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This Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip is made from 9 simple, affordable ingredients and baked until thick and creamy. No one will complain when they see this cheesy classic being pulled from the oven! Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free & Oil-Free Options.
This hot Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip is made with frozen spinach and chopped artichoke hearts baked in a delicious dairy-free cream sauce until thick and creamy. This plant-based twist is known to impress non vegans and deemed better than the real thing.
The Plant-Based Dip That’s Creamy, Cheesy & Totally Satisfying
Birthdays, holidays, game days, office parties, potlucks…can you ever go wrong with serving Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip? This hot dip is a crowd favorite for a reason. It’s baked until rich, creamy and is totally irresistible slathered on crackers, chips, bread, pasta, and more.
Plus, it’s made cheesy with gluten-free, whole food plant based ingredients and can be made soy-free, nut-free, and oil-free too. Save this easy spinach dip recipe for all of your dip making needs!
Ingredients for Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Spinach and artichoke dip is typically made with spinach, artichokes, garlic and a load of dairy products like cream cheese, sour cream, and mozzarella cheese. Luckily making your own vegan spinach dip that’s also healthy is not only incredibly easy, but budget friendly too!
Skip the expensive, store-bought vegan cheese and make your own “cheesy” sauce by blending up:
- Raw Cashews: for creaminess,
- Silken Tofu: for creaminess and plant-protein (because cheese = fat + protein, friends)
- Nutritional Yeast: for that dairy-free cheesy taste,
- Lemon Juice: for acidity, and
- Tapioca Starch: optional, but highly recommended to give this baked vegan dip that gooey, cheesy texture and mouthfeel without the need for store-bought vegan cheeses.
How to Make Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip
- Blend the tofu, cashews, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, water, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper in a high-speed blender and process until smooth and creamy.
- Spread the artichoke hearts, spinach, and garlic across the baking dish, then pour the creamy sauce over top.
- Stir the liquid into the artichokes and spinach. Sprinkle vegan cheese over top.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before serving as desired.
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Squeeze the excess liquid from the spinach! Rushing this step or skipping it can drastically change the results of this recipe. Frozen spinach contains a LOT of excess water. Not draining it properly before adding to the baking dish can result in a runny, bland tasting spinach and artichoke dip.
- Use raw cashews. Please do not use roasted cashews in this spinach dip. Raw cashews are necessary to create a neutral, creamy base to the dip.
Serving Suggestions
You can take the traditional route and serve this Vegan Spinach & Artichoke dip with crusty bread, crackers, pita chips or tortilla chips. But don’t stop there! This dip is also great baked into a Vegan Spinach & Artichoke casserole, mixed into a one pot pasta, as a dip for veggies, or slathered on a sandwich. Basically, leftovers are never a bad thing here. The only problem is that this dairy free baked dip tastes so great, you probably won’t wind up with any 🙂
If you’re looking for more hot vegan dip recipes, you’ll also love this Cheesy Vegan Crab Dip (A Maryland Favorite!) and this Healthy Buffalo “Chicken” Dip! Or, if you’re looking for cold dips, try the BEST EVER Homemade Vegan Spinach Dip, Vegan Seven Layer Dip, Vegan French Onion Dip or Creamy White Bean Dip.
How to Store Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip
This hot vegan spinach dip will store well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. I have not attempted to freeze this spinach and artichoke dip, but based on experience would advise against it.
Freezing would likely change the texture of the dip, causing it to become icy and separate.
Substitutions and Variations
- How to make nut-free: Swap the cashews for an additional 4 ounces of silken tofu, add 1 tablespoon of neutral oil to the blended sauce ingredients, and reduce the water to ¼ cup.
- How to make soy-free: Replace the tofu with an additional 1 cup (140 g) of soaked cashews. Add more water to the creamy sauce as necessary in order to get a silky, slightly runny cheese sauce.
- How to make oil-free: Omit the optional olive oil and sprinkle with oil-free vegan parmesan or omit.
- Using fresh spinach: The frozen spinach may be replaced with 5 ounces (140 g) of fresh spinach. To do so, cook the spinach down in a dry skillet, allow it to cool, then squeeze the excess liquid out before spreading in the baking dish.
- Tapioca starch substitutes: Replace the tapioca starch with 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder, or omit completely.
Recipe FAQs
Make sure to use a thickening agent like tapioca starch, cornstarch, or arrowroot powder. For best results, I’d recommend tapioca starch. It does a great job of thickening into a stringy, cheese-like consistency when warmed through.
If your hot spinach artichoke dip appears runny, pop it back in the oven and keep baking until thickened to your desired consistency.
Both marinated and canned artichokes are vegan friendly. For this recipe, make sure to use artichokes canned in water or brine. Marinated artichokes are typically marinated in oil and will make this baked dip too oily.
In most of my recipes that call for blending cashews into a creamy sauce, you’ll notice I recommend soaking them in hot water for at least 1 hour. This softens the cashews enough to blend easily into a smooth, creamy texture and makes them more neutral tasting. If you’re short on time, soak them in boiling hot water for at least 10 minutes before blending.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounces silken tofu
- 1/2 cup raw cashews soaked in hot water for at least 1 hour, then drained
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour optional, for “stringy” cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil optional; for a silkier sauce
- 1 cup water reduce to ¾ cup without tapioca starch
- Juice of 1/2 small lemon about 1 tablespoon
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt & black pepper plus more to taste
- 14 ounce canned artichoke hearts rinsed well and chopped
- 5 ounces frozen chopped spinach thawed, squeezed to drain excess liquid
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan or mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top (optional)
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a 10×6” (or similar sized) baking dish and set aside.
- Blend the “Sauce”: Add the tofu, cashews, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, water, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper to a high-speed blender and process for 45 to 60 seconds, until smooth and creamy.
- Assemble: Evenly sprinkle the artichoke hearts, spinach, and garlic across the baking dish, then pour the blended liquid on top. Use a spatula to gently stir the liquid into the artichokes and spinach. Sprinkle vegan cheese on top.
- Bake & Serve: Bake for 25 to 20 minutes, until the top of the dip is golden. Let sit for 5 minutes to set, then serve warm with crackers, bread, tortilla chips, or as desired. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
- The “cheesy” mixture may look a little runny when you mix it into the veggies, but don’t worry! The tapioca starch will activate once placed in the oven and thicken the dip right up. If you don’t have tapioca starch on hand, arrowroot powder will also work – cornstarch will not, though.
- Nut Allergy? replace the cashews with an extra 4 ounces of tofu, add 1 tablespoon of avocado or olive oil to the blended ingredients, and reduce the water to 1/4 of a cup
- Soy Allergy? replace the tofu with an additional 1 cup (140 g) of soaked cashews, adding more water to the blend ingredients as necessary in order to get a silky, slightly runny cheese sauce.
Made this for a party and it was a hit. Used the leftovers on some pasta which was delicious.
omigawd! Super delicious. I only had super firm tofu so I added a little extra water. It is so good.
Glad it worked out and you enjoyed it!
omigawd! Super delicious. I only had super firm tofu so I added a little extra water. It is so good.
I have not tried it yet, but I plan to soon so that’s why no rating yet- I just wanted to jump on and thank you so much for providing a nut allergy substitute for folks who can’t have – in this particular case – cashews.
Absolutely! Happy you get to enjoy this 🙂
This is the most amazing vegan spinach artichoke dip I’ve ever had. It tastes just like the original, but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy after. Our omnivore friends loved it too. I’ve been following Caitlin for many years, and her recipes are so fantastic. This was no exception. Side note: I did 1.5x salt but wish I did 2x or even 2.5x for extra flavor. Can’t wait to make this for family and friends!
Thank you so much Kari! I’m so glad you and all of your friends enjoyed it 🙂
Can you replace tapioca starch with corn starch? And can you use fresh spinach instead of frozen?
Yes to both, just cook the spinach down well
Hey Caitlin! Just wondering – Silken Firm, Extra Firm, Lite FIrm, or Soft? Went to go look and it gave several option.
Silken Firm would be best, but all of them will work in a pinch!
Just made it! My daughter gasp and said it taste like real spinach dip! We are happy. Thank you!
Glad you both enjoyed it!
This was such a hit, super delicious! Just checking, should step 4 say “25 – 30 minutes”?
Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for spotting that, Sierra! Yes, that should be 25-30, not 20.
I cannot wait to make this! Do you think know if it would freeze well? Thanks so much!
Never tried freezing it, actually. I’m not sure how the texture would be once thawed, I’d be a bit worried that it might get icy and the thawed texture may be a little unappealing.
We’ve just turned vegan and my husband said “better than camembert” thank you so much x
So glad you both liked it! I hope you have fun with all the new recipes you’ll get to try!
I bought the ingredients to make this for a party but then ran out of time. So, I decided to make it the next day. I ate the whole thing in two days! I swear I could eat this stuff on toast it’s so good. I finished a box of wheat thins eating eat! I’m going to make it again to actually share with my friends and hopefully practice a little restraint this time around!
So glad you liked it! Let us know what your friends think!
delicious:D
Thank you so much!