Creamy Vegan Spinach Dip
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped small
4-10 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1 (8 ounce) package white button mushrooms, chopped small
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 (12 ounce) jar artichokes, chopped small
1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise (I like Follow Your Heart Vegenaise)
1 cup vegan sour cream (I use tofutti)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup vegan parmesan (I use Galaxy brand), divided
1/3 cup bread crumbs, divided
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put thin layer of olive oil in a medium pan and saute onions, 1/2 the garlic and mushrooms on low heat. Once garlic, mushrooms and onions have simmered a bit (should take a few minutes), set aside.
2. Put the spinach in a mixing bowl and add sauteed onion/garlic/mushroom mixture. Add artichokes to bowl. Next, add rest of garlic, vegan mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, white and black pepper, bread crumbs and parmesan (leave a few tablespoons bread crumbs and parmesan for later).
3. Mix everything together. Add more vegan mayonnaise and/or sour cream to reach desired creaminess. Adjust seasonings, if needed. Once you are satisfied, transfer contents into a oven-friendly casserole dish. I like to use a round deep one.
4. Level the dip once it is in the casserole dish. Sprinkle a thin layer of bread crumbs and parmesan onto the top. If desired, decorate the top of the dip with chopped mushrooms, onions, etc. Bake for 30-45 minutes.
This dish can be served warm, cold or room temperature, as a side or with tortilla chips or crackers as a dip. It is also good mixed with pasta or over rice, or stuffed into mushrooms. The possibilities are endless. I enjoy this most as a dip with crackers or tortilla chips. You can also add chopped tomatoes or melt vegan cheese on top.
This dish is popular with omnivores and vegans, and is a hit at parties. Enjoy!
Source of recipe: I veganized my mother's recipe because I couldn't live without creamy spinach dip.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
There are a lot of variations out there for spinach and artichoke dip but this came really close to Paula Deen's recipe so I decide to go with it. If im going to eat some sort of dip I might as well just make it taste good and not worry about making low fat/cal. So I followed the directions pretty closely except omitted the mushrooms. I also put a tbls of butter in the bread crumbs for the topping just because I felt like it actually needed more fat since there was no real cheese involved. I would definitely make it again!!