gluten-free | dairy-free
This spinach dip is gluten-free and dairy-free—fresh spinach, shallot, carrot, roasted red pepper, and water chestnuts in a creamy mayo base, with nutritional yeast, tamari, and hot sauce doing the savory work cheese usually does. No sour cream or cheese needed. Make it a few hours ahead (overnight is best) and serve with GF bread, crostini, or cut veggies.
Creamy spinach dip was one of my favorite appetizers when I wasn’t dairy-free. I loved the spinach flavor combined with the creaminess of the mayo-based sauce. But spinach dip typically includes not only mayo but also sour cream and/or cheese, which, of course, are off-limits for me now. I did not want to live my life without spinach dip, so I set out to make my own dairy-free version.
My challenge was to create a creamy spinach dip with great depth of flavor. Replacing the sour cream was somewhat easy since dairy-free sour cream alternatives are available, though they lack the depth of flavor and creaminess of real sour cream. Replacing the cheese, well, that’s not simple at all. How do you replicate the depth of flavor and texture that cheese brings to the dip? Is it possible? Yes!
The creaminess is achieved by adding non-dairy sour cream and increasing the mayo-to-spinach ratio (based on traditional spinach dip recipes). The depth of flavor and savoriness cheese brings to the conventional dip is replicated by adding ingredients not usually found in spinach dips, such as nutritional yeast, tamari, and hot sauce. Adding veggies such as carrots, shallots, and roasted red peppers brings much-needed flavor, and using fresh spinach takes this dip to an even more delicious level.
I love my dairy-free spinach dip! My favorite way to eat it is to spoon it on top of a Crostini made from our French bread baguettes. I also love dipping carrots and celery into the dip, but bread wins out every time.
Now, go eat something amazing!
Gluten-Free Creamy Spinach Dip
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The Ingredients
The Veggies
- 12 oz baby spinach, fresh
- 1 large shallot, fine dice
- 1/2 cup carrot, fine dice
- 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 oz water chestnuts, chopped
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
The Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Simple Truth Plant Based Sour Cream
- 2 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp Tamari sauce, gluten free
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Cholula sauce, or more or less depending on your taste
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- dash fish sauce, optional
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
The Process
Mise en Place
- Gather your ingredients. Dice the carrot and shallot, chop the roasted red pepper and the water chestnuts, mince the garlic and add to prep bowls.1 large shallot, 1/2 cup carrot, 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, 1 clove garlic, 4 oz water chestnuts
- Measure the ingredients for the sauce into prep bowls and set aside.1 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup Simple Truth Plant Based Sour Cream, 2 tsp nutritional yeast, 1 1/2 tsp Tamari sauce, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp Cholula sauce, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp paprika
Sweat the Veggies & Wilt the Spinach
- Head about a tablespoon of sunflower oil in a large skillet to set to medium heat. Once the oil heated, add the carrots and shallots and cook for about 2 minutes. Add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Now add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the roasted red peppers and water chestnuts and cook for 2-3 more minutes or until the carrots are softened the onions transparent. You do not want any color on the veggies.12 oz baby spinach
- Add enough spinach to fill the pan and using a tong, mix and move the spinach throughout the pan to help it begin to wilt (shrink). You will not be able to fit all the spinach in the pan at once so as the spinach in the pan wilts, add more to the pan. The goal is to only wilt the spinach, not cook it down. Add a pinch of kosher salt to each batch of spinach you add to the pan. Once all the spinach is wilted, transfer the spinach and all the veggies to a large bowl. Let cool about 5-10 minutes.
Make the Sauce
- While the spinach is cooling, mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add a small dash of fish sauce (optional). Now add some kosher salt and pepper and taste to see if you need to add more. Set the sauce aside.
Chop the Spinach and Finish the Dip
- Empty the bowl of spinach and veggies onto a cutting board. Using a large chef's knife, gently chop the spinach into to create smaller pieces. You will be chopping both the spinach and the veggies and that is okay.
- Transfer the chopped spinach and veggies back into the bowl. If the bowl has any liquid left form the spinach, empty it before you add the spinach back to the bowl. Also, if you spinach and veggie mix has excessive moisture, add it a colander to remove the moisture before putting it back in the bowl.
- Add a small amount of the sauce to the spinach mixture and mix to combine. Add more sauce until you arrive at a consistency you like. The spinach dip will need to be refrigerated for at least 3 hours, overnight is best, to allow the flavors to meld and the sauce to tighten up. If you do not use all the sauce now, save the extra. You may want to add more once it has sat in the fridge for a while.
- Serve with cut veggies such as carrots and celery and gluten-free bread (my favorite way to eat spinach dip!). Enjoy