Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip

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This Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip brings back memories! I remember many happy hours in my 20s with Spinach & Artichoke Dip. It usually involved a tummy ache, but not this time! This vegan version is much healthier, but it legit reminds me of the real deal.

This is a fun watch-a-movie-snack. It’s also a fabulous party food. Great for gatherings; great for a low-key meal. Yep. This has been dinner for me—it was glorious.

This recipe uses real ingredients—no processed vegan cheeses or products.

Enjoy this dip on

• bread (baguette, homemade sourdough, whatever you’ve got)
• toast or toasted vegan english muffins
• Ritz crackers; yes regular Ritz crackers are vegan!
• Club crackers; yes regular Club crackers are vegan!
• veggies
• pita chips
• whatever you would normally enjoy dips with
• pizza crust, as both sauce and pizza topping
• a wrap with other veggies

Oil-Free Variation

To make this oil-free, simply sauté the onions and garlic in a little water or no-chicken vegan broth. 

Baking Vessel

I bake this in an 8 x 8 inch oven-safe Corningware dish. You could also use an oven-safe round 9 x 9 inch pan or whatever you have. If your baking dish has more surface area, it will take less time to bake.

Make-Ahead

Once you’ve blended and poured the dip into your oven safe dish, cover and store in the fridge. Bake when ready; it will take around 10 extra minutes to bake since it is starting from a cooler temp.

Prep Shortcut

I like first pulsing the garlic cloves in the food processor, then adding large pieces of onion to the food processor, and then pulsing to a chop.

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Cashews

You can sub roasted and/or salted cashews. If using salted, be sure to taste before salting (after blending, before baking) and go easy on salt. 

Boil or Soak?

I usually place cashews in a small pot with more than enough water to cover cashews. Then I bring them to a boil, turn off the heat and let them sit while I prep other things. You could also soak the cashews overnight or for several hours, then drain when ready to add to blender.

I can often use/blend cashews in my high-powered Blendtec without soaking them first. For this recipe though, I recommend letting the cashews sit in hot water or soak overnight. It helps make this dip creamy.

Artichokes

You want the canned artichokes packed in water for this recipe. I do not recommend using marinated artichokes because the flavor is too intense.

Spinach

Canned

Drain and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Also, please note that canned usually contains salt, so go light and taste after pulsing in the blender before adding more salt. Surprisingly, I find that canned spinach makes the best dip in terms of texture, flavor, and appearance.

Fresh

If you use fresh spinach you may want to blanch and drain it, otherwise your dip will look pale green. The pale green coloration might be unappetizing to some eaters. Use ~2 cups roughly chopped, lightly packed spinach if you opt for fresh.

The Best Vegan Parm

If you haven’t made 5-Minute Garlic Hemp Seed Parm a.k.a. Garlic Shake yet, I think you should. In my home we sprinkle it on almost everything. It’s a nice garlicky, parm-esque addition to sprinkle recklessly on this dip. I rarely use the words the best—this is in fact the best vegan parm.

High-Speed Blender Is Recommended

This works best with a high-powered blender. I use a Blendtec. If you use a regular blender or food processor, it might be grainy. 

Plant-Milk

Use any plant milk, but make sure it’s unflavored & unsweetened. No need for vanilla and sweetness in your dip. I use oat milk. I haven’t tried coconut milk with this; the coconut flavor may be too apparent for this recipe.

Nooch

I always use and recommend unfortified nutritional yeast. This adds nice umami and depth of flavor to the dip.

The fortified stuff can taste synthetic or vitamin-y. Fortified nutritional yeast can lose potency when stored, so there is no reason to suffer through the artificial taste when there is a chance of not receiving the benefits of the vitamins.

Nutritional yeast is typically gluten-free, check labels. The ones I have linked to are gluten-free.

These two are my favorite unfortified nooches:

B12

I take this cherry flavored vegan B12 supplement instead of getting it through nooch. This supplement is sublingual, which aids absorption. Additionally, this supplement’s B12 is from methylcobalamin as opposed to cyanocobalamin. Methylcobalamin composed B12 has been shown to have better body retention than cyanocobalamin composed B12. Please consult a health professional if you need medical or dietary advice. I am not a health professional. You can read more about B12’s bioavailability here.

Both vegans and non-vegans may have difficulty getting enough B12.

Most of the B12 that we consume is made in a lab.

Here’s an excerpt from an article by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM at Nutritionfacts.org:

“It’s true, plants don’t make B12.  Animals don’t make it either. B12 is made by microbes that blanket the earth. These bacteria grow in the guts of animals, which is why their bodies and products can be a source of this vitamin. Our herbivore primate cousins get all they need ingesting bugs, dirt, and feces, and we may once have gotten all we needed by drinking out of mountain streams or well water. But now we chlorinate our water supply to kill off any bugs. So we don’t get a lot of B12 in our water anymore, but we don’t get a lot of cholera either—that’s a good thing!”

Let’s Make Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip

If you haven’t soaked your cashews overnight, place cashews in a small pot with more than enough water to cover cashews. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and let the cashews sit in the hot water while you do the next few steps. Drain when ready to add to blender.

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Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Over medium to medium-plus heat, sauté the garlic and onion for 4 – 8 minutes in Earth Balance until the onion is translucent. Set aside.

In a high powered blender, add the drained cashews, plant-milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, ground black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until velvety smooth.

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Add the drained spinach & artichokes to the blender. Quick pulse a few times, but do not blend or over-pulse. You want a chunky texture.

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Then add sautéed onions/garlic and stir into the blender to combine. Taste and stir in more salt, lemon juice, and/or pepper if desired. I usually end up adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt and another TBSP of lemon juice after tasting.

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Transfer to an oven-safe dish (I use an 8 x 8 inch Corningware dish) and bake until warm & golden on top, about 20 minutes.

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If you haven’t made the 5-Minute Garlic Hemp Seed Parm a.k.a. Garlic Shake, you can do this while the dip is baking.

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Sprinkle with 5-Minute Garlic Hemp Seed Parm a.k.a. Garlic Shake, and serve with bread, chips, crackers and/or veggies.

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Recipe adapted from Nora Taylor at Nora Cooks.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also enjoy

• Vegan Garlic Alfredo Sauce
• Dreamy Vegan Cashew Cream Cheese
• Vegan Garden Veggie Cream Cheese
• I Can’t Believe It’s Low Oil Hummus
• Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Queso
• Oil-Free Vegan Mayo
• Oil-Free Flaked Crab-less Vegan Salad

Did you make Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip?

How was it? And variations? What did you eat it with? Tell me about it in the comments section below.