I Made Trisha Yearwood's Charleston Cheese Dip and It's Dip Heaven

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This is a copycat of Trisha Yearwood's Charleston Cheese Dip. My version is smaller but can easily be doubled for a crowd. With bacon in the filling and on the crunchy top, its dip heaven!

By
LaDonna Langwell
LaDonna Langwell

Recent empty nester with a passion for all things food- especially Italian cuisine. Wine enthusiast and loving wife to my husband of over 20 years. If I am not in the kitchen, look for me at our local wineries volunteering as a pourer.

Allrecipes' editorial guidelines
Updated on August 5, 2024
Baked cheese dip topped with bacon and tortilla chips on the side
2
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
12 mins
Total Time:
27 mins
Servings:
4

“Everybody has a cheese dip that they love, but I don’t think anybody’s ever had anything quite like my Charleston cheese dip,” Trisha Yearwood once said about her famous recipe, which she came up with after tasting an “amazing” dip in a hotel room in Charleston. 

We have to agree: The crowd-pleasing dip is made with three types of cheese, mayonnaise, buttery cracker crumbs, and bacon. What’s not to love? 

Instead of crushed crackers, this copycat recipe calls for Panko bread crumbs—you can use the store-bought stuff or, if you want to go the extra mile, you can make the bread crumbs from scratch. 

LaDonna Langwell, the Allrecipes Allstar who developed this copycat recipe, loves the kick that cayenne pepper adds, but recommends using less or eliminating it altogether if you don’t like spicy food. 

Here’s another pro-tip from LaDonna: “While my husband devoured almost half of this, there was enough leftover to spread on baguette slices,” she says. “Put any leftover bacon on top and bake or broil in the oven until just hot.”

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Ingredients

Original recipe (1X) yields 4 servings

  • 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted

  • 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise (such as Duke's)

  • 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

  • 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese

  • 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

  • 2 green onions, finely chopped, divided

  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • tortilla chips for serving

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

  2. Combine melted butter and panko in a small bowl. Toss to coat panko thoroughly and set aside

  3. Set aside 1/2 tablespoon green onions. Mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, remaining green onion, 1/2 of the bacon, and cayenne pepper in a bowl. Transfer mixture to a small 8x6-inch baking dish and smooth out the top. Evenly sprinkle buttered panko crumbs over the top.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is starting to bubble and panko has slightly darkened, about 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is the darkness you prefer, 1 to 2 minutes.

  5. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with remaining bacon and green onion. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

    Copycat Charleston cheese dip topped with bacon and scallions

    LaDonna Langwell