Okay, it’s time for me to admit it, I’m a hot sauce addict. I literally put that s**t on everything! When I ate meat, I loved everything buffalo chicken. Sandwiches, wings and dips you name it. As it turns out, my addiction wasn’t so much to the chicken itself but mostly just to the buffalo sauce. So, instead of lamenting over the fact that I can’t eat buffalo chicken dip when someone brings it to a party, I set out to make my own version that Andrew and I can eat!
If you haven’t ever had buffalo chicken dip, it’s seriously delicious and very easy to make but super unhealthy! It’s basically chicken, cream cheese and buffalo sauce. I debated making a healthier vegan version but I love cream cheese too much to short myself like that. I still plan on attempting a vegan version and my ideas for that are in the notes of this recipe if you want to check that out!
The first time I tried to make this I left the beans full and it was kind of difficult to eat so please take my directions and chop up the beans. I think this recipe would also work really well with cauliflower or, obviously veggie chicken if you use meat substitutes.
I cannot wait to make this dip again and take it to a party or get together! It’s perfect for potlucks, grilling parties or game day parties. If you try it and love please comment and share on social media. And don’t forget to subscribe to Almost Like Mom’s and follow us on social media. Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
Jackie
Vegetarian Buffalo Bean and Cheese Dip
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Super simple and delicious substitute for Buffalo Chicken Dip made with Cannellini beans. Perfect for parties and get togethers and guaranteed to even please meat eaters!
Author: Jackie DeSana
Recipe type: Snack, Appetizer, Side
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Serves: 15 servings
Ingredients
- 2 8oz blocks of cream cheese
- 2 cups Cannellini or Great Northern beans
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese (plus more for topping)
- 1 cup Frank's Red Hot (or another buffalo sauce of your choice, this is just my favorite)
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tbs dried parsley
- 1 tbs Italian seasoning
- juice of 2 limes
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (skip this if you don't like it extra spicy)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Start by pulsing the beans in a food processor a few times until they are just slightly broken up. If you don't have a food processor you can just roughly chop them with a knife. Place the chopped beans into a greased 8x8 baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, whisk the cream cheese, Red Hot, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, parsley, Italian seasoning, lime juice and the cayenne pepper together until it forms a smooth sauce. This is easiest if you use an electric mixer or a stand mixer to break up the cream cheese. If you don't have either a whisk is fine, you'll just have to put some more muscle into it.
- When the sauce is formed, pour it over the beans into the pan. Mix it slightly until the beans are fully coated with the sauce. Top the dip with more Parmesan cheese and dried parsley and it's ready to go in the oven! Bake the dip for 20 minutes and put it under a broiler for 2 minutes until the cheese on top browns.
- Serve with pita chips and veggies! DIY toasted pita chips are super easy to make yourself. Just take thin pita bread, cut it into triangles, season with oil, salt and pepper and bake for about 20 minutes until they're crispy!
Notes
*To make this vegan, I recommend using vegan cream cheese and vegan Parmesan as simple substitutes so that it will have the same consistency. If you don't want to do that, substitute the Parmesan with nutritional yeast and the cream cheese with cashew cream.
**Use any cashew cream recipe you want! I generally make mine by blending together 1 cup soaked cashews, ½ cup almond milk, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, 1 tbs apple cider vinegar and 1 tbs arrowroot starch or corn starch.
**Use any cashew cream recipe you want! I generally make mine by blending together 1 cup soaked cashews, ½ cup almond milk, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, 1 tbs apple cider vinegar and 1 tbs arrowroot starch or corn starch.
