Hot Caprese Dip

As soon as my friend Melissa made this dip for the recent Italian recipe swap I knew I had to find an excuse to make it before summer was over. Caprese is my favorite combination of flavors and I knew this dip would be incredibly good.


I'm not ashamed to admit that I ended up making this dip and eating it for lunch over Labor Day weekend. We had been out running errands and since we are on a restaurant hiatus right now we went home for lunch. I needed something quick to eat before putting Baby Girl down for a nap. The wholesale club sells fresh mozzarella so I had some in the fridge, along with ripe tomatoes and some pesto, which I subbed for the fresh basil.

This came together quickly and was delicious with the crusty Italian bread. My only complaint is the mozzarella gets so stringy I wouldn't serve this for company since it would be next to impossible to eat without making a huge mess. But it was just fine for me to scarf down all by myself.

Hot Caprese Dip
How Sweet It Is

10 ounces fresh mozzarella, cubed
2 tomatoes, seeded and juiced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn (or 2 tablespoons pesto)
Italian bread, sliced and toasted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in baking dish (make sure you get as much juice out of the tomatoes as you can!) and bake for about 15 minutes. Serve immediately with sliced Italian bread.

Note: If you use the pesto the result will be even more watery, so you might want to drain off the excess liquid before serving.

You can stick this under the broiler for a few minutes after it's done baking if you like.