With May just around the corner, Sweetwater County families are gearing up for graduation celebrations. As those celebrations often include parties with friends and family, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on food that can serve a crowd. This week, you’ll read about a tasty dip that is easy to make and is enough of a blank canvas to allow for some creativity in the kitchen.

One of the best things about cooking is you don’t always have to follow the beaten path. Of course, it isn’t advisable to completely throw the cookbook out the window – especially when you’re baking. However, there are times you’ll read something and immediately know you can improve upon it. That’s where I was when I came across this week’s recipe. 

Cowboy Kickin’ Chicken Dip

Like most of the recipes I’ve written about so far, this comes from “Black Tie and Boots: Timeless Traditions from the New West,” a cookbook the University of Wyoming published in 2005. The recipe is described as quick and easy; being about as easy as making blue box mac and cheese. For the base dip, all you do is combine 16 oz. of cream cheese with two 10 oz. cans of cream of chicken soup, one 10 oz. can of diced chicken, and a 4 oz. can of diced jalapeños. Allow the mixture to warm over low heat and voila, you have a cheese dip. Upon reading the recipe, I realized two things:

1. While following a recipe using only canned ingredients is easy, it isn’t that difficult to dice fresh chicken and peppers for a better flavor.
2. The flavor itself would come across as fairly basic and can easily be improved.

And so, I set about making a dip with a more complex and, hopefully, improved flavor. I’ve added a few ingredients as well, but the dip is still very easy to make. Word of advice – this is a thick dip. The blue corn chip seen in the image above broke when I tried to scoop some dip up after the photo was taken. Serve this with thicker corn or ridged potato chips, along with celery sticks.

What you’ll need:

• 16 oz. container of cream cheese 
• 2 10 oz. cans of cream of chicken soup
• 1 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes and chilis (spiciness is up to you, I opted for mild)
• 1/2 pound of diced roasted chicken
• 2 small jalapeños, diced 
• 1 tbsp. of cayenne pepper

In a slow cooker or a large pan, combine the cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, diced tomatoes and chilis, chicken, and diced jalapeños over low heat, stirring occasionally until they combine. Serve when the mixture is warm, sprinkling the cayenne pepper on the top. Also consider garnishing with additional diced or sliced jalapeños. This recipe will make about five cups of dip.