Creamy Cowboy Caviar and Rotisserie Chicken Dip

Whether you’re in need of kinda healthy appetizers or a super savory snack that works well for meal prep, you can’t go wrong with this cheesy cowboy caviar chicken dip (say that five times fast). Each serving has 22 grams of protein with just 12 grams of carbs and 220 calories. Pair this dip with baked tortilla chips, veggie sticks, or your favorite dipping apparatus and you’ll have a high protein snack that’s a real treat.

And if you’re still not sold, you’ll only need 5-6 ingredients to make it!

Cowboy Caviar Chicken Dip Recipe Walkthrough

You’ll find a visual recipe tutorial below with notes for ingredient substitutions and extra tips. It’s an easy recipe so if you’re feeling confident, feel free to skip down to the recipe card. If you have an ingredient question, however, it’s probably answered in the post between here and there. Let’s go!

Mix light cream cheese with cowboy caviar.

This recipe was adapted from Trader Joe’s Kickin’ Corn Dip and primarily calls for TJ’s ingredients. Though you can easily make ingredient substitutions. For instance, if you don’t have access to a Trader Joe’s another pre-made cowboy caviar or corn and black bean salsa will work fine. Or if you’d like to make your own, check out this cowboy caviar recipe.

To save some calories, you could go with a fat free cream cheese like I used for my Instant Pot buffalo chicken dip. Unlike some fat free dairy products, cream cheese is an ingredient that’s more forgiving when substituting fat free for full fat.

And for comparison, 8 ounces of Trader Joe’s light cream cheese has 560 calories, 32g of protein, 16g of carbs, and 36g of fat while 8 ounces of fat free cream cheese has 240 calories, 32g of protein, 24g of carbs, and 0g of fat.

Can I make this dip dairy free?

After a reader mentioned using plant based Kite Hill cream cheese, I tested it in recipes like my bang bang chicken dip and creamy salsa verde chicken stew. I can confidently say it’s a great option with minimal differences in flavor and macronutrients.

Add pulled rotisserie chicken, stirring everything together.

Any cooked chicken will do the job here, but a pre-pulled rotisserie chicken saves a ton of time. If you wanted to make your own chicken for this chicken dip, I think my Mexican shredded chicken thighs or smoked fajita chicken would go great with the other ingredients here.

Top with lite shredded cheese and frozen fire roasted corn. 

The recipe calls for a layer of lite cheese, followed by a layer of full fat shredded cheddar. Any softer melting cheese will work in place of cheddar, but you’ll want that top layer to be the real deal, full fat cheese. The reduced fat shredded cheese options don’t melt very well and will leave your cowboy chicken dip looking a little sad.

As for the fire roasted corn, you can use any frozen corn option. You could also add things like diced jalapeños or peppers on top at this stage. That would add some flavor and make your chicken dip even prettier!

Check out my Traeger grilled corn salad for tips on grilling corn and jalapeño peppers together.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400ºF. 

Note: You can also smoke this cowboy crack dip. Check out my Traeger chicken cheese dip or Traeger smoked queso con carne for examples.

Like I mentioned in the intro, serving your cheesy cowboy caviar dip with chips is the obvious choice. Check out my whipped feta dip recipe for ideas on grilled bread or crostini as well.

For a lower calorie option check out my baked tortilla chips or more healthy chip alternatives. You can also find some baked tortilla chip options in stores these days. And if you want to go from kinda to ultra healthy, you could always serve your chicken dip with celery, jicama, or carrot sticks.

However you end up serving your cowboy caviar chicken dip, I’d love to hear about it. Let me know in a comment or recipe review. And if you have any recipe or ingredient questions I missed, drop them there as well. Enjoy!