A healthy nacho dip that’s perfect party eats! This cheesy dip is made with whole foods and is dairy-free, vegan, oil-free + gluten-free!
I made this vegan nacho dip for our daughter’s birthday this weekend.
Her 17th birthday! WHAAAT?
I know. 😳
Some of you have been with me and my recipes for a long time – since I was blogging here. Yep, long ago. Before Instagram, Twitter, and yes before Facebook.
I started blogging a year after our second daughter was born. I remember thinking “yeah, I can do this now“! (I also recall once saying “what is next after blogging?” Wow, I had no idea what social media had in store.)
Life had just started to normalize again after baby number two. A new normal, anyhow. At that time, Charlotte was just 4 years old. I told stories of how I was trying to juggle motherhood with two young children, after finishing my second book and starting on my third. After that third book… a third baby soon followed.
The running joke was I had a baby with every book.
With let them eat vegan, I decided to stop that pattern. 😆
Here we all are, over a decade later, our girls now (almost) 17, 13, and (almost) 8.
Char turns 17 this week, and wanted to do something that she’d remember with friends. Yet, she didn’t want it to be a big fuss of going into Vancouver and couldn’t think of much to do locally. So, I played it cool and planned a surprise party.
Such a fun time! She has a good group of friends, and they all had a blast, and loved the food.
You knew I’d get to the food… VEGAN NACHO DIP!
I had to get the food prepped quickly. We were doing the surprise around 6:30, and she was only out of the house for about an hour. I didn’t want her to see too much food prep, so it had to be mostly pre-prepped and still easy to ‘conceal’. Here’s what we had:
- Pizza. It’s party food, and pleases just about everyone! I ordered 3 varieties from Famoso. Their pizzas have great base flavor, and while they use Daiya cheese as a dairy sub, they use it sparingly. Sometimes the use of Daiya can be too heavy, and I don’t love how greasy it is. Famoso uses just enough to make the pizzas work, and I don’t think people would know they are even dairy-free.
- Guacamole. Again, great party food and easy to make. I was short on time and needed to make a good batch, so instead of mashing the avocs I threw them in my food processor and blitzed with lime juice and salt until just slightly smooth. Worked a charm! Served with tortilla chips.
- Vegan Nacho Dip. This is the recipe I’m featuring today. It’s from The Cheese Trap and I mentioned it in this vid. I prepped it earlier in the day, and stored in a covered baking dish in the fridge until ready to bake. I served with some sliced artisan breads, and extra salsa on the side (also for the kids to have with the tortilla chips).
- Fruit and Veg. Kept this simple with carrot and cucumber sticks in cups, and fresh strawberries and sliced honeydew.
- Drinks. I found these MADD drinks at Choices and thought they were brilliant. They proved to be a hit, everyone loved them in their fancy glasses with ice! Along with these virgin cocktails, I had some natural sodas, water, and lemonade.
- Popcorn and S&V chips.
- Crazy Brownies. She loves these and had mentioned a while back she’d want these instead of cake.
All the food went over well – especially the nacho dip and guacamole. The group told both myself and Char how much they loved both dips. These aren’t vegan kids, and one girl professes to be a huge carnivore. But, as I often say – good food is just good food. Plus, who can resist great dips? They loved the guac too because it was simple. Just the lime and salt, no herbs, onions, garlic, or tomatoes.
Shall we get on with the recipe for this vegan nacho dip?
The method is simple: Puree base ingredients (except salsa), then pour into baking dish. Add salsa and swirl through lightly. Bake. Eat!
Repeat. 😬
Healthy Vegan Nacho Dip
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain unsweetened nondairy milk
- 1 cup presoaked raw cashews
- 1/2 cup frozen cubed sweet potato or precooked sweet potato
- 1/4 cup potato flour – OR 1 cup precooked white potato
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 2 tsp mild miso use chickpea for soy-free
- 1 small clove garlic peeled/cut in smaller pieces
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 – 1 1/4 tsp sea salt see note
- 3/4 – 1 cup mild salsa use medium for extra heat
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking dish (roughly an 8” x 8”) by wiping/spraying the inner surface with a touch of oil. In a blender, add all ingredients except salsa. Puree until very smooth. Transfer to prepared dish. Add the salsa, and just swirl slightly into the dip (if you have children that don’t like salsa, you can swirl into just a portion of the dip). Bake for 25 minutes, then remove and let cool about 5 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, or to top on potatoes, beans, or as part of a Mexican platter. Serves 5-6.
Notes
- Salt Note: If you need to lower sodium, use less salt. Also you can adjust, using less salt if your salsa has salt. If you start with 1 tsp, just taste the blended cheese sauce mixture and adjust to add extra if you feel it needs it.
- Serving Idea: If you like, you can add some veggies to the sauce, before adding the salsa. Try chopped bell peppers, pitted olives, sliced green onions, chopped baby spinach, or corn kernels. Also, try adding a cup or so of black beans.
Food photos by Nicole Axworthy.
Alison says
I made this for a games night this past week – it was devoured by carnivores and vegans! The group practically licked the dishes clean! Thank you Dreena for yet another amazing recipe!
Dreena says
excellent! Love to hear that, thanks Alison
Donna Hepburn says
I’m surprised that this recipe doesn’t call for nutritional yeast. What gives it the cheese taste?
Dreena says
Hi Donna, I don’t always use nutritional yeast to give a cheesy flavor to recipes. It’s a combination of ingredients often, rather than one single thing. Even in my recipes for The Cheese Trap I use nutritional yeast in only a handful of recipes – which is great if you’re not a fan of nooch!
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Maggie says
How does this recipe compare in flavor/consistency to the Mild Cheesy Dip on p. 83 of Plant-Powered Families? I made that recipe last night and LOVED it — with frozen Hatch green chile added for grown-ups. Any thoughts on uses where one would be better than the other?
Karen says
When you say sweet potato, do you mean a yam?
Ana W. says
So attractive, thank you! 5 stars for sure!
Michelle says
5 Stars!!! Dreena, this was absolutely delicious. What a treat(o: I made this amazing dip this afternoon and we thoroughly enjoyed it with sliced veggies (carrots, cucumbers and peppers) as well as nacho chips. This will be a definite go-to recipe in our collection of WFPB hits! Dreena’s Delicious Dip for the win!
Elissa says
Do you have a recipe or suggestion for no oil chips to go with this dip?
Dreena says
Hi Elissa, you may be able to find some baked (no oil added) tortilla chips. I’ve tried baking them myself but they haven’t worked out well, at least not with corn tortillas. I think one brand is Guiltless Gourmet. You might have to do some googling!
Hope says
I’ve had this bookmarked in the Cheese Trap to make! Thanks for the reminder. Do you have a taste preference between the potato flour and the cooked potato?
Luann says
I had a birthday party for my 17 year old daughter this weekend, too, and ordered pizza, served quacamole, salsa, and chips, and made a double batch of your spinach artichoke dip! How funny!!!! The dip was awesome, thank you! (I used the leftover dip to make a lasagna).
Dreena says
How funny – and you know what? I had originally planned to make the artichoke dip for the party!
Susan says
That sounds like a super fun way to celebrate a birthday! And well done on pulling off an actual surprise!
All the food sounds fun, but the nacho dip looks especially amazing!
Dreena says
Thanks so much, Susan – I actually doubled the batch so there’d be extra for the fam, and it still didn’t last!
Anne says
Oe I will have to make this!
Dreena says
yes, it’s a must-make! Enjoy, Anne.
Yami says
Get in my belly!!
Dreena says
Quickly!