The best vegan spinach artichoke dip recipe from scratch, made with cashew cream mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts and wilted baby spinach. An easy, healthy, whole food plant based recipe, made without oil, naturally creamy and cheesy, gluten and dairy free. (+ recipe VIDEO below).
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
The superstar of appetizers, this spinach artichoke dip is always a crowd pleaser. Easy to make with only a few simple ingredients and lovely served hot with your classic pita chips, flatbread, garlic bruschetta or a fresh loaf of homemade vegan bread with crackling crust.
You don’t need to buy any fancy vegan cheese or sour cream, instead it’s all made from scratch in your Vitamin blender with creamy cashews, a touch of nutritional yeast and the cheesy magic of tapioca.
Recipe Success Tips
- Sautee your spinach – Start with a good half pound of fresh baby spinach or even more to your preference. Sautee in a drop of olive oil or water until wilted. Make sure to drain it before running your knife through it once or twice to chop it up some. Alternatively you could use frozen spinach that has been thawed out and squeezed well of any excess moisture.
- Chop the artichokes – cut into bite size pieces or quarteres if you prefer larger chunks. I find the smaller size is easier to scoop up.
- Make the cashew cheese sauce – If you have a powerful blender just throw everything in there until smooth and creamy. Otherwise make sure to soak your cashews in hot water for 20 minutes to soften them first.
- Simmer – Cook the sauce until cheesy and bubbly whisking constantly so no lumps form, just a minute or two. Mix in the spinach and artichokes and transfer to a broiler proof dish.
- Broil your dip – no need to bake it, just let it get kissed by the flames of the broiler for a few minutes just until golden on top and dig in. You can even use it to stuff some pasta shells with it instead, personally I prefer scooping it up with some freshly made garlic rubbed bruschetta. Oh my!
why you’ll love it
Quick + Easy to Make
Super Creamy
Naturally Cheesy
Savory, Filling & Comforting
Simple to Make Ahead
No Oil, No Soy, No Tofu
Gluten & Dairy Free
Clean fresh ingredients
Without Beans.
Without Beans.
Serving Suggestions
- Roasted broccoli florets
- Roasted cauliflower
- White cannellini beans
- Roasted rainbow carrots
- Smoky tempeh bits
- Mashed potatoes
- Garlic knots
- Quinoa flatbread
- Top with these crispy tofu nuggets.
how to make vegan spinach artichoke dip
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
The best vegan spinach artichoke dip from scratch, made with gooey homemade cashew mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts and wilted baby spinach. A whole food plant based recipe, made without oil, creamy, cheesy, gluten and dairy free.
Servings 4 people
Calories 292kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb fresh baby spinach (or 1 cup frozen)
- 15 oz can artichoke hearts drained & chopped to your liking
Cashew Cheese
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 2 tbsp tapioca flour
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1.25 cup filtered water
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- sea salt + black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your broiler.
- Heat up large skillet over medium heat, add a light drizzle of olive oil (or water for WFPB & Plantricious compliance) and the fresh spinach with a tiny pinch of sea salt. Sautee until wilted then season with a pinch of garlic powder. Transfer the spinach to a colander to drain as much of the liquid as possible. Optional: transfer to a cutting board and run your knife through it once or twice.1/2 lb fresh baby spinach, 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Make the Cashew Cheese Sauce
- If you don't have a powerful blender make sure to soak the cashews for 20 minutes in hot water to soften the drain. Otherwise just rinse the raw cashews and add them to your Vitamix blender together with all the cashew cheese ingredients. Process until creamy and smooth. Transfer to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium low flame whisking continuously. Cook for a few minutes until thickened. Remove from heat3/4 cup raw cashews, 2 tbsp tapioca flour, 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1.25 cup filtered water, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 4 cloves garlic, 1 tsp onion powder, sea salt + black pepper to taste
- Stir in the wilted spinach and the artichoke hearts. Taste and season with sea salt and black pepper. (Go light on the salt as the chips or bruschetta you are going to serve this with are usually very salty)15 oz can artichoke hearts, 1/2 lb fresh baby spinach
- Transfer the dip to a small cast iron dish (or any broiler proof dish) and broil until golden brown on top to your liking, around 3 minutes.Serve hot with crusty bread, bruschetta, pita chips or fresh cut vegetables.
WFPB + Plantricious
- Omit all oil or replace with water for full compliance.
Notes
- About the Spinach - if using frozen spinach make sure to thaw it out first and squeeze as much of the liquid out of of it as possible. You should end up with about one cup of spinach.
Nutrition
Calories: 292kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 457mg | Potassium: 526mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 6380IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 92mg | Iron: 4mg
Environmental Information
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This dip is fantastic, all my family loved it and the teenagers requested more do next movie night. Thank you for sharing we love this site.
I just found your site a few days ago. I’ve made the vegan ribs as well as this dip and both recipes were fantastic!
I could not for the life of me find tapioca flour, so I used corn starch. The dip was delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Can garbanzo flour bean flour be used instead of tapioca flour?
I would not recommend that as the tapioca is important here for the cheese texture it gives the dip.
Holy babies! This is GREAT! I’ll a lover of garlic, so also added garlic salt and some red pepper flakes. So excited I found your blog! Thank you for such a fantastic, easy recipe! 💜
Woohoo, so happy you enjoyed this ~ Florentina Xo’s
Florentina, thank you for this recipe and ALL your recipes and all your happy work at creating them.
I share your website with many people. I really liked this dish before going vegetarian and have missed
it. I do not eat real cheese or meat since 1993 and was so happy to get this recipe from you. I tried another one
someone posted and it was awful. This is wonderful!
I am so happy you loved this Marie, thank you for reporting back 🙂
Do you think that freezing and reheating this would ruin the texture?
I suspect that should be ok but have not frozen this.
Wow is all I can say. I am not vegan but lactose intolerant. We haven’t had spinach artichoke dip in a long long time. This fit the bill perfectly. This tasted better than I remember when I used to make it.
This makes me so happy, you have no idea! We love spinach and artichoke around here!
Absolutely awesome!!! Such great flavor, really hit the spot, and it was super easy to make. Thank you for this recipe, so glad to find a WFPB version!
Is there any other way to make the cheese without using nuts? I would love to be able to have this and any other cheese dishes but I have a nut allergy.
Thanks
Hey Kristie, you could try the same recipe using sunflower seeds instead of nuts, however I have not tested it with that but should be working just fine.
I love this recipe! It’s addicting! Made it for non-vegan friends and they loved it. Thank you, great job!
Have you used this with almonds? We have cashew allergies in our house, but almonds are ok! I just discovered your blog and I see SO many recipes I want to try!! 😀
I have not but you could! Just make sure to use blanched almonds. Let me know if you try! ~ Florentina Xo’s
I miss pizza since going whole food plant based vegan. I spread this on Ezekiel pita bread and broil. Yum!! White pizza. Thank you.