To make this gooey vegan dip, the recipe developers at America’s Test Kitchen experimented with the usual suspects behind cheese-like sauces— think cashews — but ultimately settled on the neutral potato as the base ingredient. They ran boiled potatoes in the blender to release their starch and blended in carrot, chipotle and nutritional yeast for a nacho cheese-like dip.
The dish, featured in “The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook” (America’s Test Kitchen, $35), is topped off with sautéed poblano pepper, onion, garlic and browned and crumbled plant-based beef. Add your own extras — tomatoes and cilantro, perhaps? — and serve with chips or veggie sticks. To rewarm, cover and microwave in 30-second bursts, whisking at each interval and thinning with water as needed. Rewarming on the stove works, too.
Meaty Loaded Nacho Dip
Makes 2 cups
Ingredients
12 ounces russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (1/3 cup)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1½ tablespoons nutritional yeast
1½ teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce, divided
1 1/8 teaspoons table salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon mustard powder
1 small red onion, chopped fine, divided
1/3 cup minced poblano chile
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
4 ounces plant-based “beef”
2 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add potatoes and carrot and cook until tender, about 12 minutes; drain well.
Combine cooked vegetables, 1/3 cup water, 2 tablespoons oil, nutritional yeast, vinegar, ½ teaspoon chipotle, 1 teaspoon salt and mustard powder in blender. Pulse until chopped and combined, about 10 pulses, scraping down sides of blender jar several times. Process mixture on high speed until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Season the dip with salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add two-thirds of the onion, the poblano and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and cook until softened and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, coriander and remaining ½ teaspoon chipotle and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add plant-based meat and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
Transfer dip to serving bowl and top with plant-based beef mixture. Sprinkle with tomatoes, cilantro, and remaining onion. Serve with chips for dipping.
Variation: Naked Nacho Dip
Omit plant-based beef, cherry tomatoes and cilantro. Cook all the onion with the poblano mixture in step 3. After cooking the garlic, cumin and coriander, transfer the poblano mixture to a serving bowl and stir in the potato mixture to combine. Serve. (Nacho dip can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours).
— “The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook” (America’s Test Kitchen, $35)
For more food and drink coverage
follow us on Flipboard.