Vegan Onion Dip
Updated July 30, 2020
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus soaking and chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 1cup raw cashews (about 4 ounces)
- 3cups chopped yellow onions (from 2 medium onions)
- ¼cup olive oil
- Kosher salt and coarse black pepper
- 1(15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained (about 1 cup)
- 4teaspoons lemon juice, plus more as needed
- 4teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½teaspoon onion powder
- ½teaspoon sweet paprika
- Chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
- Potato chips or crudités, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
377 calories; 21 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 13 grams protein; 376 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Add the cashews to a bowl and cover with water. Let the cashews soak at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Step 2
About 45 minutes before the cashews are finished soaking, combine the chopped onions, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are deep golden brown and caramelized, about 30 minutes. To prevent the onions from burning and sticking to the bottom of the skillet, you can add a splash of water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed. Let caramelized onions cool slightly.
- Step 3
Drain the cashews and add them to the bowl of a food processor or high-speed blender with the beans and ½ cup water. Blend the mixture until smooth, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer and scraping down the bowl occasionally.
- Step 4
Add the lemon juice, vinegar, onion powder, paprika and ½ teaspoon salt, and blend again until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Reserve about 1 tablespoon onions for garnish, then add the rest to the bowl. Fold the onions into the mixture, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. (Overnight is ideal for the best flavor.)
- Step 5
Just before serving, give the dip a good stir and adjust the seasoning with lemon juice and salt as desired. Top with the reserved onions and chives, if desired, and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve with potato chips or crudités. Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Private Notes
Comments
Immediately upon mixing the remaining ingredients: "okay, this is...okay." After letting it sit in the fridge for an hour: "...oh my god, this is amazing." Totally worth the wait.
Onion powder gives you concentrated onion flavor - especially sweetness and savoriness - without the added moisture. Recipes often call for onion powder because adding the equivalent of fresh onions would add too much moisture, diluting the taste and changing the texture into something more watery.
Debby, I’m not a vegan, just a good home cook. Like you, I prefer fresh vegetables. But I also adore both onion and garlic powders and I use them often, sometimes in addition to fresh onion or garlic and sometimes alone. If you like the flavor of onion and garlic, you can really amp up the flavor in your cooking using these powders. They are especially good in dips and dressings where you don’t want to add additional moisture. Happy cooking!
Waaayyy better the longer it sat. Really good 👍🏽
I wanted so badly to like this, but I found the seasoning measurements to be wildly off here. After blending the mixture with the seasonings as instructed, the taste was nonexistent—other than blended cannellini beans and cashews. I felt like I had to add a lot more of the onion powder and salt to get to something even close to a palatable onion dip. Even still, the end result was more like onion hummus. Not the worst thing in the world, but not at all what I wanted or expected from this recipe.
This dip was a hit at the annual cookie decorating party with both vegans and non-vegans alike. I recommend really watching your onions and taking your time. I also recommend soaking the raw cashews for longer than 2 hrs for a very smooth texture. The recipe mentions 1 cup of raw cashews (4oz). 4 oz is half a cup, and a 15 oz can is closer to two cups, not one cup. I used 1 cup of raw cashews and 1 can of beans; that made the perfect amount for a party.