Cream Cheese Pizza Dip Recipe (without Sour Cream)
Today we are making a Cream Cheese Pizza Dip Recipe, without sour cream! This pizza lovers recipe is a family favorite that pairs well with any savoury snacks. Take baguettes, sourdough, crackers, chips or the like. You’ll want to dip everything in this! Seasoned with Italian spices and baked until the cheesy mixture is bubbling out of the top of your baking dish – this dip is best eaten warm, just like a pizza. It uses the same ingredients you’d use to make vegan cheese (nutritional yeast for cheesiness flavour and tapioca starch for stretchiness among other things), as well as pizza sauce. Combining everything together makes it tastes like pizza in a bowl!
What Is The Texture Like?
This isn’t a super stretchy dip, as if you were pulling melty cheese off of a pizza. It’s more the texture of hummus once it thickens. This gooey cheese dip actually bubbles and almost boiled over the top of the ramekin dish I was using, which was just big enough to fit it all. Once it came out of the oven, it was steaming hot and perfect for dipping. After some time, it cooled down and thickened – I recommend keeping it hot when you serve, as this allows for the best texture. If you cool it down, store it overnight and heat it up the next day, it won’t maintain the same texture as if it was just made. Although it’ll still be delicious!
Why You’ll Love This Cream Cheese Pizza Dip Recipe
Like a Spreadable Pizza: This recipe tastes like a pizza, but in a dip form. Duh, I know! It’s called Pizza dip for a reason! But it’s so much more than that. The warmth of the cheese sliding down your throat, that slurp of Italian-seasoned marinara sauce dripping off a New York style pizza slice, the combination of flavors that make pizza so addicting? That’s this dip.
Now you can have a pizza experience on your nachos, pita chips, bagel chips, tortilla chips, French bread, carrot sticks and pretty much everything in life. I like to keep some extra dip to even use as a hot sandwich filling, grilled with fresh mushrooms, green peppers, black olives, vegan pepperoni slices, vegan ground beef and all your favorite pizza toppings to make cheesy pizza toast!
Or maybe, use this as a pizza sauce spread on a pizza base (replacing where marinara sauce would be). It’ll be a double hit of pizza cheesy spread on a pizza.
Let’s Party!: When cooking for a crowd, such as a Super bowl party (even though football season just passed, there’s always more game days!), a potluck, movie night, a holiday gathering (is it that time of the year already?!) where you want to impress with an easy appetizer, but also want to adhere to dietary restrictions, this irresistible dip is a great recipe to make that is also gluten-free, vegan (so meat and dairy-free), refined sugar-free and soy-free as well.
This is my favorite appetizer to bring for a crowd who isn’t all vegan. So, pizza is basically everyone’s favorite food (ask anyone and 9 times out of 10 they’ll say their favorite food is pizza … right)? You can’t go wrong with this cheesy goodness!
Substitutions: Wet Ingredients
Vegan Cream Cheese: I usually avoid using “gourmet” vegan products, such as vegan cream cheese or sour cream that isn’t available in all grocery stores (and more expensive too). However, sometimes the recipe just doesn’t taste the same without an actual substitute for the dairy version.
So I used Violife’s vegan cream cheese, and can’t vouch for other brands due to taste and baking differences. However, if you do use another brand and it works well, please leave this in the comments below!
Paste Sauce: I used an Italian seasoned pasta sauce – it was an oregano/basil flavoured one. There are many flavours of pasta sauce, but since this is a pizza dip, I recommend a pasta sauce flavour close to the one I used. If you can’t find that, go with a garlic seasoned sauce as a second option. Check the ingredients, as not all pasta sauces are vegan (some contain milk or meat ingredients, such as parmesan or beef).
Apple Cider Vinegar: Lemon juice might work the same as the vinegar here.
Substitutions: Dry Ingredients
Cashews: We are essentially making vegan “mozzarella cheese” for this recipe using tapioca starch and cashews! There are many more brands making vegan cheese in stores nowadays, which is amazing to see.
Many of these different kinds of cheeses use a base of cashews, because of the way it softens up when boiled and blended.
However, make sure you use raw cashews. This means they should not be roasted/toasted or salted. You’ll need to boil these in hot water for 20 minutes to soften them before blending. Do not substitute anything else here!
Nutritional Yeast: There is no substitution for this. It adds a unique cheesy flavour.
Tapioca Starch: This helps with the “gooeyness” and texture of the dip. I would not substitute anything here.
Italian Seasoning Blend: I used the seasoning blend at this link. You can substitute this with a different brand of the same type of mix. I recommend trying out the seasoning first – if it tastes good in other recipes, it should be good to be use here. Sometimes, seasoning blends can be hit or miss depending on the company!
Serve This Recipe With
There are many options for serving this recipe. Overall, it’s similar to a cheese ball, where you can dip anything and everything into it!
I recommend serving it with pretzels, salty crackers, nachos, using as a dip for quesadillas (or a pizza dip for a slice of pizza!), baguette slices, vegetable sticks and more.
Cream Cheese Pizza Dip Recipe Notes
- If looking to make a pepperoni dip, then add vegan pepperoni slices on top of the sauce after pouring it into the ramkein, before baking! I haven’t tried this but it would be a great way to bake the pepperoni slices into the dip itself.
- If looking to make a spicier dip, then use a spicy marinara sauce and add red pepper flakes into the mixture when blending.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this Pizza Dip Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Cream Cheese Pizza Dip Recipe
Equipment
- 2 5-inch diameter Baking Ramekins OR one 10-inch baking ramekin
- Blender
Ingredients
For the Dip Base
- 1¾ cup raw cashews boiled
- 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1¾ tsp pink salt
- ½ tsp garlic paste use fresh garlic!
- ½ cup vegan cream cheese I used Violife brand
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
- ⅔ cup Italian spiced pasta sauce I used a basil flavoured sauce
- 1 cup warm water
- 7 tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tsp tapioca starch
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Boil the cashews for 20 minutes in hot water to soften them.
- To check the cashews, try to chew one. There should not be any crunch – it should be soft to chew.
- Once the cashews are boiled, combine cream cheese, cashews and all the other ingredients in a high-speed blender.
- Blend all ingredients until smooth.
- Once there are no chunks in the cream cheese mixture, pour it into a baking ramekin and put a baking tray underneath this in case the mixture bubbles over.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 mins. The mixture will rise and bubble as it bakes.
- Once 25 minutes are up, remove the ramekin from the oven.
- Place on a heatproof surface and let it cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then serve with chips, veggies or other dipping items. It is best served at this time while it is very gooey.
- Once it has completely cooled down, it will thicken up. Serve with pretzels, nachos, veggie sticks, baguettes and more.
Notes
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Storage
- Cover the ramkein in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to two days. Alternatively, remove the dip from the ramekins and store in an
airtight container, although this is not recommended because the shape doesn’t hold well.
- To reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave, add a splash of plant based milk beforehand. If on the stovetop, constantly whisk the milk and dip mixture to avoid clumping.
- Note that the texture will change after refrigerating (it will be a lot thicker and less gooey). It is best served fresh!
- Cover the ramkein in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to two days. Alternatively, remove the dip from the ramekins and store in an
