Vegan Kale & Artichoke dip is a healthy spin on the classic spinach artichoke dip. It's the perfect appetizer for holiday parties or winter gatherings!
Hey all, Jack here – now that it’s the end of the year, it’s holiday party time! And what does it normally mean to eat at a party in the winter? To a lot of Americans, that means spinach artichoke dip. I mean, what makes you feel like partying more than eating an entire loaf of bread dipped in cream cheese and mayonnaise?
Well, Jeanine and I don’t really think that’s much of a party any more. Our idea of a party is one where the next day you (or your guests) don’t feel awful. So we took a bit of inspiration from the classic party dip and made a spread that is still irresistible but infinitely more healthy. It uses two of our favorites for creamy vegan indulgences – sunflower seed puree and chickpeas. And the spinach is subbed out for kale, because why not?
I won’t lie though – I still ate way too much of this.
Vegan Kale & Artichoke Dip
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup (cooked) chickpeas, plus more to put on top
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- juice of ½ a small lemon
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast (not baking yeast, see notes)
- 2-3 leaves of kale, chopped
- tiny bit of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives
- salt, pepper
- slices of toasted bread
- extra chickpeas
- optional: quick pickled onions (recipe in this post)
- a few pinches of red pepper flakes
- Place HALF the artichoke hearts in the blender, coarsely chop the rest and set aside. To the blender add the sunflower seeds, water, chickpeas, garlic, mustard, lemon, nutritional yeast, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Blend until creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- In a small skillet, cook the chopped kale in a little bit of olive oil (with a pinch of salt) until wilted. Set aside.
- Transfer dip to a bowl and stir in remaining chopped artichoke hearts, the cooked kale and chives. (Taste again). Chill until ready to serve.
- Serve the dip by itself with crackers or toasted pita wedges - or make crostini with a few extra toppings: Add some more olive oil to your skillet and cook the chickpeas until lightly browned. Top each toast with a slather of dip, some extra cooked kale, roasted chickpeas, pickled onions (optional), and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
I cannot wait to make this! I wanted to make it ahead of time. How long does this keep in the fridge?
Hi Abi, a couple of days, if it gets thick when you’re ready to serve, stir in a little water.
How many oz. should the can of artichoke hearts be?
a 14-ounce can
How long does this keep in the fridge?
So far I have made this twice and I love it! I have the world’s worst blender and it comes out great every time. I also use this as a vegan caesar dressing and omit the kale part since I’m adding to a big bed of kale. Couldn’t be easier and my omnivore friends love it!
Hi Heather – I’m so glad you’ve loved it! Great idea to convert it to a caesar dressing – sounds delicious!
Just in time for holidays!! Thanks- brunch is on Wed, and I was ‘dreaming of something lighter and healthy’ for my coffee gang!! A few others will get used, saved, and made again and again!!
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I can’t wait to make this. But, please, when you say a can of artichokes, can you please say how many oz. or cups? I don’t know what size can you’re talking about and I buy big jars of artichokes at Costco. Please let me know someone?
I used a 14 oz. can, which is about 1.5 cups of artichokes. (I’ll make a point to get better about labeling can sizes – sorry!)
Definitely trying these & maybe try our roasted rosemary garlic sea salt with them. I love the idea of a much healthier option!
I made this for a christmas party last week and the bowl was literally licked clean -everybody loved it! (Health nuts and non-health nuts alike!) Thank you!
ha – I’m so glad, thanks for the feedback! Love to win over the non-health nuts :).
I made this as part of our Christmas dinner. Very good. (Along with the kale and shiitake mushroom stuffing. Also delicious!) Backstory… last week my husband suggested that we tweak our diet to be vegetarian, low fat, minimal dairy… to eat in a more “heart healthy” way. (Just in time for Christmas nonetheless.) Anyway… we’ve tried this before, but now with Love and Lemons as a resource… It is going way better (even for our 3 and 5 year old boys)! Thank you Jeanine.
Hi Kristy, I’m so glad you’ve liked the recipes! Thanks for coming back to share :).