This Hot Corn Dip recipe is sponsored by the good folks at the Iowa Corn promotion board. All opinions, photos, and recipes remain -as always- my own.

Hot Corn Dip is one of those things that has a boring name but you are absolutely powerless to resist. If you are me, that is.

I’ll eat just about any old hot corn dip, but I decided if I was going to make a glutton of myself eating unmentionable amounts of it, I’d better make it something to remember. And that is how I decided I needed to turn my hot corn dip to eleven (name that movie reference!) and added cubed chicken, crispy bacon, diced hatch chiles, and ranch dressing mix to the party.

In the words of my people, Holy Wah.

Those simple additions turned this into the best hot corn dip recipe I’ve ever eaten. And eaten and eaten and eaten and eaten. I almost growled at one of my kids when he dipped into the pan at the same time I did. I’m talking primal response here.

I mean honestly, could you stay away from a bubbling pan filled with hot corn dip that is chock full of sweet corn, tender chicken, crispy, smoky bacon, hatch chiles, and green onions in a ranch cheese sauce? Because if you can, you have infinitely more will-power than I do.

Also, you’re probably lying. I’m sorry. I love you, but it’s true.

Can I use a crockpot to make hot corn dip?

You betcha! You can certainly use a slow cooker to make hot corn dip. That said, I prefer to make this in a cast-iron or regular baking dish because I’m a sucker for the crispy little bits of cheese that form at the edge of a pan when this is baked.

If you want to make this hot corn dip for a party in a way that you can keep it hot or prefer to have it completely creamy minus the crispy bits, you can definitely plunk all of the ingredients in the crockpot. I’ve included instructions in the printable recipe card.

What can I serve with this hot corn dip recipe?

A spoon.

Kidding. Well, I’m only sort of kidding. I do eat this by the spoonful, but we’ve already covered my lack of control around hot corn dip.

If you’re showing more restraint than I am, you can dip in homemade soft pretzels, tortilla chips, kettle cooked potato chips, or pretzel rods. You can also spread some hot corn dip on a slice of bread, or on a bun before topping with a burger.

What kind of cheese do I use for hot corn dip?

In our hot corn dip recipe, we use cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, and Monterey Jack, but you can sub in white American cheese for the Monterey Jack if you’d prefer to do so.

Each of those cheeses has a purpose in the dip; cream cheese for creaminess, Cheddar cheese for flavour, and Monterey Jack or American for smooth meltability.

Hot Corn Dip Cook’s Notes

• • I love to use my homemade buttermilk ranch dressing mix in our hot corn dip, but if you would like to, you can certainly use purchased dry ranch dressing mix from a packet. One 1 oz. packet usually contains 3 tablespoons of the dry mix, so you can sub in 1 package of dry mix for homemade.

• • When it comes to the chicken for this recipe, I use whichever leftovers I have on hand, whether it’s Greek lemon garlic chicken or Smoked Barbecue Chicken. I’d even happily sub in leftover smoked turkey, roast turkey breast, orhoney sriracha turkey breast. When I don’t have leftover chicken turkey on hand, I use a purchased rotisserie chicken and save the bones for stock.

• • If you opt to make this hot corn dip in the oven, as is my preference, you’ll probably want to stir the ingredients together, microwave a bit to melt the cheeses, and then stir again before plunking everything into your baking dish. I find the finished dip to be smoother that way. That said, you can definitely skip a dish by stirring everything together in your baking dish, then stirring every five minutes or so for the first 20 minutes of baking to combine. It will minimize the crusty cheesy bits at the corners, but it will still work out.

• • If you would prefer to make hot corn dip in a slow cooker, spritz the crock of the cooker lightly with non-stick cooking spray before adding in all of your ingredients. You’ll still get some lovely crunchy bits around the edges, but the top won’t brown as much as it would in the oven.

• • The best pan to use for Hot Corn Dip is a square cast iron pan or cast iron skillet because they maximize the crunchy cheesy bits. If you don’t have a cast-iron pan, you can use an 8×8 square baking dish. Just remember to put down a trivet or hot pad before transferring your hot baking dish to the serving table!

• • It’s important to put a rimmed half sheet pan under your baking dish because as the ranch cheese sauce gets bubbly, it sometimes bubbles a little extra enthusiastically and dribbles over the edge.If you put a sheet pan there, you save yourself from the nasty surprise of a smoking oven and get bonus little cheese crisps that you can eat all by yourself without sharing, to boot. This is a win/win.

• If you have leftovers -you paragon of self-control, you- you can store them in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in a foil covered dish in a 350°F oven just until hot, or microwave in a vented microwave-safe container for a couple of minutes, stir, and repeat until hot.

Use these to make Hot Corn Dip

• cast iron 8-inch square baking dish or slow cooker
• sturdy spatula
• chef’s knife
• cutting board