Warm Sriracha Roasted Red Pepper Bean Dip ~ No Added Oil

With an irresistible sweet fiery tang, this simple versatile recipe can be made with any kind of white beans and store-bought, or homemade, roasted red bell peppers. Because there’s no added oil, this dip is at its creamiest best when warm or hot.

WHY I LOVE IT

This dip warms up my tastebuds and satisfies my frequent hankering for savory tangy snacks. Once in a while I manage to create something entirely new and different from ingredients that for me are household staples. The day I dreamed up this dip was one of those times. I frequently have fresh limes on hand, always stock a variety of white beans, both dry and canned, and sriracha sauce is a permanent resident in my home. I buy fresh red peppers whenever they look good and are reasonably priced. When I come home with a red pepper haul I like to roast at least some of them so I have roasted pepper on hand for various foodie creations. Store-bought roasted red peppers are also perfectly fine for this recipe and I often have a jar of them in my pantry. Garlic is woven into the fiber of my being, so I’m careful never to run out and I always have raw cashews in the freezer. Blitzing everything in my food processor couldn’t be easier and warming it in the microwave takes just a couple of minutes. The result is a dip that hits the spot in a zesty and satisfying way and there’s an endless number of possibilities if I want to take it to the next level by layering it with toppings. Honestly, I wish being a whole food vegan foodie were always this easy and carefree.

OIL-FREE RECIPE

My culinary life is as oil-free as possible and so is this recipe. A little bit of oil won’t ruin this dip, far from it, but if you’re a whole food plant-based no oil person, you should be mindful of where it can sneak in. Traditional sriracha sauce brands usually don’t contain oil, but some less traditional brands do contain small amounts, so check labels if this is important to you. If you’re using homemade roasted red peppers there’s obviously no oil in them, but many jarred red peppers are marinated in oil, so try to get the water packed kind if you’re using store-bought and are avoiding oil. A lot more oil will get into this dip from peppers packed in oil than from the trace amounts in some brands of sriracha. On the other hand, if you like and embrace oil, you can use your favorite oil in place of all, or part of, the aquafaba.

CASHEWS & ALTERNATIVES

I decided to use cashews to add a rich creaminess to this recipe because they have a neutral flavor and blend up smoothly if soaked correctly. If you can’t use cashews due to allergies, or for any other reason, a quarter cup of tahini is a great substitute for pre-soaked cashews. Another delicious alternative would be a quarter cup of pine nuts which have the advantage of not requiring soaking.

SOAKING CASHEWS IS IMPORTANT

Even if you routinely bypass soaking your cashews for other recipes, please soak them for this recipe. Using boiling water to soak cashews means you can get away with a quick 20 minute soak. In the meantime you can get all your other ingredients prepped and make the crunchy topping. Cashews can also be soaked in cold water for at least 2 hours or overnight. I like the overnight method myself, though that requires knowing what I’ll be making a day ahead of time which isn’t always the case.

BEAN SUGGESTIONS

My go to beans for this dip are cannellini beans, canned or home boiled from dry. The beans in the ingredients photo are Marcella beans, essentially a variety of cannellini beans, that I ordered from Rancho Gordo. Any white bean would work in this recipe. So would chickpeas or pinto beans, though the taste might be less subtle and the color would be a little different.

ROASTED RED PEPPERS

As I’ve already mentioned, using jarred or canned roasted red peppers is fine for this recipe. Just be aware that if you want to keep this recipe oil-free, or as oil-free as possible, you should read labels and choose roasted peppers that have been packed in water instead of oil. To make homemade roasted red pepper see my post on oven roasting red peppers or use any method you already know and like. My own technique involves preserving the juice from the red peppers. A little of that juice would be a great addition to this recipe but it’s not required.

FOOD PROCESSOR BLITZING

I use a food processor for blitzing my ingredients into a dip, but a high speed blender (1000 watts or more) would probably work just as well. It’s better to start with one tablespoon of sriracha sauce and one or two tablespoons of aquafaba. After the mixture is smooth you can have a taste and see if you want to add more sriracha and adjust the thickness by adding more aquafaba.

ROOM TEMPERATURE IS POSSIBLE

Some oil-free bean dips really are much better served warm or hot and this is one of them. That being said, you could serve this dip at room temperature immediately after making it. What you can’t do is serve it right out of the fridge after it’s been stored. That’s because it gets hard when it’s been chilled.

QUICK MICROWAVE HEATING

The simplest way to heat this dip is in the microwave in small increments. How long it takes to heat will depend on your temperature preference, your particular microwave and whether the dip has been refrigerated prior to heating. Place the dip in a microwave-safe bowl and cover it with a microwave-safe plate. Then heat in 30 second increments, taking it out and mixing it with a spatula after each increment until you reach the desired temperature. You may want to add more aquafaba if the dip seems too thick. Although I like the texture of the aquafaba and usually have plenty on hand, water or plain unsweetened plant milk can be used instead.

HEATING IN A CONVENTIONAL OVEN

If you don’t have a microwave you can heat the dip in a conventional oven by placing it in an oven-safe pan, covering it with aluminum foil and baking it at 350 °F for 20 to 30 minutes.

FLAVOR BOOSTING ADD-INS

This recipe already has plenty of flavor, but here are some add-in suggestions to ramp up the intensity.

• Shiitake Mushroom Powder: Adding 1 teaspoon of shiitake mushroom powder to this dip won’t make it taste mushroomy, but it will add a creamy depth of umami. Shiitake mushroom powder also has some amazing health benefits. Read more about the benefits of using shiitake mushroom powder in plant-based cooking here.

• Tomato Paste or Powder: Adding 2 teaspoons of tomato paste or 1 teaspoon of tomato powder will intensify the tang of this recipe and a little depth. So if you have either of these ingredients on hand and think you might enjoy a little kick of tomatoey-ness, give it a try.

• Ground Turmeric: The earthy flavor of ground turmeric is subtle, but this ingredient has so many health benefits that I tend to add it everywhere I can. In this dip the color of turmeric will blend in nicely and so will the flavor. If you want to add turmeric, I’d recommend about a half teaspoon.

• Smoked Paprika: One of my all time favorite savory seasonings, smoked paprika adds a subtle smokey savory goodness that would be lovely in this dip. If you want to add smoked paprika, I’d recommend about a half teaspoon.

TOPPINGS & LAYERING

This is a fabulous dip for layering. Many toppings would work nicely, either by themselves or combined. Here are just a handful of suggestions.

• Finely Chopped Fresh Bell Peppers: This dip already has roasted red bell pepper as one of the main ingredients. Topping it with very finely chopped uncooked red peppers may sound redundant, but it’s actually a delicious way to add a cohesive layer of complexity.

• Lemon Cashew Cream or Store-Bought Vegan Sour Cream: Drizzle it on as your only garnish or use it as the base layer for more toppings. Check out my simple small batch recipe for lemon cashew cream here.

• Oven Baked or Crispy Corn Kernels: This is one of my favorite dip toppings. You can make crispy corn kernels with frozen or canned corn with whatever method you like. If you have access to fresh corn, you can use kernels from oven baked or grilled corn on the cob.

• Green Onions or Chives: Finely minced green onions or chives are by far my top pick for this dip as far as something green and fresh.

• Toasted Pepitas and/or Pine Nuts: Pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds) and pine nuts both have a flavor and texture that would complement this dip perfectly. Toasting them is a little extra work but I think it’s worth it.

• Crunchy Seed & Nut Topping: A sprinkling of my favorite homemade healthy vegan ‘parmesan’-like topping is great on so many things that I always keep a stash of it in the freezer. If you’re heating this dip in a conventional oven you could use this topping to create a baked-on crunchy layer. A light uncooked sprinkling is good too and perfect as a final layer over other toppings.

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