Hot artichoke dip with caramelized onions and pine nut provolone

Any time I get to a party and there is that hot, creamy artichoke dip… that’s where I park myself. This version is made from vegan pine-nut cheese, caramelized onions, and artichoke hearts. Park yourself.

I made this for our New Year’s Day party and every single person at the party asked me when the recipe was going to be on the blog, so I knew I had a winner! It would be perfect for your Super Bowl party. I served it with two home-made crackers, both from Gluten-Free Baking For Dummies. I’ll be doing a review and a giveaway of that book later this month.

I adapted the cheese recipe from Miyoko Schinner’s smoked provolone in Artisan Vegan Cheese. I simplified her recipe, then added caramelized onion and a jar of Roland artichoke hearts. You can add chopped spinach to make this more like the classic party dip.Hot artichoke dip with caramelized onions and pine nut provolone
12-16 servings (party sized)

1 C. (225 g) plain unsweetened non-dairy yogurt
1/2 C. (125 ml) dry white wine
1/2 C. (60 g) pine nuts
1/4 C. (12 g) nutritional yeast
1/4 C. (30 g) tapioca flour, also called tapioca starch
1 T. (5 g) agar agar powder*
1 t. (2 g) smoked salt, or sea salt
1/2 t. (2 ml) liquid smoke

1 white, yellow, or brown onion, any size
13.75 oz. (390 g) canned or frozen artichoke hearts
1 package fresh spinach, optional

Can be done a day or two ahead:
Make the pine-nut cheese. Put the first 8 ingredients (yogurt through liquid smoke) in the blender and blend for 3 minutes on high, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.

Pour the mixture into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for about five minutes. It will start out lumpy and then become smooth and thick. Reduce the heat to low and cook 3 more minutes.

Pour the mixture into a glass bowl, using a spatula to clean out the saucepan. Smooth the top.

Let cool on the counter, then cover and refrigerate until firm.

Halve, peel, and thinly slice the onion. Bring a heavy saute pan or cast iron frying pan over medium heat. Add 1-2 T. olive oil and heat until it shimmers and tilt the pan until the oil covers the bottom evenly. When a drop of water sizzles, add the onions, stirring to coat. Cook for five minutes, stirring a couple of times, then turn down the heat to medium low and cook for about 30 minutes until a golden caramel color. If not using right away, store covered in the fridge.

When you are ready to make the dip:
Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/gas mark 5. Spray an oven-proof round or square serving dish.

Drain the artichokes. If using frozen artichokes, let them thaw in a colander.

Put the artichokes, onion, and optional spinach in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

If the cheese is firm enough, grate it cheese using a box grater. (If not, just stir it in.) Mix the cheese with the onion-artichoke mixture in the sprayed serving dish, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and golden. Serve immediately with crackers.

Notes: If you want grate-able, sliceable cheese, use 2 T. (10 g) agar agar powder. Since it’s expensive, I used half that amount, which results in a spreadable crock-style cheese.

All of our recipes are gluten-free, sugar-free, and made with plant-based ingredients to help you build a healthy life. We support Meatless Monday. Look for midweek essays and Friday giveaways (when available).

Required FTC disclosure: The artichokes were sent to me by Roland Foods. I was not paid to write this post.

Here are the artichokes I used:

Tagged as: agar powder, artichokes, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, pine nuts, red onion, smoked salt, spinach, tapioca flour, white onion, white wine, yellow onion, yogurt