Spinach Artichoke Balls - Great Party Food

This past weekend I had the honor and pleasure of providing some munchies for some lovely ladies in the Krewe of Juno.  When we were discussing the menu, I mentioned I had come across an interesting recipe for Spinach Artichoke Balls and we decided to give those a whirl.  Well, let me tell you - these little guys are fantastic and make for great party food.  Literally, when I tried one when they came out of the oven with the dipping sauce - it tasted just like spinach artichoke dip.

I altered the recipe a bit from the one that came in my Food Republic email. I can't stand mayo and I wanted to make the dipping sauce healthier so substituted out mayo for greek yogurt and low fat sour cream.  To make the balls healthier - I think you could definitely use Smart Balance to replace some of the butter, use egg whites, and whole wheat breadcrumbs to make the balls a bit on the healthier side.  I will definitely make these again and am thinking you could add some crumbled bacon to the balls or substitute out some of the parm for feta to mix it up a bit.  As the for the dipping sauce, I love the dill, but think other herbs could be used as well.  Great recipe for those of you with upcoming Super Bowl parties!

 Spinach Artichoke Balls

1 1-pound package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and chopped finely

1/2 package frozen artichokes, thawed and chopped finely (9 oz)

5 eggs

1 large onion, minced

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne powder

2 cups Italian-style breadcrumbs

Dill Sauce

1 cup greek yogurt

1 cup light sour cream

1/4 cup dill, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

Squeeze of lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

1. Combine all sauce ingredients together in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Squeeze excess water from spinach and put in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix well by hand. Form mixture into 1 ½” balls either by hand or with a small ice cream scoop. Roll them between the palms of your hand to get a uniform smooth finish. 
5. Place balls on a parchment lined sheet pan and cook until firm to the touch, 20-25 minutes.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature with the dipping sauce. 

*** I doubled the original recipe and it was suppose to make about 50 balls, but yeah...I think I ended up with probably 60-70 total.  So I made them a bit bigger and cooked them longer for like 35 minutes.  Also I turned them over half way through the cooking time to ensure they would brown on all sides.***

These were some of the Spinach Artichoke Balls right after I pulled them out of the oven.   

In addition to these guys, I served:

- ham and havarti on mini Hawaiian bread rolls with farmer's market lettuce and pepper jelly

- turkey and provolone on focaccia with sun dried tomato pesto and arugula.  I bought a loaf of focaccia, sliced it in half, loaded it up with all the ingredients and then sliced it into small sandwiches.