Skinny Poolside Dip
Skinny Poolside Dip is a tasty and creamy veggie dip appetizer. With reduced fat dairy, corn and peppers, it’s guilt free and easy to make.
Gotta love book club. First there’s the camaraderie. Then the reading. And finally, the delicious food. Like this Skinny Poolside Dip! It was a huge hit—and it’s perfect for all the upcoming summer festivities!
Yes, besides being a “skinny” dip (aka lighter and lower in fat and calories), this is seriously tasty. It’s a beautiful combination of contrast–sweet from the corn, spicy from the jalapenos and creamy from the cream cheese and yogurt. Just add crunch from some dippers!
Skinny Poolside Dip should have a little heat–enough to notice but not so hot that your husband or other favorite hot food wimp won’t eat it. See my comments about hot peppers in the tips at the end.
And if you make it in the fall, you can even use local sweet corn and peppers. When September rolls around, I start calling it Local Harvest Dip!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. In the broad category of flavorful Ranch Veggie Dips, this is a winner. In fact, my flavor mantra is sweet, savory, creamy, crunchy! Yup, it ticks all the boxes!
Easy. This dip is very easy to prepare. There’s no cooking and the only thing you need to cut is the peppers.
Guilt-free. With a base of reduced fat cream cheese and yogurt, plus lots of healthy veggies, this is a no-guilt appetizer. How many snacks can say that!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Jalapeño peppers. This adds a kick of spice and flavor. You can also use a poblano pepper though you’ll need to use about twice as much since they’re milder.
- Reduced fat cream cheese (Neufchatel). This forms the creamy base for the dip.
- Greek yogurt. This contributes to the creamy base for the dip.
- Ranch Dip Mix. This adds lots of flavor. I used the store brand and you can also use your own mix. I have a homemade option at the end of the recipe card.
- Red bell pepper. This adds flavor and nutrition. You can substitute a yellow or orange ripe pepper, or even an equivalent amount of banana peppers. And you can use a frozen pepper as long as it wasn’t blanched first.
- Canned corn. This adds flavor and nutrition. I used a can but feel free to take fresh corn off of the cob if it’s selling at the farmers market!
- Black Olives (optional). Adds color and flavor
Special Tools
- No special tools required!
Step by Step Directions
This dip is so easy! To start you chop the peppers. I used a poblano here, but consider wearing gloves if you chop the hotter jalapenos.
In a mixer or by hand, cream the cream cheese.
When smooth add in the yogurt and the ranch mix and mix just until combined.
Fold in the peppers, corn and olives.
Serve with raw vegetables, cracker, chips, or sliced French bread.
How to Serve
No, you don’t need to have a pool party to serve this—though that sound like fun! And I’ve also heard this called Skinny Beach Dip–just in case an ocean or lakeside picnic is in your future!
I like to serve Skinny Poolside Dip as a starter before any kind of dinner, formal or informal. Or serve it with a collection of other appetizers for a fun cocktail party. Wouldn’t some Scotch Eggs or Fusion Bruschetta be delicious next to this on an appetizer table?
Now to make this healthy vegetable dip truly skinny you really should serve it with cut up veggies and nix the chips. Carrot sticks, pieces of broccoli and snap peas are all perfect dippers!
But everyone isn’t on a diet, so I like to serve some chips, crackers, or cocktail bread too. Yes, I just wish I could say I only ate the veggie dippers…
Variations and Special Diets
In the mood for healthy dips now? For a couple other options, consider my 5-Ingredient Smoked Fish Dip or a nice Spicy Hummus Dip! And this Cheesy Corn Dip is also vege-ful!
Special Diets
This recipe adapts easily to special diets and is already vegetarian. For an easy vegan or dairy-free version, you can use plant-based cream cheese and yogurt.
If you’re doing keto, and fat is your friend, use full fat cream cheese instead of the light cream cheese and the yogurt. Then thin it out with cream so it’s a dippable consistency. The peppers will be fine, but I’d use some finely chopped broccoli instead of the corn. Serve with pork rinds! No deprivation!
And feel free to change up the vegetables in here is someone has an allergy or sensitivity.
Leftovers
Cover and refrigerate any leftovers. They should be good a couple days, though the dip may get more watery.
My husband ate our leftover skinny pool dip on toast for breakfast!
Tips & FAQs
Hot peppers, such as jalapenos and poblanos, will vary in intensity. Be ready to compensate with some extras if you get a batch that is very mild. And be sure to take a test taste in case you get super hot peppers and wish you’d used less—once it’s in the dip there’s no taking it back!
Skinny Poolside Dip
Ingredients
- 2 jalapeño peppers or 1 poblano pepper
- 1 red bell pepper or other ripe pepper
- ½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened
- 1 package Ranch Dip Mix see note
- 15 ounces corn 1 can
- 3-4 ounces olives sliced (one small can) optional
Instructions
- Chop peppers.
- In a mixer or by hand, cream the cream cheese. When smooth add in the yogurt and the ranch mix and mix just until combined.
- Fold in the peppers, corn and olives.
- Serve with raw vegetables, cracker, chips, or sliced French bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on Aug 30, 2015
sounds delicious! i can’t wait to be poolside again, this winter stuff is for the birds! 🙂
Kudos to you for no weight gain afeter vacation!! This dip is perfect for an eating light diet! It looks delicious and I love how simple it is to make.
Alas, now if I could just take off the before vacation 3 lbs 😉 !
This is such an interesting dip…and yes, healthy and tasty…what else could I ask for…great with vegetables. Thanks for the recipe Inger…I hope you are having a fabulous week!
Thanks Juliana! Normally I’d be suspicious of something like this, but since I tried it first, I was hooked!
Good for you – I need to try this… but fear that if I eat the entire bowl, it might not be a skinny dip for me! 😉
At least you’d get some extra veggies then David 😉
We eat a lot of raw veggies with dips so this is a great recipe to have to hand 🙂
I felt so healthy getting veggies in the dip and the dipper 🙂
thank you for sharing your recipe. I should try it.
have a great day
I hope you enjoy it!
This looks delicious!
Thanks Jackie!