Award Winning Hot Sausage Beer Cheese Dip

Um, did I get that title right? Award WINNING Hot Sausage Beer Cheese Dip? I literally never come in first place for anything, so to my shock, my dip that I had entered into The Tipsy Housewife (April), The Chicago Good Life (Christine), and Sassy Confetti’s (Alex) first annual Dip Party Extravaganza won! I dipped, you dipped, we all dipped into some amazing creations from fellow Chicago food bloggers and Instagrammers. It was so wonderful to finally meet some folks who I’ve been chatting with over the last few months, and the warmth and love for food (and sharing it) was very apparent in the room.

I tried so many dips, that I was afraid I was going to turn into a dip, that is, before I got my hands on some of the amazing wine they had available for everyone to drink. Anyway, after a lot of fun, laughter, chatting away…and even some DIP PONG (I’m not even kidding), winners were announced and I was called for first place.

I literally felt like Taylor Swift when she won all those Grammy’s like “OMG WHAT HOW?!” I can’t even begin to thank everyone involved, The TipsySassyGoodLife gang and everyone who provided prizes for this event.

Now, the dip itself. I know you’ve all been waiting for it. First of all, when preparing for this event, I got on the phone with my mom (literally the day were were supposed to send in our recipes Alex) and conspired on what would be the best thing to bring. I knew it had to be Fall or Thanksgiving themed, but I’m just not a pumpkin spice kind of girl. So we knew that it had to be something reminiscent of Thanksgiving morning…a hot breakfast (and the pregame before our family shows up).

I mean, whose mother cooks and entire breakfast for the whole family the same day she’s cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal for everyone? My mom, Michelle. She’s nuts about serving her family, and we probably couldn’t find our way out of a sock without her. After some research and discussion, I felt a true calling…sausage…beer…cheese.

Everyone has some version of this dip in their family, and I’ve made a cold version sans sausage in the past. I gotta say, the addition of hot breakfast sausage and the cozy warmth of the oven took this to a new level. Did I mention I served it in a BREAD BOWL? Anyway, this is it, everyone. My award winning hot sausage beer cheese dip!

Award Winning Hot Sausage Beer Cheese Dip
Calories: Don’t count on this one
Servings: Unlimited
Fat: A lot
Carbs: Oh Boy
Protein: A plenty!
WW Smart Points: Let’s just say, this is not a diet-friendly recipe

Ingredients

• 1 roll of hot breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)
• 1 medium onion, microdiced
• 4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of beer
• 16 oz. of cream cheese
• 1/4 tsp. of garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. of onion powder
• Olive Oil Spray
• Salt, pepper, etc. to taste
• 2 stalks of green onion or chives, sliced
• To serve: A bread bowl, bread, Frito Scoops, tortilla chips, etc.

Directions

1. First things first, set your oven to 350 and let it heat up.
2. Microdice your onion. What is a microdice? Well, to me, it’s about he size of a pencil eraser head.
3. Heat up a frying pan on medium heat and spray with olive oil cooking spray (this is literally the healthiest part of the whole thing).
4. Add your roll of sausage to the hot pan with salt and pepper, and break up into crumbles. Add onion when sausage is about half-way cooked through. Continue cooking until no longer pink.
5. Let sausage mix sit aside, while you prepare the cheese part of the dip.
6. Add 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, cream cheese, beer, garlic powder and onion powder to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
7. Add your cheese mixture to a baking dish. Make sure you get it all out of your blender or food processor!
8. Add your sausage mixture and remaining 2 cups of cheese to the baking dish. Mix all component together.
9. Heat your dip in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Dip should be somewhat bubbly.
10. Serve in baking dish, or a bread bowl with bread, scoops, or tortilla chips! Make sure you top with green onion or chives!