Creamy and thick, this vegan, dairy-free spinach artichoke dip requires no cashews. It's actually a plant-based copycat version of the popular Hillstone's restaurant spinach artichoke dip!
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I'll send you quick & simple plant-based recipes every week!
This dairy-free spinach artichoke dip recipe is so delicious you'll keep coming back for more. It reminds me so much of Hillstone's (formerly Houston's Restaurant) recipe.
🧄 Very useful ingredient notes
- Spinach - thawed, frozen chopped spinach and fresh baby spinach
- Artichoke hearts - canned artichoke hearts, quartered, packed in water
- Vegan sour cream - use either store-bought or homemade vegan sour cream. Forager brand is good. Tofutti (soy-based) is also excellent. If you make your own sour cream, I have three recipes to choose from here on my website.
- For best taste and richness, make this Cashew Sour Cream
- For the lightest option, use this Silken Tofu Sour Cream
- For a nut-free, soy-free option, use this Sunflower Seed Sour Cream
- Nutritional yeast - adds a cheesy flavor!
📋 Substitutions and variations
- Spinach - the frozen and fresh spinach can be substituted for each other. You can use all fresh or all frozen. I like the combination of the two.
- Bell pepper - use sweet bell pepper for this recipe. Yellow, orange or red bell peppers will all work. Do not use green bell peppers, they're too bitter for this recipe.
🔪 Instructions
Here's the step-by-step photos of how to make this easy veggie-packed dip!
- Step 1: In a 3 quart deep skillet, sauté the onions over medium-high heat until translucent. Add a tablespoon or two of water, as needed, if they start to stick.
- Step 2: Add garlic and bell pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Step 3: Add diced artichoke and cook for 2-3 minutes
- Step 4: Add spinach in batches. Stir and add more until all the spinach is wilted and heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
- Step 5: Turn off the heat and mix in the green onions, nutritional yeast and sour cream thoroughly. Taste the mixture at this point and adjust seasonings, as needed. Add a dash of Cholula hot sauce, for a little kick!
- Step 6: Serve with toasted french bread, raw veggies or tortilla chips, salsa and extra sour cream.
👨👩👦👦 Serving suggestions
Serve hot on lightly toasted french bread or - my favorite way - with tortilla chips, salsa and more sour cream on the side.
This is also yummy served with raw veggies, like carrot and celery sticks, cucumber slices and sugar snap peas.
❓ FAQ
Yes, you can freeze most spinach artichoke dips. To thaw, microwave or bake until hot in the center. Or, place in refrigerator overnight to thaw, stir then eat cold. For this recipe, if you use cashew sour cream, it will freeze well. I have not tested if the tofu sour cream option freezes well. If you try it, please let me know in the comments how it turned out!
No, not usually. Typically, spinach artichoke dip is made with dairy cheese and sour cream, which are animal products and not vegan. However, you can easily make a vegan artichoke spinach dip using vegan sour cream and it's quite delicious!
Artichoke dip is typically served with small pieces of toasted bread, tortilla chips, raw veggies like carrot sticks, celery sticks or cucumber slices. It's also delicious served with tomato salsa and extra sour cream on the side.
🗺 Cultural influences
Have you ever been to Hillstone (formerly Houston's) Restaurant? I'm talking about the restaurant, not our fair city. It is a fine dining restaurant that we've gone to several times over the years, especially for anniversary dinners.
They have the perfect spinach artichoke dip on their appetizer menu. Perfect.
They serve it hot, with salsa, sour cream and tortilla chips. All other spinach artichoke dips are rated in comparison to that one, in my book.
This is my plant-based version!
Love this recipe?
Please rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a comment below, so I know which recipes you like the best. This helps me know what to make more of!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip (dairy-free, no cashews)
Equipment
Ingredients
Spinach Artichoke Dip
- 1 sweet yellow onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- 14 ounces artichoke hearts drained and diced
- 8 ounces fresh baby spinach roughly chopped
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach thawed and liquid squeezed out
- 3 green onions thinly sliced
- ¾ cup vegan sour cream store-bought or homemade
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
For Serving
- ¼ cup vegan sour cream store-bought or homemade
- ½ cup tomato salsa
- tortilla chips store-bought or homemade oil-free chips
- toasted bread or crostini
Instructions
- In a 3 quart deep skillet, sauté the onions over medium-high heat until translucent. Add a tablespoon or two of water, as needed, if they start to stick.1 sweet yellow onion
- Add garlic and bell pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.3 cloves garlic, ½ red bell pepper
- Add diced artichoke and cook for 2-3 minutes.14 ounces artichoke hearts
- Add spinach in batches. Stir and add more until all the spinach is wilted and heated through.8 ounces fresh baby spinach, 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach
- Add salt and pepper.sea salt, black pepper
- Turn off heat and mix in the green onions, nutritional yeast and sour cream thoroughly. Taste the mixture at this point and adjust seasonings salt and pepper, as needed. Optional: add a dash of Cholula hot sauce.3 green onions, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, ¾ cup vegan sour cream
- Serve with toasted french bread, raw veggies or tortilla chips, salsa and extra sour cream.¼ cup vegan sour cream, ½ cup tomato salsa, tortilla chips, toasted bread
Lari Taylor says
I love how you laid out your pictures and showed the step by step. Vegan cream cheese is soooooo good!
Abi Cowell says
Thank you so much, Lari! I have to agree with you. So yum.