I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I’m getting bored with beans and lentils in our stay-at-home life! It’s a nonstop parade of them in our soups, pasta, on top of salads and bowls. I know that they are the saviour of plant-based pantry cooking, they’re economical, super wholesome, accessible, full of fiber and protein, the whole package! But the thought of making YET ANOTHER chickpea stew has become less appealing these days.
So I’m whipping our pantry saviour ingredient into dips for a bit. Specifically this vegan jalapeño popper dip that’s topped with some crispy breadcrumbs and served warm. It feels indulgent, but is honestly the highest vibe version of this dip humanly possible, I think (lol). This global situation always has me thinking that I should be sharing super practical, very easy dinner recipes nonstop. The feeling this week was very much: f*ck it, I’m making jalapeño popper dip. I just wanted a slightly naughty-feeling warm dip to casually snack on and call it dinner. We’ve been playing A LOT of cribbage the last few weeks and a delicious dip/snack-based dinner seemed extra appropriate. Make the dip, bake it up, cut vegetables, pour a beverage, play crib, good times.
The base is mostly white beans, some cashews, lots of lemon, spices, my all-time favourite thing ever nutritional yeast, miso, and some well-charred jalapeños. Ours turned out HOT because I got a little cocky with the amount of seeds that I decided to include, oops! It was still so delicious and like a lot of spicy snacks, it’s hard to stop eating it. You can control the level of spice, by omitting or including however many seeds/inner membranes of the peppers that you can handle. It tastes even better the next day if you’re planning to make it ahead. Just save the breadcrumb and baking step for right before your serving time.
Hope you make this vegan jalapeño popper dip when you’re in need of a “dip for dinner” kinda night ;). Other great options include my caramelized onion dip and my spicy pepperonccini artichoke dip. Big hug this week!
Vegan Jalapeño Popper Dip
Ingredients
DIP:
- 4 jalapeños
- 1 cup cooked and drained white beans
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon light miso
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar
- ¼ cup water, plus extra if necessary
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
TOPPING:
- ⅔ cup breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs (use a gluten-free option if necessary!)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- chopped chives/green onion, for garnish
Equipment
Notes
- This makes 2.5 cups of dip
- Raw cashew substitutes: soaked macadamia nuts, pine nuts, skinned and sliced almonds.
- I wound up using 4 roasted jalapeños with about 1 pepper’s worth of seeds and it was pretty hot!
- I got this dip super silky in my high speed blender. I think a food processor could work in a pinch, but the resulting dip may not be as silky smooth.
- If you have a gas stove, you can char the jalapeños in the open flame by holding them with tongs.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to broil. Line a small baking sheet with foil. Place the jalapeños on the baking sheet and slide them into the oven. Broil the jalapeños until they are charred, carefully rotating them with tongs throughout the process. This should take about 5-7 minutes! Once done, lower the heat to 350 degrees F.
- Transfer the charred jalapeños to a small bowl and cover. Let the jalapeños steam for 5 minutes.
- While jalapeños are steaming, make the base of the dip. In an upright blender, combine the white beans, cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic clove, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, lemon juice, miso, dijon mustard, agave nectar, water, salt, and pepper. Blend the mixture on high until completely smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of your blender pitcher if necessary. If the blender is struggling to whip up everything, add more water by the tablespoon until it gets going.
- Taste the vegan jalapeño popper dip base, checking it for seasoning. Adjust to your liking (more lemon, more salt, more onion powder etc) and blend it to combine one more time. Transfer the dip base to an oven-safe serving dish with 3-cup capacity.
- Back to the charred and steamed jalapeños! Uncover them and carefully peel off the charred skins. Cut the roasted jalapeños in half and scoop out the seeds if you like (or leave some in if you want some heat). Finely mince the roasted jalapeños and then stir them into the dip base. Smooth out the top of the dip in the serving dish.
- Make your topping. In a small bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and avocado oil. Once the breadcrumbs are clumping a bit like wet sand, you’re good. Evenly top the vegan jalapeño popper dip with the breadcrumb topping. Bake the dip for 20 minutes, broiling the top for a couple minutes at the end to get some browning on top.
- Serve the dip warm with crackers, cut vegetables etc!
I made a batch of this for a gathering with friends. Everyone raved about the flavors and couldn’t believe the healthy, vegan ingredients! This one is for sure going into my party arsenal and honestly my everyday mix to have for a flavorsome take to work snack!
I had black beans on hand, so subbed those and it was delicious!
This was a really good dip! I used panko bread crumbs and it came out great! The roasted jalapeños were really flavorful.
I made this for the first NBA playoff game my husband and I watched. He is not a huge fan of many “creative” things I have made.. haha! But this was a big winner! Feels so good to make something healthy and dairy-free that tastes absolutely delicious! I only had one jalapeño so I just used that, and I finely chopped some kale and threw that in!
So glad that you both liked it, and love the sound of that kale addition! GO HEAT! :)
-L
Oh my gosh!! This is the best jalapeno dip recipe…So easy to make, too. I made it without the topping . Thanks for sharing your recipe!!!
I cook regularly from your cookbook and blog Laura but even more so since the pandemic started. My family is totally loving your pantry recipes and all the fantastic new recipes you have been posting. The calzones are a new favorite in our house and we just made this for a snack today and the bowl is already scraped clean. So delicious and will definitely make again. Would be great for entertaining but also works for a casual snack or dinner! We are grateful for your creativity during this challenging time!
Made this today; it was YUM! I threw the jalapenos into the food processor with everything else. We had it as a dip but tomorrow will use it as a sandwich spread with tomatoes. Thanks!
Just made this and as always your flavours hit it out of the park!!! Planning on baking tonight for a casual dinner, along with roasted potatoes…I feel like jalapeno popper dip + potatoes sound like a perfect match. Maybe just me. Thanks :)
Oh man… I want this dip so badly. Did my weekly grocery shop, got all the ingredients but forgot white beans. I have canned chickpeas, romanos, and black eyed peas. Think any of these would work?
Chickpeas would be the best bet! You might need a touch more water to get the blender moving though.
-L
Your nut butter colab sounds absolutely delicious and went to the link immediately…..but Ground Up doesn’t ship to Canada????
C’mon!
I’m sorry that you’re frustrated about this, Jo-Ann. Sometimes international shipping is too expensive for small businesses to undertake, especially when you factor in CFIA labelling barriers and customs issues. This may surprise you, but the majority of my audience is American. Doesn’t make this situation any less frustrating, I understand, but these things are unfortunately out of my control.
Perhaps sending a note to Ground Up PDX expressing your interest in purchasing would persuade them to consider Canadian shipping in the future. Thanks for your interest and this note.
All best,
Laura
Thanks for this recipe Laura. We are planning a dinner by the fire ring for Saturday night and wanted to just serve appetizers. We’ll have 2 sets of everything so we can keep the appropriate distance with our friends. It’s great that I can make it a day ahead! Congrats on your nut butter collaboration. Can’t wait to try it!