It’s almost Super Bowl time! Who are you all routing for? I’m not going to lie, I’ve always been a patriots fan as I grew up in Connecticut- But I went to college in Western NY and fell in love with a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan and have officially been converted. The Patriots have been in the Super Bowl too many times! So I will be routing for the Eagle’s this year—don’t be mad Dad!
Anyway, when we think of football we think of finger foods, grilling out and beers. One of my all-time favorite dips was buffalo chicken wing dip. Oh my goodness- so cheesy and spicy it was so good! My husband makes a fantastic one, but let me tell you- it is so unhealthy!
This year I knew that I would crave some buffalo dip so I decided to make my own vegan version and I have to say it is pretty good! Of course it is not the same. There is no actual cheese in this- no vegan cheese either! Halleluiah!… I don’t like that stuff.
This may sound corny, but I feel like dips bring people together. We all sit around a bowl, talk, watch the game and dip our veggies, crackers or chips. What could be better?
My dip has my cheese sauce base, but I added a lot of hot sauce to give it that Buffalo love it deserves. It starts with potatoes, carrots and onion that I boil to soften. After soft you reserve some of the cooking liquid and then add the veggies into a blender along with the rest of the spices. Blend it up and BAM- vegan cheese sauce.
Add in the flesh of your whole roasted eggplant, some tapioca starch and cook on the stove top until it thickens and comes together. You can totally eat it as is right now or you can bake it if you want a crust on top but this is totally not necessary.
Add all of your dippers around! I love crackers, carrot sticks and celery. What are some of your favorite dippers?
Pour your cheesy mixture into a serving bowl and enjoy with the ones you love. It will get gobbled up! Some people may not even miss real cheese 🙂
Game Day Buffalo Eggplant Dip
Ingredients
Eggplant
- 1 large eggplant
Potato Mixture
- 1 medium potato
- 1/2 small white onion
- 1 large carrot
Cheese Sauce
- 4 Tbsp hot sauce
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup reserved cooking liquid
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Eggplant
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Start by piercing the eggplant with a fork about 10 times and pop it into a 400 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes until wilted and cooked through. Flip it over half way through the cooking process. Leave it to cool.
Potato Mixture
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Peel and dice the potato, onion and carrot and put in a large saucepan covered with water and bring to a boil.
Cook for about 10 minutes or until all the veggies are soft. Reserve about 1/2 a cup of the cooking liquid and then strain the veggies.
Cheese Sauce
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Add in all the cheese sauce ingredients into a high powered blender along with the cooked potato, carrot and onion and blend. Add in some of the reserved cooking liquid- about 2 Tbsp at a time until it just comes together. You want the mixture to be thick and cheese-like.
Putting it together
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Add your cheese sauce back into the pot you cooked the veggies in and whisk away! The tapioca starch will help the cheese to thicken into a nice dip.
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In the meantime, split your eggplant down the middle and scoop out the inside flesh, discard the skin. Add the eggplant into the cheese mixture and continue to whisk. The whisking will break up the eggplant into small pieces.
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Continue whisking until it is the consistency you want. Serve it up in a nice bowl and it is ready for dipping!
Recipe Notes
If you want you can bake the dip after you've cooked it on the stove to form a crust, but it is not necessary.
Enjoy!
Xo, Melissa
