This vegan jalapeño popper dip feels indulgent, but is honestly the highest vibe version of this dip humanly possible, I think (lol). Like a lot of my crowd-pleasing vegan appetizer recipes, this recipe has a base of feel-good ingredients. Cooked white beans and cashews make up the bulk of the dip, leaving a silky and surprisingly rich texture. Charring jalapeños first under a broiler helps to deepen the spice and enhance the smoky flavor.
Like a lot of spicy snacks, this vegan jalapeño dip is hard to stop eating. Of course you can control the level of spice, by omitting or including however many seeds/inner membranes of the peppers that you can handle.
I find that it tastes even better the next day, so it helps to plan ahead if you can. Just save the bread crumb and baking step for right before your serving time.
Pantry ingredients are what make this jalapeño popper dip especially great! Spices, miso, nutritional yeast, and Dijon mustard all enhance the deeply savory quality.
Hope you make this vegan jalapeño popper dip when you’re in need of a “dip for dinner” kinda night. Fans of this might also enjoy my spicy pepperonccini artichoke dip as it’s also great served warm and has a little kick to it.
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 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
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
TOPPING:
- ⅔ cup bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons oil
- chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
Equipment
Notes
- Raw cashew substitutes: soaked macadamia nuts, pine nuts, skinned and sliced almonds.
- In my last version, I wound up using 4 roasted jalapeños with about 1 pepper’s worth of seeds and it was pretty hot!
- 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.
- Serve the dip warm with crackers, chips, 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!