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Ooey, gooey piles of melted cheese, spicy pepperoni, and a seasoned cream cheese foundation make for the tastiest Pizza Dip!
Why We Love This Recipe
- Better than pizza! Imagine all of the good stuff: gooey melted cheese, juicy pepperonis, and all of the sauce—but no doughy crust!
- Game Day Fave: This crowd-pleasing pizza dip is served piping hot, and easy for a crowd to dip their favorites in, from bagel chips to baked tortilla chips, and more.
- Kid-Friendly: Kids will love having their favorite food group (yes pizza counts) hot ‘n fresh. They can easily add their favorite toppings, just like with pizza sliders, taco dip, and 7 layer dip!
Hot Pizza Dip Recipe
How could anything taste better than pizza? From a pizza lover through and through, allow me to introduce you to this hot Pizza Dip recipe. It’s everything you want more of on pizza, in melty, cheesy dip form. More ooey, gooey cheese. More zesty marinara. More spicy pepperonis. All on a lip-smacking good bed of seasoned cream cheese. Yep, we just went there. Let’s grab a few ingredients, getting mixing and baking for this hot and gooey, perfect game day dip!
Pizza Dip with Cream Cheese Ingredients
- 3 cheeses: using a trio of cheeses, including mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese, this pepperoni pizza dip is lip-smacking cheesy!
- Cream cheese: make sure to soften it before using for a smooth, creamy base.
- Italian seasoning: use this homemade recipe or store-bought.
- Garlic salt: I love using garlic salt over plain salt because it adds this kick of flavor reminiscent of garlic bread!
- Marinara: use your favorite marinara or pizza sauce.
- Pepperoni: mini is super cute and easier to scoop up, but regular pepperonis will do too.
How to Make Pizza Dip
How do you make pizza dip, anyway? Preheat the oven, beat together a cream cheese mixture, place that and a few other layers of marinara and cheese in a pan, bake and enjoy!
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- With a hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, and cheddar cheese, plus Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and red pepper flakes. Spread into an even layer in a casserole dish.
- Top with marinara. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan, and pepperoni.
- Bake about 30 minutes, until the cheese is browned at the edges and bubbly all over. Garnish with red pepper flakes and more seasoning.
What to Serve with Pizza Dip
Here’s what to eat with hot pizza dip, from breads and sides to main dishes.
- Crunchy breads: mini bagel chips, baked tortilla chips, or crunchy breadsticks
- Sides: garlic bread or garlic toast, pizza sliders, chicken nuggets
- Wings: lemon pepper wings, air fryer buffalo wings, etc.
- Main Dishes: amazing chicken fettuccine Alfredo, baked manicotti, tomato basil pasta, super easy garlic butter pasta.
Pepperoni Pizza Dip: Customize it!
Here are a few ways to customize this recipe.
- Switch up the cheese, the sauce, the toppings for any flavor combo you’d like.
- Make with toppings to mimic your favorite pizza.
- Make Supreme Pizza Dip with sausage, chopped green bell peppers, onion, olives, etc.
- Use barbecue sauce instead of marinara and top in the last few minutes with chopped cooked chicken breasts for a BBQ chicken pizza dip.
Tips for Cook Time
The cook time for pizza dip with cream cheese depends on the size and depth of your dish as well as how crispy you want the cheese to be:
- Bake for 25 minutes or so if you’re using a wide, flat dish
- Bake for 35-45 minutes if you’re using a deep dish casserole that’s not very wide, like I was. Also, if you like crispier cheese on top.
Tools You Need
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Easy Dip Recipes
Pizza Dip with Cream Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
Pizza Dip Ingredients
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, more for garnish
- ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup marinara, or pizza sauce
- ½ cup mini pepperoni, or about 15 regular pepperonis – or use as much as you’d like
Garnish
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Italian seasoning
- Parsley, very finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- With a hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, ½ cup mozzarella, ¼ cup Parmesan, and cheddar cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and red pepper flakes. Spread into an even layer in a 9-inch casserole dish.
- Spread marinara over the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1 ½ cups mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan over the marinara. Top with pepperoni.
- Bake about 25-45 minutes, until the cheese is browned at the edges and bubbly all over.*
- Garnish with red pepper flakes and a few shakes of Italian seasoning. Serve with mini bagel chips, French bread, garlic toast, or pizza sliders.
- ★ Last Step: If you made this recipe, leave a comment and review. It truly helps our small business keep running and it helps readers like you!
So so good! Going to try with olives next time.
Yay! Oh trust me, that’s gonna be so good!