Buffalo Chicken dip is a must at any Super Bowl Sunday party, and as a vegetarian, vegan, or dairy-allergy sufferer we often have to miss out on this delicacy while everyone else stuffs their faces with it for hours on end. But, even when I did eat non-vegan versions of this, I would end up feeling too full, sick and tired to enjoy the rest of the Super Bowl day. This version doesn’t include meat, dairy or jackfruit! So it won’t make you feel sick or guilty after eating, which in my book gives this dish a “healthier” rating. This dish is really easy, and as delicious, creamy and addicting as its non-vegan competitor. So make this for whoever’s super bowl party you go to this weekend. You don’t even have to tell anyone it’s vegan because they probably won’t notice otherwise! You can also check out my Vegan Pimento Cheese dip for more Super Bowl vegan snack ideas (and then make both, you can thank me later).
Ingredients: (makes enough for a small party, double for larger parties)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 8oz. container of Kite Hill Chive cream cheese *(see notes)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp JUST vegan ranch dressing
2 tbsp Daiya vegan Blue Cheeze dressing*
1 tsp nutritional yeast
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Texas Pete’s Wing Sauce (spice level of choice)*
1 cup Follow Your Heart vegan Parmesan style shreds
1 6oz. box (a little more than 1 cup) Light Life Vegan savory chik’n tenders, shredded
To top:
The rest of the Follow Your Heart parmesan box
Drizzle of wing or hot sauce
Drizzle of ranch or blue cheese dressing
3 green onions, diced small
To Serve With:
Vegan Ruffle Chips (I like Boulder Canyon brand, just 3 ingredients- potatoes, avocado oil and sea salt!)
Tortilla chips
Carrot sticks
Celery sticks
Cauliflower slices
How-to:
- Set a small pan over medium heat to warm, preheat oven to 350*F, chop veggies as needed, and shred vegan chicken to resemble “jerk” style meats.
- Heat olive oil in small pan over medium heat. Add in red onion and occasionally stir for about 6 minutes, until lightly browned and softened. Add in minced garlic for one more minute.
- To a medium sized mixing bowl, add the cooked onion and garlic, cream cheese, ranch, blue cheese, salt and nutritional yeast and give it a good stir until fully mixed, but not over mixed. I could mix it well with a regular spoon. It should be a pretty thick mixture.
- Add the wing sauce into the mixing bowl and mix in as well. It will make the mix thinner and light orange. Again, don’t over mix.
- Fold in the vegan parmesan shreds and the vegan chicken to the mixing bowl mixture and fully combine.
- Pour mixture into oven save serving dish. Top with the rest of the vegan parm. Bake, uncovered for about 15 minutes. If eating in home, broil on high while still in oven, on the middle shelf 2-5 minutes. I check on mine every minute or so so that it doesn’t burn. It should be browned around the edges, cheese looks melty, and lightly bubbling. If taking to a party, bake ahead of time then cover until day of. Broil at the party before serving. I serve mine with vegan ruffle style potato chips, celery and carrot sticks but it will also go well with tortilla chips and sliced cauliflower pieces. Enjoy!
Notes:
- To make this dip a bit healthier, you can sub the vegan chicken for a little bit over a cup of small cut cauliflower florets steamed for 4-6 minutes. They don’t have to be fully cooked since you’ll be baking them but they should be a bit to get the process going. You could also halve the vegan cheese and add in another 1/4 cup shredded cauli + 1 tbsp nutritional yeast.
- If you can’t find Chive flavored vegan cream cheese near you, sub your favorite vegan cream cheese + a little salt and nooch + 2 tbsp minced chives for the same effect as the Chive Kite hill cream cheese.
- If you can’t find the Daiya blue cheese dressing or just don’t like the blue cheese taste, sub the 2 tbsp blue cheese for an extra 2 tbsp JUST ranch.
- For the Texas Pete’s wing sauce, I mix the Extra Mild flavor into my dip, and then top it with the Buffalo (spicier) flavor. If you want a spicier dip, you can use the Buffalo for both. I use both mostly because I can’t eat super spicy things but my boyfriend loves them, so it’s a compromise.
- As far as brand name products go, as per usual I only use my favorites and suggest you don’t sub away from the brand mentioned. Of course if you have a different brand you like more or can’t find the ones I suggest then go for a different one, but I think the dip tastes best (and most like its non-vegan counterpart) using the options suggested. If you can’t find the Light Life tenders near you (my all time fave vegan chicken but it can sometimes be hard to find) then just use whatever your favorite, un-breaded, vegan chicken is.
- One more option for this dip is to stop cooking before adding the buffalo sauce to make a delicious blue cheese style veggie dip.
The Peaceful Plate 