7 Layer Dip

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This 7 layer dip is a classic, but a huge fan favorite. The dip is loaded with beans, creamy cheese blend, salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and black olives. This is a great dip to serve when you need to take a side dish to your next party.

7 Layer Dip

7-layer bean dip makes a great party appetizer, serve it up with a bowl of tortilla chips or crackers and let everyone serve themselves.

My Mexican 7 layer dip recipe is a beautiful rainbow of colors. This is a healthy dip loaded with protein rich refried beans and a colorful variety of nutrient rich vegetables.

This best 7 layer dip recipe is a great dip when you need to make something quickly. It is also really easy to double up the recipe if you are feeding a crowd. All my friends and family love my ultimate 7 layer dip recipe.

Consider serving refried bean dip as a complement to 7 layer dip on your appetizer table.

Recipe ingredients

• BEANS: this recipe uses refried beans, you can use canned beans or use your favorite homemade refried beans recipe.
• STOCK: you can use vegetable or chicken stock with the refried beans.
• GUACAMOLE: use store bought guacamole or make your own.
• CHEESE: I add cream cheese to the sour cream layer.
• CREAM: sour cream and taco seasoning is blended together with cream cheese to form a creamy layer to the dip.
• SEASONING: I use taco seasoning in the creamy layer.
• SALSA: I like to use thick and chunky salsa as it adds great texture.
• CHEESE: I like to use shredded cheddar cheese for the cheese layer.
• TOPPING: when it comes to topping the dip I like to add diced tomatoes, sliced black olives and diced jalapenos. The jalapenos are optional and you can leave them off if you prefer a milder dip.

How to make 7 Layer Dip

Prep the jalapenos and tomatoes. I sliced the baby tomatoes and diced the jalapenos – you can prep them to your desired preference (dicing, chopping, etc). or even using your favorite type of tomato. For a little burst of heat, you could also add a habanero!

Combine sour cream, cream cheese and taco seasoning.

In a medium-sized bowl add the refried beans and stock.

Heat for 90 seconds in the microwave.

Mix until you have a smooth consistency.

Add the refried beans to your serving dish.

Layer the guacamole over the refried beans.

Layer the cream cheese and sour cream mixture over the beans.

In order layer the salsa spreading across the entire dish.

Then add the cheddar cheese. You can use other cheeses, if that’s your preference. We’ve used Colby, Cheddar Jack, and Monterey Jack before.

Using the best tomatoes

Now we’ll add the prepared tomatoes. In this photo, we’ve used cherry tomatoes (we refer to them as baby tomatoes). The BEST tomatoes are homegrown garden tomatoes if they’re in season and you’ve grown some or are lucky to have a friend who does. If not, any type of tomato you like will work!

Sprinkle black olives across the top of the tomato layer. Black olives are the traditional olive used in this recipe but my boys like jalapeno stuffed green olives so sometimes I’ll use those instead. Again, totally personal preference.

Preparing jalapeno peppers

We complete the seven layer dip by adding jalapenos on top. You can slice, dice, chop, whatever you prefer. You can also adjust the level of heat by slicing the jalapeno in half and removing everything inside. Be sure to scrape out all the membrane (pith) and seeds. Also, capsaicin is in the area near the seeds – it looks like the fleshy white pith part. After removing everything, rinse the jalapenos in cold water to remove any remaining juice.

We use food grade gloves when preparing any type of pepper because we once had someone get minor burns from the juice. Also be sure NOT to touch your face or eyes when handling peppers. Some of the guys in our family REALLY like heat from peppers, so I’ve been known to include habaneros, too. Just be safe with them, similar to the jalapenos!

Serve immediately or refrigerate for a few hours or until the following day.

Flavor variations

This is a fun dip because you can add more or less of anything to this dip.

• You can add fresh or pickled jalapeno.
• For extra chili heat you could also add a habanero.
• Swap black olives for green olives or use a mix of the two.
• I’ve included a layer of shredded cheddar cheese, but you can swap in other shredded cheese, try Colby, Cheddar Jack, or Monterey Jack, whatever your preference.
• Add a layer of shredded iceberg lettuce.
• Corn makes a great layer, you can add corn salsa, or a few corn kernels to the top of the dip.

Serving suggestion

There is so much flavor layered into this dip. I like to serve the dip with crackers or tortilla chips. But you could also pile it onto thin slices of toasted crusty bread, or your favorite potato chip.

Recipe hints & tips

• Make sure you properly drain the tomato salsa the excess liquid off the salsa, otherwise the dip will be too wet.
• I recommend using food grade gloves when preparing fresh chilies. DO NOT touch your face at any point during preparation and wash you hands thoroughly afterwards.

FAQs

Try some of my favorite easy appetizer recipes here at When is Dinner

• Mississippi Sin Dip
• Dill Pickle Dip
• French Onion Dip
• Guacamole Deviled Eggs
• Jalapeno Deviled Eggs
• BBQ Chicken Taquitos
• Jalapeno Popper Crescent Rolls