This Vegan Buffalo Chicken dip is spicy, creamy, and dairy-free and gluten-free! Made with only 8 simple ingredients in just 30 minutes! It's the perfect vegan dip recipe for pot lucks, parties, and game day.
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This delicious buffalo dip without chicken is a classic.
Spicy vegan buffalo sauce and ranch dressing marry to create the flavor of buffalo wings in a creamy and delicious dip.
It's so good that we used this recipe to create Vegan Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese and Vegan Buffalo Chicken Calzones.
Ingredients
Here's a visual of the jackfruit buffalo dip ingredients with notes.
- Cashews - the cashews are the base of the dip. They must be boiled until they're soft and puffy to make the creamiest cashew dip possible.
- Jackfruit - canned young green jackfruit in water is the only kind of jackfruit we recommend for this recipe. Brine will make it too salty, and a ripe jackfruit will not do.
- Vegan Buffalo Sauce - traditional buffalo sauce is made with butter. If you can't find vegan sauce in the store, we recommend making our easy sauce.
- Ranch Dressing - we love our easy homemade ranch dressing recipe, or you can buy vegan ranch at the supermarket.
- Nutritional Yeast - this will give it great flavor, and add vitamin B12 to the dip.
How to Make It
Here are step by step instructions with visual cues.
HINT: Making the dip in a cast iron pan will keep the dip warm for a long period of time and is also a fun way to serve it.
Substitutions
- Cashews - If you need this buffalo dip without nuts, then substitute with the same quantity of raw shelled sunflower seeds.
- Nutritional Yeast - Some people don't like the flavor of nutritional yeast, so you can substitute with one cup of vegan shredded cheddar cheese.
- Jackfruit - when it comes to the texture of shredded jackfruit, nothing comes closer to mimicking chicken. If you can't find canned jackfruit, you can chop artichokes packed in water or shred store-bought vegan chicken strips. You can also make our Vegan Seitan Chicken Recipe.
How to Serve
Here is a list of our favorite dippables:
- Celery sticks
- Carrot sticks
- Bell pepper wedges
- Crackers
- Toasted garlic bread rounds
- Tortilla Chips
Equipment
High Powered Blender - To achieve the creamiest vegan buffalo dip, you'll need a high powered blender.
Oven - We bake ours in the oven. We haven't tried making this in a toaster oven.
Recipe FAQ and Tips
If you added vegan cheese it's probably because it wasn't mixed together enough. Stir it well and put it back in the oven to bake a bit longer.
Most likely the sauce was too watery. It should be thick, not runny.
Store it covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Since it's a cashew based dip we don't recommend freezing it.
Cover the dip with foil and heat in a 350F (176C) oven until warmed through.
More Vegan Dip Recipes
Vegan Buffalo Chicken Dip
Equipment
- 1 High Powered Blender
- 1 Oven
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews soaked overnight or boiled for 15 minutes
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup water add more if you need to thin it a bit more
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground sea salt
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast SEE NOTE
- 14 ounce young green jackfruit packed in water not brine, SEE NOTE
- ½ cup vegan buffalo sauce link to our homemade sauce is in the instructions.
- ⅓ cup vegan ranch dressing link to our homemade dressing is in the instructions.
- ¼ cup fresh chives chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Drain and rinse the 1 cup of cashews and place them in a high-speed blender with the 2 tablespoon lemon juice, ¼ cup (more if needewater, ¼ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and ⅓ cup nutritional yeast.
- Blend on a high setting until smooth and creamy. You shouldn’t see any solid pieces of the nuts.
- Rinse the 14 oz of jackfruit and shred with your fingers until it looks like shredded chicken. Toss the hard pieces away.
- In an 8 inch oven safe dish, stir the jackfruit, buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, and cashew cheese until well combined.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
- Serve with chopped veggies, crostini, or tortilla chips.
- Enjoy!
Carla says
This looks delish! However, I can't eat nuts or seeds. Could I substitute white beans or tofu for the nuts? If tofu, should it be silken or firm tofu?
Linda & Alex says
Hi Carla! Thank you so much, it's really delicious. I think your best bet would be to use Tofutti soy based cream cheese or a vegan sour cream, but bake it a little longer. The beans will work, but you'll notice a grittier texture.
naya says
can I use canned jackfruit?
Linda Meyer says
Hi Naya! Yes, just make sure it's young green jackfruit that's packed in water. 🙂
Marcy says
Can you please tell me more about the jackfruit? I always buy refrigerated jackfruit--did you use canned? I don't like to buy anything in a can because of BPA/BPS. I don't know if the refrigerated jackfruit is young or ripe--it just says jackfruit on the package.
Alex Meyer, MA says
Hi Marcy! Thanks so much for the comment! If you can find a refrigerated young jackfruit then that would be fine! If you don't want a can Edward and Son's has young jackfruit in a box. Hope this helps!
Have a great day,
Alex & Linda
Amanda says
Love this! Just made it tonight as a trial run for a work party. Would putting it in a crockpot work as well? Trying to figure out how to serve it warm at work and have mini “dip” crock pots. Thoughts??
Linda Meyer says
Hi Amanda! It should be fine as long as you keep it on a low setting. Thanks so much for the kind comment, we're happy you like it. 🙂
Morgan @ Gowell Health Tips says
I want to thank you for this informative read; I really appreciate sharing this great.
Linda Meyer says
Our pleasure. Thank you!
Rosamonde Simone @ KetoBotyToneAvis says
Your recipe of 'vegan-buffalo-chicken-dip' looks very amazing and easy to make. I love it, thank you for sharing it.
Linda Meyer says
Thank you so much!
Christine @ Run Plant Based says
Wow, this looks perfect and I want to plan a party just so we can try it, haha. Thanks!
Linda Meyer says
Thanks! It's definitely the perfect party food.