Bacon Spinach Blossoms: Festive Holiday Appetizer
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‘Tis the season to gather with friends and family for holiday cocktail parties! Bacon Spinach Blossoms with roasted red peppers and Italian cheeses are a festive holiday appetizer your Christmas guests will devour.
I’m sharing this Bacon Spinach Blossoms recipe today as part of a Holiday Cocktail Party with more than 40 other bloggers. You’ll find links to their sites at the end of this post so you can check out the amazing appetizers, cocktails/mocktails and desserts they’re sharing too.
Holiday Cocktail Party Ideas
My family’s Christmas traditions have changed over the years. When I was a kid, my family of six often had fondue as our special meal for Christmas Eve. Years later, when my nephews were small and the hot fondue oil was too dangerous, we started having steak and crab legs for our family Christmas gathering.
Nowadays, though, it’s become our tradition to have a huge Christmas party appetizers spread when we get together for my family’s Christmas celebration. Each adult brings an appetizer to share.
We start with a few of the appetizers around 4 p.m. and keep rolling out new snacks throughout the evening. Someone always brings cheese and crackers (Mom!), but many of us break out new appetizer recipes to try.
My Favorite Holiday Appetizer – Bacon Spinach Blossoms
What You Need:
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Kitchen Tools Needed:
Ingredients Needed:
These are the ingredients you’ll need. All the exact amounts are in the printable card at the bottom of this post.
- Seamless Crescent Dough
- Bacon
- Cream Cheese
- Roasted Red Peppers
- Fresh Baby Spinach
- Shredded Italian Cheese Blend
My Christmas appetizer idea this year is going to be these delicious Bacon Spinach Blossoms. My younger brother, who’s a very creative cook, made ham and cheese pinwheels last year. I decided to give his recipe a festive twist by using roasted red pepper and spinach to make my Bacon Spinach Blossoms a red and green appetizer for Christmas.
When I consulted him on my changes to his recipe, he gave me the brilliant suggestion of adding bacon into the cream cheese. When you try these yummy treats, you and your cocktail party guests will be as glad as I am that he thought of that!
Chill the Dough
When I consulted my younger brother about this recipe, he suggested I refrigerate the filled crescent dough roll for the Bacon Spinach Blossoms before I cut it so it would stay together better.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit my cookie sheet in my side-by-side refrigerator. Instead, I actually put the filled roll for the Bacon Spinach Blossoms in my freezer for a half-hour despite the clear DO NOT FREEZE warning on the side of the crescent roll package.
The 30 minutes in the freezer didn’t cause any problems for me, but you definitely do not want to forget about the dough or freeze it longer than a half hour.
Bacon Spinach Blossoms: Festive Holiday Appetizer
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Chef's Knife
- Cookie Sheet
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 8 oz. seamless crescent dough
- 8 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 12 oz. jar of roasted red peppers chopped
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup Italian shredded cheese blend
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and crumbled bacon bits. Use a spatula to spread the cream cheese mixture in a thin layer across the crescent dough.
- Roll the crescent dough end-to-end lengthwise. Tuck the baby spinach leaves in as you go. Freeze for 30 minutes.
Nutrition
Tips for Making this Holiday Appetizer
- If you use a dark or nonstick pan to bake the Bacon Spinach Blossoms, you may want to lower the temperature to 350 degrees.
- When you remove the Bacon Spinach Blossoms from the oven, let them stand for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before you transfer them to a platter to serve to party guests. This will help the Bacon Spinach Blossoms to stay intact.
Best Dip To Use
Since creating this post in 2014, we’ve been asked which dip tastes best with them. I never thought of adding a dip because the cream cheese makes them amazing on its own.
But if you enjoy dips, try using a sweet marinara sauce. The result will be like a creamy pizza. I think you’ll love it!
Please take a look at all the blogs participating in this Holiday Cocktail Party!
Appetizers
Domestic Superhero – Just Us Four – The Blue Eyed Dove – Sweet Pea – Glued To My Crafts – Patricia Eales Nutrition – Lemons and Laughs – Cupcakes&Crowbars – Sowdering About – Yesterday on Tuesday – Mom Home Guide – My Craftily Ever After – The Love Nerds – One Krieger Chick – Ideas for the Home by Kenarry® – A Dish of Daily Life
Cocktails & Mocktails
One Artsy Mama – The Blue Eyed Dove – Sparkle – Albion Gould – Southern State of Mind – Eat Drink Eat – My Creative Days – Shelstring – I’m Bored Lets Go – Blue Crab Martini
Desserts & Sweet Treats
Major Hoff Takes A Wife – This Is The Life I Have Chosen – Crazy for Crust – Sypsie Designs – DIYfaerie – Little Blog on the Homestead – Living Better Together – Laura’s INKlings – Life Made Sweeter – Tried & True – FrugElegance – Play. Party. Pin.
What do you like to serve at holiday cocktail parties? Please comment below and share. We’re always looking for new ideas! You may also want to try these amazing Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Sriracha Meatballs.
If you liked this holiday appetizer recipe for Bacon Spinach Blossoms, please share it with your friends or pin it for later:
Love the ideas you see here on Ideas for the Home by Kenarry®? Subscribe today to get our weekly Ideas in Your Inbox newsletter plus other exclusive gifts and offers — all for FREE!
More Appetizer Ideas
You may also enjoy these Appetizer Ideas on Ideas for the Home by Kenarry® –
Green Pepper Dip: An Easy Cheesy Appetizer
For other holiday entertaining ideas, recipes and tips, follow our Christmas Ideas Board on Pinterest.
Originally published November 2014. Updated November 2018.
Oh, Yum. You’re making me hungry. I think I could eat a few of them right now to go with my morning coffee.
I think I will be making these for a Christmas gathering come the first of Dec. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
When I have to roll things up and store in the frig for awhile; I will lay out a sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap and roll up in it and by using a bamboo place mat you gently roll over your roll as you’re rolling and makes for a nice round roll.
When it comes to slicing my cinnamon rolls or anything that needs slicing I will use dental floss(unused of course) :} Makes for easy cutting along with a clean cut and when finished, just throw the floss away and no knife to wash :}Actually I always have a couple of the plain dental floss in my kitchen cupboard.
Oooh! Great idea, Colleen! These Bacon Spinach Blossoms would be GREAT for breakfast. Thank you so much for sharing your tips about rolling it up in wax paper to get a nice round roll and using dental floss to get a clean cut. I’m going to try both of those ideas when I make these again for my family Christmas party in December. I’m not sure how well the dental floss would cut through the spinach leaves, though. Maybe I should chop those up first before I roll the dough? What do you think?
I would think that the dental floss would cut right through without you having to cut up the spinach. Make sure you have a long enough piece of dental floss to use to cut your roll. You slide the dental floss underneath your roll; with end in each hand; cross over……..like making an X on top and then pull down all in one motion, keeping the floss tight as you cut and you should get a nice clean cut. Takes a bit of practice and I’m more of showing someone than I am trying to explain.
Make certain that you use the Plain ; not flavored dental floss
Plain dental floss — got it! I’m so glad you described how to use it, Colleen. I was thinking you just chiseled it down through the roll sort of like you’re flossing between teeth. I think I understand what you mean now and will give it a try when I make them again for my family in a few weeks.
These look great! I think I’ll make them for my Christmas Party 🙂
Yay! Your guests will love them. Enjoy!
We usually host a game night for family and friends sometime during the 2 weeks my kids are off for Christmas break and everyone brings an appetizer– can’t wait to try these Bacon Spinach Blossoms-thanks for sharing!
These would be great for a game night over the holiday break, Mitzi! What a fun tradition!
Looks delicious and I love how you and your family celebrate Christmas… helps reduce lots of the Christmas stress! 🙂
It sure does, Giovanna! It’s just my parents, my siblings, their spouses and the kiddos when we get together, but it still helps that everyone brings their favorite appetizer.
Those look SO good! Definitely want to try them! Pinning, and I’m sharing them on my Facebook page too!
Awww, thanks Michelle! I’m so glad you like them and appreciate the pinning and FB sharing. You’re the best! 🙂
Thank you SO much, Carrie! 🙂 I’m thrilled you liked them enough to share with your FB peeps. I hope they liked the recipe too. Have a great weekend!