I had my first experience with a cashew-based sauce a few years ago when Monique made her famous vegan mac & cheese (btw hi, it’s Abra!) Not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical at first. I personally find cashew butter a bit tasteless unless it’s baked in something, so I figured the vegan cashew cheese sauce would have the same effect.
Fast-forward a year and I dream about that creamy, flavorful mac and cheese regularly. So when Monique told me she wanted to make some sort of herby, spicy cashew dip I could hardly contain my excitement.
Thus, this easy, vegan, spicy green cashew dip of my dreams was born.
What’s in this spicy green cashew dip?
This incredible vegan cashew dip is made with 5 super simple ingredients plus water and a little salt & pepper, for good measure. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Raw cashews: these give the sauce its silk, creamy texture after they’re soaked! And its name, of course. I do recommend using completely raw cashews rather than any that have been salted or flavored so that you can control the flavor & level of salt yourself.
- Cilantro: fresh cilantro makes this spicy cashew dip GREEN and adds a delicious freshness to every bite. #teamcilantro
- Jalapeño: we want a nice kick of heat in this spicy green cashew dip — enter one fresh jalapeño. Feel free to keep the seeds in if you like things extra spicy!
- Garlic: I love garlic, you love garlic, we all love garlic. Three cloves of the goods in here.
- Fresh lime juice: this adds just a bit of tang and brings out the freshness of the cilantro and jalapeño. We actually first left it out but found that it was the perfect addition to these flavors.
Spicy cashew dip in 2 simple steps
- Soak your cashews. That’s right, be sure to soak your cashews in warm water for at least 2 hours, or in boiling water for 45 minutes. This will soften the cashews and make sure you get a creamy sauce.
- Blend & serve. Add all of your ingredients, plus the soaked cashews, to a food processor or high powered blender and process until smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides every so often as you go and add more water to thin it out to your liking. Then serve!
Ways to use this spicy green cashew dip
I could probably think of 100 ways to use this deliciously flavorful cashew dip but I’ll cap it at all of the ways I personally tried it:
- As a veggie dip. This recipe makes the perfect vegan dip for your favorite raw veggies and crackers. I tried it with carrots, cucumbers, raw broccoli and raw cauliflower (so adventurous) plus some seedy paleo crackers and it was AMAZING. It would be perfect with our vegan charcuterie board here!
- As a pasta sauce. For reals! If you’ve tried our vegan mac & cheese or even just our vegan cashew cheese sauce you’re going to love this spicy, herby twist. I drizzled it (okay, poured it) on Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi and honestly, I don’t think I can ever put anything on gnocchi ever again. It would be delicious in this pasta salad or other recipes in lieu of pesto!
- As a spread. Okay YUM. Add a scoop to your fav tacos and be sure to include it in your taco bar. It would also be incredible as a hummus-esque spread for your fav sandwich. Jazz up your go-to turkey or pile high on a yummy veggie sandwich.
If it seems like this might be the most versatile vegan cashew dip of your dreams that’s because it is. I truly loved it with everything I tried it on — even just adding a bit to grilled chicken in a little buddha bowl (my go-to). It makes plenty to use throughout the week, and I found myself not needing to buy my weekly tub of plain old hummus.
Also, if it seems like all I did was find things to eat with this green goodness for a whole week IT’S TRUE and I’m not mad.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: this delicious vegan green cashew dip recipe will stay good in your fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Enjoy straight from the fridge, or whisk it into warm pasta if you’d like to use it as a sauce!
- To freeze: you can also easily freeze this recipe! Simply add the dip to a freezer-safe container or bag and place it in your freezer. When you’re ready to use it, let the dip thaw in the fridge before using it. You may need to blend it with a bit more water if you’re finding that it’s too thick.
More dips you’ll love
- Creamy Feta Yogurt Dressing (or dip!)
- Vegetarian Three Cheese White Bean Buffalo Dip
- Fresh & Healthy 7-Layer Dip
- Tony’s Ridiculously Easy Homemade Salsa
- Jalapeño Green Tahini Sauce
- The Best Chocolate Hummus
Get all of our delicious dip recipes here!
We hope you love this delicious spicy green cashew dip and find some fun, creative ways to use it! If you make this recipe, please leave a comment and rate the recipe below so others know how you liked it! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Spicy Green Cashew Dip
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed
- 1 jalapeno, stem removed (you can keep the seeds in if you like it nice and spicy!)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (or lemon juice also works!)
- 1/2 cup fresh water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- First, soak the raw cashews in 4 cups of warm water for at least 2 hours, otherwise you can place them in a large bowl, then add 4 cups of boiling water and let the cashews soak in the hot water for approximately 45 minutes to speed up the process.
- Once ready to make the sauce, drain the cashews, then add them to a high powered blender along with cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, fresh water, salt and pepper. Blend until a thick sauce comes together, adding more water to thin and salt to taste as necessary. Serve with plantain chips, radishes, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, pita chips, tortilla chips or crackers. Also great as a sandwich spread, on quinoa, as a dressing for a buddha bowl, on top of grilled chicken, stirred into pasta and so much more!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
26 comments
The original version of this recipe tasted bland to me, but I upped the garlic, spice, and lime with a healthy serving of salt and it tasted delicious. Maybe I just like flavors that punch you in the face? LOL. As someone who doesn’t cook vegan regularly, I liked the recipe idea a lot and am glad I tried it.
Hmmm this one should have a good amount of spices in it, but always feel free to adjust to your taste preferences!
We really like this dip in our household! Easy to make / easy to adjust based on preference. My tips would be to add way more lime juice than the recipe calls for, and to use a high-power blender. First tried it in my food processor and didn’t get to the right texture, it worked much better in a high-power blender for 4-5 minutes.
This one’s great for customizing! Glad the blender worked out well.
Made this today and it is wonderful! I used lemon juice since I didn’t have a lime, and I added fresh ginger which goes well with the cilantro for me. I used an immersion blender for easy clean up which worked well. I look forward to playing with this recipe in the future. Maybe I’ll make a curry dip. Thank you so much for your incredible recipes and help with eating healthier. I really appreciate you and your knowledge and skills.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I’ve made this a handful of times as a dip at BBQs/get together and it’s always a crowd pleaser. I have friends who are vegan but even those who aren’t have asked for this recipe. It’s so tasty and flavorful as is but also leaves plenty of room for customization, and there is so much you can do with it! Definitely one of my favorites, though I haven’t made anything of yours that I haven’t liked.
This one’s perfect for customizing! So glad it’s a hit!
I have made this recipe yesterday, because I held a small party for my friends. It turned out amazing. The only thing I changed was japaleno – i did not use fresh one but the one sold in jars. In my country I haven’t seen yet freshly picked jalapeño so I didn’t have a choice than use the one sold in the jars. I also served it with fresh cucumber, as you have shown on the photos, and was very tasty. I would highly recommend you those cucumbers: https://gardenseedsmarket.com/cucumber-julian-f1-seeds-cucumis-sativus.html because of their very fresh taste. They fit here perfectly.
I’m so glad that you loved this, Rayna! Totally fine to use those jarred peppers if you can’t find the fresh ones 🙂
Made it as a dip! If I wanted to use it as a sauce do you recommend adding water to thin it out?
Yay! Glad you loved it 🙂 And yes, water’s perfect for thinning it out.
This is a spectacular recipe – my whole family loves it!
We used it as a dip with veges and bread, spread it on our turkey sandwiches, mixed it with some pasta, and scraped the bowl with our fingers to enjoy it plain. It will become a staple in our frig.
Awesome!! I’m so glad that you’ve found so many great uses for it!
Really? Don’t promise what isn’t possible. I am trying to eat clean, especially fond of raw and vegan. In what universe is this green? Hoe much food coloring did you use for your VERY misleading photos?!
I had to add cilantro like a maniac, on and on and on, yuck, no one needs THAT much cilantro,but I was determined to keep going until I got any sort of green color. Nope! This is yummy and it is what you’d expect with such ingredients, but don’t say it’s green. It’s cashew colored. And yes i used a ton of cilantro and did everything as per recipe. First time trying your website, so far I’m so frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. Sure, it’s edible, raw, yummy, vegan and a versatile dip, etc, but THIS RECIPE DOES NOT YIELD ANY GREEN COLOR! Yes I took photos to back up my review. Again, pleasant enough taste and I like the grainy texture, BUT I guess Kermit was right: it ain’t easy being green.
No food coloring or photoshopping here 🙂 We have a video of this recipe on our Instagram if you want to see it being made. It’s possible your blender didn’t blend the cilantro enough so that it blended into a smooth, green dip.
Just finished making this – delicious! Mine doesn’t even look close to the color or consistency of yours. I boiled water, soaked for 45. Mine is a bit gritty and is more of a humus color – tiniest hint of pale green with green flecks. Yummy though.
Happy it tasted great! As for the texture — did you use a high powered blender or food processor? I’m wondering if it wasn’t quite powerful enough to fully break down the cashews into a smooth dip.
Brought this to a family BBQ and everyone absolutely loved it!! I can’t wait to try it with pasta, in tacos, and more variations. Question though – could you use this same base recipe to make different flavors of cashew dips? My husband can’t eat chickpeas so the hummus dips on this blog won’t work for him unless I substitute the chickpeas.
I’m SO happy you all loved it — YAY! And yes I think you could add all kinds of flavors. We have a whole post on flavored hummus recipes which might inspire your flavor variations for this cashew dip, too 🙂
Great dip, used it as many ways i could think of and all were delicious.
Ever try this with different nuts? maybe walnuts , pecans , oct.??
SO glad you loved it, Pam! I haven’t, but I bet those other nuts would be delicious 🙂
This is fantastic and versatile (good on everything i have tried). While I’m not vegan, I am preparing vegan food more often. I think the cashew base makes this so easy to digest and makes you feel way better than any dairy based dip/spread. I’m sure it is much more healthful too. It’s so huge on flavor, you don’t miss anything. This type of food makes you realize just how good vegan can be (and that you’re not cutting corners, at all). I used 1/2 of the jalapeno seeds and next time will add more. I had small limes so I ended up juicing 4. Thanks so much for the great recipe!
So glad you gave this one a try! I love using it in tons of different ways 🙂
I love the recipes. It would be great if you could switch between metric and cups.
Just a thought !!
Thanks for your note! We’re working on an update and hope to roll it out soon 🙂