Warm the hearts and fill the bellies of your holiday party guests by serving a festive Christmas appetizer. When you pull this Skillet Dip Snowman out of the oven everyone will “ooh” and “ahh,” before ripping off pieces of salty bread so they can scoop up the creamy chicken dip in the middle.
Making fun looking food to serve at a party can really enhance your guest’s experience, but I know many of you just don’ have a lot of time to devote to creating complicated edible crafts.
Well, this recipe is for you.
The dip and ring of salty dinner rolls can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, popped into the oven while you get ready for your guests to arrive, and decorated in a snap before they do.
To keep this recipe super simple, I used store bought bread dough and a 5 ingredient dip, then decorated it using a carrot and some black olives.
Being snowmen are white, I needed a dip that was too.
Fortunately my family’s favorite dip is rather white. It’s simply chicken breast, blended with cream cheese, Miracle Whip, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.
Rarely, do we have a family function without it, but it’s always served with crackers, so this year, I’m going to surprise everyone and serve it with bread instead.
I’m sure many of you will have a favorite dip that would work well too and I’ve love to hear about it in the comments section below the post .
SKILLET DIP SNOWMAN
Creamy chicken dip surrounded by puffs of French bread decorated with olives and a carrot to look like a cute snowman. This Skillet Dip Snowman is the perfect appetizer for any Christmas party.
- SKILLET DIP SNOWMAN
- 1 tube Pillsbury French Bread dough or 11-14 ounces of your favorite bread dough
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- sea salt or kosher salt
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup Miracle Whip
- 12 ounces shredded chicken 1 large can
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 6 extra large black olives
- 1 carrot
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Brush some butter on the inside of a 10 inch skillet.
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Cut bread dough into 12 slices.
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Roll each slice into balls.
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Arrange the balls around the edge of the skillet.
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Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on some salt.
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Combine the cream cheese, shredded chicken, Miracle Whip, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce in a large mixing bowl.
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Beat with an electric mixer until well blended.
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Spoon dip into the center of the skillet.
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Spread it into an even layer so that it touches the edge of the bread balls.
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Bake for 32-38 minutes until the bread is baked through and lightly brown.
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Meanwhile, cut 7 round slices from 4 of the black olives.
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Cut the carrot into a 3-4 inch pointed piece.
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Remove the skillet from oven and brush more butter over the bread pieces.
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Decorate the dip with 2 whole black olive eyes, one carrot nose, and 7 black olive buttons in the smile.
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Serve and enjoy.
You must use a 10 inch oven safe non-stick skillet to make this dip. The handle of the skillet must be able to withstand high heat.
To make the ring of salty bread, simply cut a tube of French Bread dough into 12 equal pieces.
Roll the pieces into balls, pinching the seams together as needed then arrange them around the edge of the pan.
Spoon the chicken dip in the center of the skillet and spread out so it touches the bread dough and bake it until the bread is baked through.
The dip will be slightly browned when you remove it from the oven. I wanted my dip to look white, so I stirred it up so that the browned bits get mixed in.
To decorate the snowman you’ll need two whole extra large olives, one small tip of a carrot for the nose, and 7 small round pieces of olive. You can cut the olives using a round plunger cutter or simply slice off round pieces from the sides of the olives.
Add the decorations to the top of the dip and serve while it’s hot.
UPDATE:
This recipe was so popular last year that I made a video this year (2106).
I hope you enjoyed watching that as much as I did making it. I can’t believe it took me so long to learn how to make videos. I really love that you an see exactly how I’m making something. I hope it’s making it easier for your to replicate my ideas at home.
Be sure to check out all my fun Christmas Recipes!
You might also like to make some of these festive holiday appetizers:
Mini Melting Snowman Cheese Balls • Spinach Artichoke Fritatta Trees
Green Pesto Crescent Roll Christmas Trees • Parmesan Artichoke Cheesecake Countdown Clock
Cheese Filled Fried Won Ton Clocks • Mediterranean Pinwheels
They would go great with a hot bubbly Skillet Snowman Dip.
My family would love if I made a savory dish this year. The snowman appetizer dip might just be what they’re looking for – Sooooo cute!
My family is always surprised when I bring something savory to a family function. Like you, I usually bring desserts.
This is sooooo cute. Definitely adding this to our Christmas appie list 🙂
I can’t wait to see what you do with this recipe. I always love seeing your interpretation of my food crafts.
Nice!! I just love how simple and yet how cute! Serving this little guy at our Christmas brunch!
Oh, that is so great to hear. I hope everyone enjoys it! Merry Christmas.
Could I use real shredded chicken instead of the canned chicken? This is a really cute idea!!
Absolutely! If I have extra chicken in my fridge I like to use that instead of the can. It tastes great.
You show miracle whip in the video,but not on the ingredients list. How much do you use?
Oh, my. I’m so glad you asked the question. I can’t believe I missed that.
Use 1 cup of Miracle Whip in the recipe. I added it to the ingredients and instructions.
The description mentions Miracle Whip, but the recipe doesn’t mention it. Is it supposed to have it?
Oh, my. I’m so glad you asked the question. I can’t believe I missed that.
Use 1 cup of Miracle Whip in the recipe. I added it to the ingredients and instructions.
Would cast iron work???
Absolutely!
Do you have to use miracle whip can you use mayonnaise instead
If you use mayonnaise you might want to add 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder, and 3 teaspoons white vinegar to make the mayo taste more like Miracle Whip. Otherwise the chicken dip might taste a bit bland.
Hello! None of the stores in my area carry the Pillsbury French Bread, but I’d love to make this adorable and tasty-sounding dish for our Christmas potluck–have you ever just baked the dip? If so, what timing would you recommend? Thanks in advance…
Yes Lori, I make this dip all the time without the bread around the edge. It’s our family’s favorite appetizer and we have it at almost every family function. You can spread it into a pie plate or an 8 inch round ceramic dish and bake it for about 20 minutes just until it’s hot. You can even microwave it, but I personally love that the dip browns slightly in the oven. I think it tastes better when it’s baked.
If you still want to use the skillet you can use pizza dough to create the balls (you can even stuff them with cheese) or use frozen dinner rolls (they are a bit larger than the balls I created using the Pillsbury dough). Here’s a link to a pizza skillet dip that I made using pizza dough so you can see how it works – https://hungryhappenings.com/skillet-pizza-dip-countdown-clock-new-years-appetizer/
Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas.
Thank you so much for your speedy reply! Merry Christmas to you and yours…
I just thought I’d come back and report that the dip was a big hit! I ended up mounding the dip in the center of a 12″ baking dish, got it started in the oven for 7 minutes, surrounded it with French bread warm-and-serve rolls to retain that nice crusty bite, and had everything bake together for another 15 minutes. The cute snowman face was added, and it all turned out perfectly. Thanks again for a great addition to my holiday recipe collection. <=)
I am so happy to hear the snowman dip turned out so well and I’m glad your family enjoyed it. Adding the warm and serve roll around the outside was a great idea. I’ll have to give that a try.
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that you have a happy new year too!