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A baking dish of herbed goat cheese served with crackers and garnished with pecans and bacon.
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Baked Goat Cheese Dip | Bacon and Herbs

This baked goat cheese dip has bacon, onions, toasted pecans, and herbs, with cream cheese for the perfect party appetizer!
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Author Bessie Bakes

Equipment

  • 1 Large mixing bowl
  • 1 Electric Hand Mixer optional
  • 1 Spatula
  • 1 Baking Dish
  • 2 Sharp knives Can use a grater for the garlic
  • 1 Small Skillet

Ingredients

  • 8 Oz Goat cheese softened
  • 4 Oz Cream Cheese softened
  • 1 TBSP Olive Oil
  • 1 Clove Garlic Finely Minced
  • ¼ cup Onions
  • ½ cup Toasted Pecans
  • ¼ cup Chopped Bacon Can use pancetta instead of bacon!
  • ¼ tsp salt and pepper To taste
  • 1 TBSP Parsley (chopped) Optional
  • ½ tsp Smoked Paprika Optional

Instructions

For the Toasted Pecans

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  • Toss the ½ cup pecans in olive oil, salt and pepper.
  • Toast the pecans in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, and set aside.

For the Goat Cheese Dip

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Chop up ¼ cup worth of bacon in small pieces. Cook your bacon (or pancetta) in small skillet until cooked through.
  • Remove the bacon (or pancetta) from the pan.
    Use the renderings in the pan to saute ¼ cup onions until are softened, about two minutes.
  • Using the hand mixer, cream together the 8 oz goat cheese, 4 oz cream cheese and 1 TBSP olive until well blended.
  • Add the cooked onions, 1 clove of chopped garlic, 1 TBSP chopped parsley, ½tsp smoked paprika, and salt and pepper to the mixture.
  • Mix together using a spatula and then transfer to a baking dish or individual ceramic ramekins (oven-safe).
  • Bake the dip for 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
  • Garnish with the toasted pecans and bacon and serve immediately.

Notes

  1. This dip can be mixed up, covered and placed in the fridge the night before and then baked the following day.
  2. However, I would make the bacon fresh before serving.  If you make the dip in advance, you can saute the onions in olive oil instead of bacon fat.
  3. I used bacon in this recipe but pancetta would also be amazing! 
  4. Play with any spices or herbs you like for this recipe. Want your dip to be a bit spicy? Add some red pepper flakes!
  5. If you are allergic to nuts, you can easily leave the pecans off this recipe. 
  6. I paired everything bagel seasoned crackers with this dip, but it would be amazing with other types of crackers, veggies, bagel chips, etc.