This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
The Melting Pot’s Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue is one of my favorite copycat recipes. Smooth, creamy melted cheese with spinach and artichokes that add incredible flavor!
This spinach artichoke cheese fondue is creamy and has all the flavor from the artichokes right in the fondue. This recipe tastes exactly the same as the fondue we had in the restaurant. It is rich, smooth, and perfectly creamy. And the best part is, you can make it yourself for a fraction of the cost of eating it at the restaurant!
Experience the Melting Pot fondue in your own home for half the price! This homemade fondue tastes just like the Melting Pot and is the perfect copycat recipe. Grab your fondue maker and let’s get started making some delicious spinach and artichoke fondue!
Melting Pot Fondue Recipe Ingredients
Six simple ingredients is all you need to make the best spinach and artichoke fondue! It is so easy to make, and the fondue pot does all the work. Add in all the ingredients with little to no preparation and stir them together to make this wonderful dish!
- Vegetable broth – This will be the first ingredient that goes into the fondue maker. This gives it flavor and the liquid helps keep the artichoke dip smooth when stirring together.
- Spinach – Throw some loosely packed fresh spinach into the fondue pot. It will give texture and flavor to every bite.
- Artichoke hearts – Chop the artichoke hearts into smaller pieces before adding. Once the cheese is melted, you will see small green bits of artichoke throughout the fondue. It really makes this recipe look gorgeous in the fondue pot.
- Garlic – Add in minced garlic for an extra savory flavor.
- Butterkäse cheese – This is a MUST-have for this recipe! You will love this soft cheese and how creamy it is when melted. Make sure that you grate your cheese before adding it to the fondue pot.
- Parmesan cheese blend – Find the bag that is fontina and parmesan cheese. This will also need to be grated in order for it to melt properly.
How to make The Melting Pot’s Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue
Spinach artichoke cheese fondue is a highlight appetizer for our family! It takes a little bit of time to set up and melt the cheese, but it is all worth it in the end. Slowly heat the fondue pot, soften the greens, then melt the cheese for the most flavorful appetizer. It is worth the extra time!
- Heat fondue pot – Heat vegetable broth in a fondue pot or similar cooking pot.
- Soften – When hot (do not bring to a boil), add spinach, artichoke hearts, and garlic, and mix well. Continue to cook until the spinach and artichoke hearts soften.
- Melt the cheeses – Combine the Butterkäse and Parmesan/Fontina grated cheeses, and add to the broth a little bit at a time, stirring constantly.
- Finishing touches – Continue melting and stirring until you have added all the cheese and the consistency is smooth and creamy.
- Serve – Serve with sliced french bread pieces, steamed vegetables, cooked meat, chips, pretzels, or crackers.
What to Serve with Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue
There are so many delicious and fun options to serve with this spinach artichoke cheese fondue! Prepare your protein, vegetables, and cut-up bread to help make this dipping appetizer even better! Dig (or dip) in, and enjoy!
- Protein – Make this fondue recipe a full meal by adding pieces of cooked meat like chicken, beef, shrimp, crab, lobster tails, or sausage. Wrap some pieces of chicken in bacon and you have a real treat!
- Veggies – Brussels sprouts, broccoli, celery, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, asparagus, and sugar snap peas. To steam vegetables, you want them to be cooked “al dente” so they are still crisp and fresh, not limp and soggy.
- Bread – Chop up french bread, baguette bag, or pretzel bites for thick crusted bread. Artisan breads are best because they have a thick outside layer and are soft to bite into with the savory dip coating it!
- Chips – You will want a thick chip to dip in the spinach dip. Tortilla chips are best!
- Crackers – These sometimes are harder to dip. Adding a little fondue onto the cracker with a spoon is best to avoid the cracker breaking in the fondue pot. Graham crackers, Ritz crackers, or Triscuits are sturdy crackers to dip.
- Fresh fruits – With this savory dip, a little sweetness tastes delicious. Try it with granny smith apples or cherry tomatoes. Try using a seasonal fruit of your choice for a tasty option!
Tips to Making the Best Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue
- The cheese – Substitute the cheese for farmer’s cheese or Romanian cream cheese. Make sure that you shred or grate the cheese for the best results. It will not be able to melt appropriately if it is not shredded.
- Do NOT double the batch! We recommend not doubling the cheese or ingredients for this fondue recipe. Unfortunately, the cheese will not melt completely and it will end up in a lump at the bottom of the fondue maker.
- Dippers – If you do not have enough dippers for everyone, you can carefully use a fork to help dip your sides in.
“We tried this recipe last weekend when we had some friends over and it was a hit! So delicious! Thanks for sharing!”
-Anna
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are a fan of fondue, you are going to love this recipe! A fondue pot is similar to a saucepan except that the fondue warms itself up and does not need an oven. Depending on the size of the family you will be serving will determine how large your fondue pot will be as well as how many dippers you will need. If you don’t have a fondue pot, we highly recommend the medium sized Oster Fondue Pot available at Amazon, Target, and other department stores. It is easy to use and it keeps the fondue at just the right temperature.
Before starting your fondue dinner, it is best to set the rules that are asked of everyone. A certain rule we use is not to double dip in the fondue. You can even say all meat first, then veggies, then bread, or go in an order that is best for everyone. Provide a small dish for each person to be able to have a place to lay their dipper (or extra dip) on.
Storing Homemade Fondue
Place the cooled leftover fondue in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for three days. When ready to reheat, place it back in the fondue pot or in a saucepan on the stovetop. Slowly heat up the fondue while stirring it. Do not microwave. The cheese will separate and it will become lumpy.
More Fondue and Dip Recipes
There’s nothing more fun than gathering with your friends around a hot bowl of dip and enjoying a fun meal together. Try these delicious recipes!
Cheddar Cheese Fondue
Easy Chocolate Fondue
Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip
Spinach Artichoke Dip in a Bread Bowl
Hot Crab Dip
Bread Bowl Dip
How to Make Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue
The Melting Pot’s Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup fresh spinach loosely packed, chopped
- 3/4 cup artichoke hearts chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 7 ounces Butterkäse cheese grated – if you can’t find this, you can substitute Farmer’s Cheese or Romanian Cream Cheese
- 5 ounces Parmesan cheese blend grated – be sure to find one that has the first two ingredients as parmesan and Fontina cheese
Instructions
- Heat vegetable broth in fondue pot or similar cooking pot.
- When hot (do not bring to a boil) add spinach, artichoke hearts, and garlic and mix well. Continue to cook until the spinach and artichokes hearts soften.
- Combine the Butterkäse and Parmesan/Fontina grated cheeses, and add to the broth a little bit at a time, stirring constantly.
- Continue melting a stirring until you have added all the cheese and the consistency is smooth and creamy.
- Serve with french bread pieces, steamed vegetables, cooked meat, chips, pretzels, or crackers.
Substitution:
- Fake Butterkäse Cheese (Keep in mind, the fake really isn’t quite as good as the real Butterkäse. Only use this recipe if you can’t find it anywhere):
- Mix ½ brick (4oz) of cream cheese with ¼ cup of buttermilk and ½ tablespoon of sour cream.
The recipe was very tasty. Will definitely make it again. TIP: 1. If having trouble with incorporating cheese into the broth toss the freshly grated cheese with 2tsp of cornstarch. I did this and the cheese got nicely incorporated into the broth. 2. I don’t have a fondue pot or a double broiler so used a pot of hot water with a steel bowl over it. The fondue was very good and the hot water kept the fondue warm even when taken off the stove.
Used to work for them: the key it to coat the cheese in a bit of cornstarch. Put it in a bowl and work it around. Helps it to smooth out the clumps you are getting.
I did not use pre-grated cheese. Also followed the recipe exactly and added it to the hot broth very gradually but it was still a clumped up mess and did not mix with the broth at all. So disappointed, especially since these cheeses were expensive and we tripled the recipe.
I am so sorry that this did not work for you. We don’t encourage doubling or tripling the recipe because it is hard to get all that cheese hot at the same time. If a larger batch is needed, we suggest making one batch at a time.
Followed the recipe to a T (yes, I used freshly grated cheese – not pre-shredded cheese), and like other reviewers, my cheese turned into a huge clump and would not mix with the vegetable broth. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I love the spinach artichoke dip from The Melting Pot and would love to make some at home for a fraction of the price.
Did you add the cheese just a little at a time until it melted? It may also help to toss the cheese in flour before adding. This will thicken the sauce more so you may need to add more broth but I am guessing it may help with it turning into a big clump. I am not sure if the brand of cheese makes a difference? I will try to look into this further and see if I can find a good solution here. Thanks for letting us know!
It tastes great I just don’t exactly know what I was doing wrong where my cheese kept clumping with the fork. I did add it gradually I’m just not sure maybe it’s my fondue pot and the wrong temp. Still tastes good. I added a splash of white wine just as a preference.
Oh no! Did you use pre-shredded cheese? Sometimes pre-shredded cheese can have a dusting on it that makes it clump. I bet the white wine was delicious!
I’m so sad. I followed the recipe exactly and the cheese never incorporated into the liquid. The liquid turned a little creamy and then we had a big plastic-ey ball of cheese. I whisked constantly. Such a bummer. I was so excited to try this.
Oh no! Did you add the cheese a little bit at a time or all at once?
Hi I had the same problem! It still tasted delicious, but yes I added cheese little by little while stirring. Was the heat setting wrong? I didn’t have it boiling but after it wasn’t melting, I tried hotter. It didn’t seem to help
Oh no! I’m so sorry! Did you use pre-shredded cheese?
I’m planning on making this with my kids for New Years!
I do have a question in regards to the cheese blend. Is it pre shredded?
If so you haven’t had any issues with it melting? The anti caking agents won’t wreck havoc in the melting department?
If you use the fresh grated cheese, you shouldn’t have a problem with melting!
What brand of cheese did you guys find that was a good parmesan blend? I finally found the Bauer Butterkase at my local Walmart, but I’m not seeing something that has fontina as the second ingredient.
The Sargento cheese brand has a few really good Italian blends!
I am drooling just looking at it! Yummy!
We’ve tried this recipe last weekend when we had some friends over and it was a hit! So delicious! Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea for any party we have coming up! I love the spinach artichoke flavors!
OMG! This was really good! My family can’t get over it! So yummy!
This cheese fondue looks amazing!
Hi! I love the melting pot and I am excited to try this. The recipe says grated Parmesan blend but there is a photo of shredded at the end of the recipe. Is the grated the correct one to use?
Sorry for the confusion – you should use shredded like in the picture at the bottom.
Am looking forward to making this for my wife. This weekend. Looks yummy
Aww! That is so nice! Let us know how she likes it!
Hello, I got a fondue pot a few weeks ago and Valentine’s Day was the first time we used. And your recipe made it an awesome meal, heck we may even need to make more for dessert!
I could not find the butterkaise and the homemade kind worked perfectly. We added a bit more fontina than the recipe called for, sometimes I am heavy handed with liquids and before the extra cheese it was a little runny (operator error). I am so glad we found a recipe without wine, I tried one on the stove before we got our pot and all you could taste was alcohol. This was a much better experience!
So glad you liked it. What a perfect Valentine’s meal (and I’m guessing it didn’t cost $80 per person)!
I am super excited to try out this recipe i have a gathering this saturday so it will be perfect i just want to know if you buy the vegetable broth or you make it and how?? Thanks in advance 🙂
I use store bought vegetable broth, but homemade vegetable broth would work great in this recipe. Here is a recipe from a fellow food blogger that I recommend if you would like to make you own:
http://www.myhumblekitchen.com/2013/03/rich-and-flavorful-homemade-vegetable-broth-recipe/#sthash.elvZgtIj.dpbs
Besides bread, what do you recommend for dipping?
We’ve also used crackers, baked pita chips, and broccoli for this fondue. Thank you for asking!
Thank you for this recipe! Made it for my Moms Club for Moms Night Out. We did a young Gouda instead because we have a few pregnant moms in our group. It was a huge hit! Looking forward to making it again!
Awesome! So glad that you liked it! Thanks for the substitution idea as well 🙂
So I couldn’t find butterkase anywhere and I didn’t wanna do the substitute. I tried the Gouda someone mentioned and omg it was more delicious then at MP in my opinion.
I am not familiar with this type of cheese. Can anyone explain what it tastes similar to?
I found that mild brick cheese, usually found in specialty shops or in Wisconsin, is close to Butter Kase cheese. It’s a German cheese, and when I’m not able to find mild brick I get this one and it works perfectly. I used to bring it back to Houston after visiting WI, but it’s difficult now with Flight Rules.
I work at the melting pot, and this truly is the recipe. except for the fresh spinach. It is very hard to get enough spinach into the cheese using fresh and it has a different texture when you eat it. I would recommend frozen spinach. I have made it both ways and frozen is better. Also flour is better, the MP changed the recipe to cornstartch to better suit diet trends but flour tastes MUCH better. I have literally eaten this cheese over a thousand times. We also use 4. 0z of vegetable broth not 3, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. The MP isn’t stuffy about their “recipes” so don’t worry about your waiter giving it to you. We want to spread the fondue love!
also, if you buy the cheese pre-shredded (if you happen to be so lucky) don’t flour or cornstarch, the cheese guys already do that!
Thanks for the great info! We love MP and have always had a great experience there. ALL of the workers we have ever talked to are SO nice. MP must have pretty high standards as far as staff goes! 🙂
Erica, I completely agree! MP is absolutely delicious and the staff that they have are WONDERFUL!!!!! Kudos to the Melting Pot!!!!!!!
Brittany, thank you so very much for your post!!!!!!!
I thought they added wine or something else
Are the artichokes marinated or plain
marinated
What kind of artichoke hearts? I’ve never used them in cooking before. I’m assuming it’s canned. Is that right? Thanks
I usually use the ones in a jar.
This is the bomb!!! My fondue pot (rival brand) cooks really hot…..even on warm it was boiling the broth. Once I added the cheese, it turned really lumpy, not smooth, so i took it out of the fondue pot and over low heat, cooked it until it was more smooth. it was so good….thank you so much for sharing this recipe…..I love spinach artichoke anything. We make fondue every new years eve and this will be the go to cheese fondue.
I am new to making Fondue, but I have tried several different recipes. So far, this is the only one that I will be making a second time.
Use cornstarch, not flour. It will thicken better. Also youre a lucky girl. If they ever find out that waiter gave you the recipe he will be fired and possibly sued. Yikes.
He will never be found. I don’t even know his name!
Could you use chicken broth?
Yes, it will have a little different flavor, but it would work fine.
So does the MP use the wine or the vegetable broth?
Vegetable broth… I listed the exact recipe the waiter gave me!
How many does this serve?
2-3
I have a potluck at work coming up & would love to bring this to impress. Could I make this in my fondue pot & transfer it to a crock pot to keep it warm for the potluck? Any other suggestions?
Sure! I think that would probably work. That would be my best suggestion.
are these marinated artichokes?
Wow!!! This was perfect! Dead on.. This is my favorite at Melting Pot, now I can make it at home… (Flour the cheese)
Just made a modified version today with a very young Gouda as I could not find the Butterkase, and increased the amount of spinach and artichoke. It was wonderful!
I worked at the MP. and this is the real deal,except we lightly covered the cheese with corn starch not flour. This makes enough for 2 people
Looks really nice, sounds amazingly delish and is a wonderful alternative to normal cheese fondue!
I work at the melting pot too, and just so everyone knows: our recipes aren’t a secret… We even sell a cookbook =)
I own the cookbook and this recipe isn’t in it. That’s a shame because this is my fave MP cheese fondue.
Great cookbook but they conveniently left out
Some of their customer’s favorites, many of the
Recipes aren’t from MP’s menu at all:)
I just made this and it is exactly the same as the MP! Thank you for the tip about adding the flour. I had a hard time at first finding Butterkase cheese, I live in Arizona and I ended up finding it within the packaged meet and cheese section. This recipe is great, so glad I found this site!!
For those not in the know, Butterkase is often called German Butter Cheese in English. It is easily found in the deli section at grocery stores in Canada, so I imagine it would be fairly easy to find in the USA too.
I’m going to make this for a girls night tomorrow night, but I’m curious how much it actually makes? The amounts for each ingredient seem very small. Should I double it? There will be 7-10 of us.
It makes enough for 2-4 depending on if that is the main thing you are serving. If ALL you are serving is this fondue I would say it will feed 2 comfortably.
I worked at a MP for years. You need to lightly flour the cheese for it to blend with the wine or broth.
Thanks so much!! I changed it on the recipe!
Wine? Please share your info! 🙂
@ Cathy– Unfortunately we aren’t the people to ask! None of us drink!
You have to flour the cheese. That is the missing part of this recipe. Shred the cheese, then toss with flour. That is what any server at the restaurant wil tell you. its not on the menu, and you can't tell by watching them prepare it.
@Jensen- Maybe try melting it in a regular saucepan with the broth and then transfer it to the fondue pot. I know sometimes a fondue pot doesn't heat it up as well as just a regular pot. Another thing you could do it do it backwards… melt the cheese slowly and then slowly add the liquid. Let me know if this helps!
We have tried to make this twice with the same problem, the cheese doesn't seem to melt and mix with the broth. We used a fondue pot and a double boiler. Do you have any suggestions?
I worked there for three years. you have to shred the cheese and add in cornstarch not flour. mix the cheese with cornstarch before adding to the broth
Oh man I love the melting pot its a favorite 🙂 This looks amazing. So where did you find the butterkase cheese?
Boars head carries it….anywhere you can find Boars Head, you will find Butterkase cheese…