Baked Cowboy Dip is practically a whole meal & super tasty – sausage, corn, chiles, lots of cheese – great for parties
Baked Cowboy Dip – a cheesy, meaty mixture of sausage, chiles, corn, tomatoes and cheese – all heated up and gooey to scoop up with tortilla chips. Where did the name come from? Supposedly from Cowboy Caviar; back in 2007 I made some scrumptious Cowboy Caviar that is a spicy mixture of black beans, tomatoes, corn, chiles and more – it’s downright addictive. I made another souped-up version in 2019 called Loaded Colorado Caviar. Add sausage, sour cream, cream cheese and lots of shredded sharp cheddar … then bake it and serve it with chips and you get Cowboy Dip. Well, that’s the general idea anyway. It’s easy to make, failproof, and perfect for that Super Bowl Party or get together.
Be careful of the type of cheese you buy; I’ve found the Kroger brand of shredded cheese does not melt well. Kraft melts very well, though it also helps to buy finely shredded cheese instead of the coarse shredded. Or you can buy block cheese and shred it yourself. Most pre-shredded cheeses are coated with starch to prevent clumping. This starch interferes some with melting. So a quality block of sharp cheddar is likely to give best results. With this dish, though, it will be a hit even if the cheese does not melt smoothly. It’s hard to screw this one up.
This is a good amount for a 8″x8″ (1.5 quart) baking dish, but for a party I like to split it between 2 smaller dishes. This is a very forgiving recipe with respect to size of dish and length of baking. You can make it anywhere from an inch deep to about 2 inches deep. In the photo I used about a 5″x7″ dish and a 5″ round dish.
This dish also can be made a day ahead of time and popped into the oven a half hour before serving. Plus it keeps well and can just be microwaved to serve again. Hope you like it!
- 16 ounces hot Italian sausage (1 chub or remove casings)
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8 oz sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (about 2 cups)
- 2 cups frozen sweet corn, thawed and drained
- 1 10-oz can Rotel fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 4 oz diced Hatch green chiles (I used 505)
- ½ cup diced fresh jalapeño peppers
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup sliced black olives (canned, 6.5 oz dry wt)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
- ½ cup sliced green onions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Place sausage in a dry pan over medium heat and use a spoon to break them up as they cook. Continue to cook until browned and crumbly, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain excess grease.
- Combine cream cheese, sour cream, 6 ounces grated Cheddar, thawed corn, cooked sausage, fire-roasted tomatoes with chiles, green chiles, jalapeño peppers, ¾ cup olives, salt, pepper, and mustard in a large bowl; mix until thoroughly combined. Transfer into a 8"x8" (~ 1.5 qt) baking dish and smooth out the top. Top with remaining Cheddar and olives, and sprinkle with cayenne.
- Place the baking dish on a cookie sheet and bake in the center of the preheated oven until cheese is melted and dip is bubbling around the outside, about 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle green onions over top before serving, and serve hot with tortilla chips.
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