the nature of preserving canned goods. But there’s no denying the fact that the salt in this is still quite high, even when compared to other spinach dip brands.

3. Boar’s Head Spinach Greek Yogurt Dip

Boar's Head

Boar’s Head is best known for its top-notch deli meats and cheeses. Slow-smoked turkey, maple-glazed honey ham, and chipotle gouda are just a few of the delicious specialties that Boar’s Head has to offer. Even though the company is so well-known for its lunch meats and cheeses, the reality is that Boar’s Head has a lot of other tasty products in its inventory. The company also makes a wide range of pre-packaged snacks like soppressata and mozzarella, hummus and pretzels, and salami and provolone. Boar’s Head also makes a spinach dip that uses a somewhat unconventional ingredient: Greek yogurt.

The good news here is that rather than using mayonnaise or sour cream, this recipe uses Greek yogurt, which tends to be more nutritious. That said, this dip is mostly just yogurt and water chestnuts. We don’t think there’s enough spinach in the recipe to make it truly tasty or substantially nutritious. Even just adding more onions or garlic would be an improvement. The texture is thick and creamy, but this tastes more like savory yogurt than it does a traditional spinach dip.

4. Marketside Spinach Dip

Marketside

Marketside is a Walmart-owned private-label food brand. Marketside has everything from pepperoni flatbread pizza to blueberry muffins to premade meatloaf to three-cheese garlic knots. Marketside products are known for their affordable prices. The brand sells a wide variety of dips and spreads, including queso, hummus, tzatziki, and spinach dip.

Marketside’s spinach dip is mostly made with sour cream and mayonnaise. The spinach in the recipe is cut into very small pieces. This makes the dip taste less like spinach dip and more like a slightly flavored sour cream or mayonnaise. Because the ingredients in this dip prominently feature mayonnaise and sour cream, it has a fairly high level of saturated fat. One single serving of this spinach dip contains about 13% of the recommended daily intake of saturated fat. 

Instead of using more spinach in the recipe, the company uses a blend of dehydrated vegetables that contains ingredients like green peas, cabbage, leeks, and potatoes. Some customers have complained that this dip tastes mostly like onions. It also contains preservatives like sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. All in all, between its lackluster taste and trace amounts of spinach, there are much better dips to enjoy on the market.

5. Publix Deli Spinach Dip

Publix

Publix is a popular grocery store chain based in Florida, with locations throughout the Southeast. The company carries its own line of brands, including Publix, Publix Premium, and Greenwise. The Publix line is quite diverse and stocks everything from frozen pizza to baked lasagna to apple juice to honey mustard. The company also sells different dips, like French onion dip and spinach dip. Publix has two types of spinach dip: one with artichokes and one without.

The plain version is called the Publix Deli Spinach Dip. It’s made without artichokes. It’s mostly made with mayonnaise, spinach, sour cream, and water chestnuts. According to MyFoodDiary, the ingredients in this recipe are nearly 90% fat. The remaining portion of the recipe consists of carbohydrates and a very small amount of protein. Of course, most spinach dips are quite fatty, considering that they’re typically made with ingredients like cream cheese and mayonnaise. But the reality is that the fat can be reduced and replaced with more vegetables to create a heartier and healthier spinach dip. Instead of going that route, this spinach dip uses vegetable soup seasoning to add more vegetable flavor, but that’s not as nutritious as using fresh vegetables.

6. Birds Eye Creamy Spinach Bake

Birds Eye

Birds Eye carries frozen vegetables and pre-made stir-frys that save time and simplify the process of cooking meals at home. The company also sells different appetizers, such as lightly-breaded cauliflower bites, crispy green beans, and zucchini fries. Birds Eye also makes a couple of different dips, including Buffalo cauliflower dip and spinach dip.

The brand’s spinach dip is different from some of the other spinach dips on this list because it’s supposed to be baked or microwaved before serving. It is mostly made with water, spinach, artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese, and cream cheese. Like many of the other spinach dips on this list, one serving is considered only two tablespoons. 

Let’s be honest, though. Most of us probably wouldn’t stop eating this after a couple of spoonfuls. If you’re extra hungry and you pair a bag of tortilla chips or some crusty bread with this, it would be very easy to polish off this whole container. Doing so would result in consuming about 90% of your recommended daily sodium intake — and that’s not counting the chips or bread.

7. Violife Dips Spinach & Artichoke

Violife

Violife is a Greek company that makes vegan food products. The company produces an impressive variety of vegan recipes and cheeses, such as feta, shredded colby jack, cheddar, and smoked provolone. In addition to cheese, the company also makes other products such as sour cream, butter, and dips. One of the dips that Violife offers is a vegan Spinach & Artichoke dip.

Violife’s vegan spinach dip is made with water, coconut oil, potato and tapioca starch, artichokes, spinach, salt, and other ingredients. It’s easy to automatically think vegan items are healthy, but spinach is the fifth ingredient in the recipe for this product. Customers complain about the lack of spinach and vegetables and say it mostly tastes like chunky sour cream.

Taste and texture issues aside, this spinach dip contains a remarkable amount of saturated fat. Two tablespoons of this dip contain 20% of the recommended daily amount of saturated fat, along with 10% of the recommended sodium intake. With numbers like that, it makes us wonder if swapping real dairy for vegan ingredients is really worth it.

8. Marzetti Spinach Veggie Dip

Marzetti

Marzetti is best known for its salad dressings, sauces, and marinades. The company also sells other products, like veggie dips, including ranch, dill, and spinach dip. Marzetti’s Spinach Veggie Dip is mostly made with cream, water, soybean oil, buttermilk vinegar, and milk. The remaining less than 2% of the recipe contains various ingredients including cornstarch, spinach, egg yolk, and carrots. Because this dip doesn’t contain much spinach, it has an excessively creamy consistency that lacks texture. Only two tablespoons contain about 15% of the recommended amount of saturated fat for an entire day.

This dip also contains sodium phosphate. While it’s true that a lot of processed food contains sodium phosphate — and it’s been deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — it’s also been linked to several health issues when consumed in excess, according to Healthline. Some of these concerns include kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. This is due to the fact that sodium phosphate is absorbed differently into the body when compared to naturally-occurring phosphates. The reality is that most pre-made processed foods come with various preservatives and stabilizers. If you’re concerned about consuming certain ingredients like sodium phosphate, then you may want to go for another option.

9. Stonemill Kitchens Spinach Artichoke & Parmesan Premium Dip

Stonemill Kitchens

Stonemill Kitchens makes an assortment of premium dips and a variety of deli salads like potato salad and pasta salad. Stonemill makes a Spinach Artichoke & Parmesan Premium Dip that tastes great but isn’t exactly healthy. This dip mostly contains mayonnaise, water, parmesan cheese, artichokes, sour cream, crushed garlic, and dehydrated spinach. The amount of crushed garlic is a nice addition since it adds a good amount of flavor to this spinach dip. This dip also contains potassium sorbate.

It’s worth knowing that in 2015, the European Food Safety Authority set a limit on potassium sorbate, due to reproductive and developmental toxicity concerns from animal research, according to Healthline. Trace amounts consumed in most recipes shouldn’t be anything to panic about, but it’s still probably a good idea to avoid chemical additives when possible. At the end of the day, there are other delicious spinach dips that don’t resort to using potassium sorbate, so there’s no need to settle for this.

10. La Terra Fina Spinach Artichoke & Parmesan Dip & Spread

La Terra Fina

Specializing in dips, spreads, and quiches, La Terra Fina has some truly tasty options on the market. Jalapeno pepper jelly spread, caramelized onion with roasted garlic dip, and a pineapple habanero spread are just a few of the tantalizing products that La Terra Fina makes. Unfortunately, just because something is delicious doesn’t mean that it’s healthy.

The good news is that La Terra Fina’s Spinach Artichoke & Parmesan Dip & Spread doesn’t contain any artificial colors or preservatives. The bad news is that a single one still contains a lot of saturated fat — about 15% of what’s recommended for an entire day. Saturated fat is contained in a lot of processed foods. Consuming too much saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. This is because a diet that contains excessive saturated fat can cause cholesterol to build up in blood vessels. However, this doesn’t mean that all fats should be avoided. It’s just better to stick with healthier fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Foods that contain these healthier fats include nuts, seeds, and fish.