This Easter Bunny Spinach Dip is simple and easy to make with refrigerated crescent dough! This gooey, cheesy spinach artichoke dip in the center of soft, fluffy crescent rolls is a delicious and festive Easter appetizer or side dish recipe!
Want to be ready for all the yummy recipes Easter brings? I’ve got you covered with recipes for The Best Glazed Ham, Carrot Cake Cookies, Honey Sugar Roasted Carrots, and lots more!
Why This Recipe Works
Easy — This spinach dip only takes 30 minutes to make, and that includes organizing all the dough and dip into an adorable bunny shape! You honestly cannot beat that.
The most perfect Easter appetizer recipe — You couldn’t ask for a better Easter appetizer recipe than artichoke dip inside crescent rolls shaped like a bunny. It’s easy, it’s delicious, it’s fun, and it’s so adorable you *almost* don’t want to eat it. Almost.
Delicious — Sometimes food is fun and cute to look at but not very tasty. Well, I can tell you my friends that this food is both cute and delicious. You cannot go wrong with spinach artichoke dip. The greenery of the dip reminds me of spring too!
Simple ingredients — It starts with store-bought crescent rolls. From there you’re also adding canned artichokes, frozen (or fresh) spinach, pre-packaged cheeses, and spices you probably already have in your spice rack. That’s what makes this recipe so perfectly awesome for all your Easter celebrations.
Ingredients
- Refrigerated crescent dough sheets — Take the easy route, I promise, it’s just fine.
- Spinach — Use frozen or 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- Artichoke hearts — Buy the plain artichoke hearts in water or oil, but not any that are flavored.
- Jalapenos — I much prefer jarred jalapenos because they are more mild and easier to cut up into this spinach artichoke dip.
- Cream Cheese — one 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened.
- Butter — I use unsalted butter because the parmesan cheese is salty as it is.
- Garlic — Minced garlic out of the jar is just fine in this recipe.
- Salt and coarsely ground black pepper — To taste, of course.
- Mayo — I like to use reduced fat olive oil mayo in this Easter appetizer because the other ingredients can be on the heavy side. But you can use any mayo you like or double up on the Greek yogurt if you want to skip the mayo all together.
- Greek yogurt — Definitely make sure you choose plain Greek yogurt. Sour cream works too.
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese — I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s just no replacing freshly grated parm in a dip or dish where it’s supposed to be melted. The pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt and combine like freshly grated cheese does.
- Mozzarella cheese — Okay so in this instance, pre-shredded mozzarella works well because it actually will melt. Any quality brand of mozzarella will be delicious in this recipe.
Here’s How You Make It
- First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and then line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (not pictured)
- Next, melt the butter in a big skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the garlic in the butter for about a minute. Then add in and stir together the cream cheese, spinach, artichokes, and jalapeños, and stir until melty and all of the ingredients are incorporated. (photo 1)
- Now stir in the salt, pepper, mayo, Greek yogurt (or sour cream), parmesan cheese, and half of the mozzarella cheese. Stir all of this together until everything melts and the dip smoothes out. Take it off the heat. (photo 2)
- Open both crescent dough packages but do not unroll the dough. Instead roll the dough into two 18-inch-long ropes. Cut each roll into 12 pieces. (photos 3-4)
- Now you’re ready to create the bunny shape for this Easter appetizer recipe: Use one piece of dough for the center of the head, then surround that piece with 6 more pieces of dough. Take four pieces (two each) to create the ears. Then, use the remaining dough pieces to make a large circle for the body. (photo 5)
- Spoon the spinach artichoke dip into the center of the bunny body. Scoop a little dip into the ears and top all of the dip with the remaining mozzarella cheese. (photos 6-7)
- Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 15-16 minutes, or until the croissants are golden brown and the mozzarella cheese is completely melted and begins to brown a bit. (photo 8)
- Carefully take the bunny out of the oven and give the dip a stir if desired. (I prefer to mix the mozzarella in at the end but you can also leave it on top.) Serve this spinach artichoke dip dish immediately while hot. Enjoy! (see below)
Expert Tips and Tricks
- My preference is to make this recipe with the crescent dough sheets but it can be made with the perforated croissant roll dough packages as well.
- Not sure how to measure artichoke hearts? I’ve done it for you and have found that about 1/2 cup is equal to half of one 12-ounce jar.
- I highly recommend adding the jalapenos if you have them or like the flavor — they taste terrific and do not make the dish spicy. However, if you prefer, you can leave them out or substitute bacon for another fun flavor variation!
- This spinach dip will keep in the fridge for about 5 days in an airtight container. Store any remaining rolls separately.
If you have any of this spinach and artichoke dip left (big if!) I recommend putting it in an airtight container apart from the rolls. Then, you can either eat it cold (also delish) or reheat it in the microwave. I heat it about 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between heating sessions, until it’s heated through.
You never want a watery spinach and artichoke dip, that’s for sure. But when you’re baking it with bread, you especially don’t want it to be watery and make the dough soggy.
The best way to avoid this is to make sure your ingredients are strained of excess water before adding it to the mixture and pouring into the ring of dough. Pat the artichokes dry and squeeze all excess water out of the spinach before adding it to the mixture on the stove. This is especially true for frozen spinach as it contains a lot of water.
More Easter Recipes
- Crab Cakes
- Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Lemon Crumb Cake
- Cream Cheese Lemon Bars
- Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Honey Garlic Roasted Carrots
- Sauteed Green Beans
Did you make this Easter appetizer? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo of your CDLC creation – I love getting to see what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Easter Bunny Spinach Dip
Ingredients
- 2 packages refrigerated crescent dough scheets
- 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed - or 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- ½ cup artichoke hearts - drained and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons jarred jalapenos - diced, see note
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
- ¼ cup mayo - I used reduced fat olive oil mayo
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt - or sour cream
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese - divided
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Sauté garlic for 1 minute til fragrant. Stir in cream cheese, spinach, artichokes, jalapenos, and stir until melty and all ingredients are incorporated.
- Stir in salt, pepper, mayo, Greek yogurt (or sour cream), parmesan cheese, and half of the mozzarella cheese. Stir until melty and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Open crescent dough packages but do not unroll the dough. Roll the dough pout into 18-inch ropes. Cut each rope into 12 equal-size pieces. (You'll have 24 pieces total)
- Use one piece of dough for the center of the head (If there's one piece that seems a little bigger than the others I usually use this one for the center of the head), then surround with 6 more pieces of dough. Use four pieces to shape the ears (roll them out a bit and pinch the ends together). Arrange remaining pieces to make a large circle for the body.
- Scoop spinach artichoke dip into the center of the bunny body. Scoop a little into the ears. Top the dip with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Transfer to preheated oven and bake for 15-16 minutes until croissants are golden brown and mozzarella cheese is completely melted and begins to brown a bit.
- Remove from oven, give the dip a stir if desired (I prefer the mozzarella mixed in at the end but you can also leave it on top). Serve immediately while hot. Enjoy!
I think you forgot the cream cheese in the ingredients
I did…so sorry! It should be 8 oz of cream cheese. The recipe is fixed now.
Bought all the ingredients to make for Easter. Went to make it Easter morning and in the 2nd step says to add cream cheese. There’s no cream cheese listed in the ingredients!! Had to go buy something to take instead. Please update so others don’t run into the same problem. Highly highly disappointed as I was excited to try this.
I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience this caused! It is meant to have 8 oz of cream cheese in the ingredients list. It is not fixed. So sorry again.
How much cream cheese?
8 oz! Sorry for the confusion.
Why does the recipe call for cream cheese but then not list cream cheese anywhere in the ingredients….
So sorry for the confusion, it was a mistake on my end. I have updated the recipe to have the correct 8 oz amount of cream cheese.
There is no mention of cream cheese in the ingredient list, so unsure of the amount to use. I’ll try 4 oz and see how that goes. Cute bunny dip idea!
Sorry for the mistake on my part, the recipe has been fixed. It should have called for 8 oz of cream cheese.