Dips are very popular and often allow you to eat more vegetables. Among the popular dips, spinach appeals to young and old alike. With the many products available in supermarkets, how can you be sure to choose a dip that has an interesting nutritional profile? Here is my analysis for an informed choice.
OUR ANALYSIS
Nine dips were the subject of this test bench. The reference portion used is 30 g, or 2 tablespoons.
Each serving of spinach dip provides:
The Bâton Rouge brand offers a dip available in the frozen products section. Its nutritional profile is distinctive. With 110 mg of sodium per serving, it's the least salty on the test bench. It is also the lowest fat dip with 2.5g of fat and the lowest calorie content (40 calories). However, we would have preferred that the product not display added sugars on its list!
Fontaine Santé also stands out. Their spinach dip has 135mg of sodium per serving, so it ranks among the least salty on the test bench. Its fat content is average, at 10 g of lipids (1 g of saturated fat). It has a shorter list of ingredients than others, in addition to being free of added sugars.
The President’s Choice cauliflower, spinach and artichoke dip is a product that also stood out. With a sodium content of 140 mg, it ranks 3rd among the least salty products. This dip contains 7g of fat and only 0.5g of saturated fat. It contains less saturated fat than most other comparable products. At 80 calories per serving, it's the third-lowest calorie dip on the test bench. Like the Fontaine Santé dip, the ingredient list does not contain added sugars.
Les Gourmands Classiques spinach dip is high in fat at 20g per serving and higher in sodium than average at 190mg. It's also the highest calorie dip, with 200 calories per serving. With soybean oil at the top of the ingredient list, it's no wonder it's so greasy.
Litehouse Spinach Dip is, at 260 mg, the saltiest of the dips tested. It also contains more fat than average, at 12g per serving. It also provides 2 g of sugars, becoming the dip with the most sugar of the products analyzed.
Bar Dip is the 2nd saltiest (200mg sodium) while also being the fattiest choice (21g fat), which is why it's one of our poor picks. Too bad because its ingredient list is shorter than many other choices.
Fontaine Santé offers two spinach products that have quite different nutritional profiles. The traditional spinach dip (ranking among the top picks in this review) as well as a spinach and roasted artichoke hummus. Hummus, which is prepared with chickpeas, contains more protein (1g more), fewer calories (30 less), less sodium (20mg less), less fat (half). So this is a better option!
With a creamy base, it's no wonder that mayonnaise, oil, cream and buttermilk come first in the ingredient list of most strains. In doing so, spinach dips are oilier than several other types of dips. Vegetables and not fat are at the top of the list of ingredients in Bâton Rouge and President's Choice, we like it!
Half of the dips analyzed also contain added sugar. Texturizing agents (xanthan gum and guar) are present in several choices. The Tostitos dip has a lot of additives, including monosodium glutamate, and the Marzetti is loaded with additives as well. A mention to Summer Fresh for the quality of its list of ingredients.
