This Vegan 7 Dip has a layer of homemade creamy refried beans, vegan cheese sauce, guacamole, and it’s topped with all your favorites! It’s a huge hit at parties and gatherings, but also makes a tasty meal for the family to dig into!
This week I found myself with an abundance of homemade pinto beans! First I made vegan refried beans, and my family went crazy for the recipe!
Since I still had a bunch of pinto beans to use, I thought why not make a vegan 7 layer dip! It’s an easy vegan appetizer you can prepare in no time!
I made another batch, but this time I layered it with my vegan cheese sauce, guacamole, and topped it with diced onions, tomatoes, cilantro, black olives, and a few jalapeño peppers!
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Why This Recipe Works
- All whole food plant-based ingredients
- A layer of creamy refried beans
- Topped with a homemade vegan cashew cheese sauce
- And a quick and easy guacamole
- With a simple pico de gallo
- It’s perfect for parties, BBQs, and picnics
- Nutritious guilt-free ingredients
- Omnivore and kid approved
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Vegan Refried Beans-Use canned or make your own. See ingredients and directions for making homemade beans in the recipe card.
- Vegan Cheese Sauce-I recommend making this fresh and not using store bought vegan cheese. See ingredients and directions in the recipe card.
- Guacamole– Simply slice and mash an avocado with a bit of lime juice.
- Tomato-Any type of tomao will do. Be sure to remove the seeds. This will keep the dip from becoming soggy.
- Red or White Onion-Finely diced.
- Cilantro-Roughly chopped.
- Black Olives-I use canned and sliced.
- Jalapeño Pepper-Fresh and sliced into thin rounds (optional). Leave off if you don’t want the dip to become too spicy.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Prepare refried beans. You can make your own vegan refried beans, or use canned. If using canned, be sure that it’s vegan by checking the ingredient label.
Step 2: Make the Vegan Cheese Sauce. This recipe takes about 15 minutes to make. It’s super easy and way better than store-bought vegan cheese. However, if you’d like to save time you can use a store-bought version, or leave this layer off.
Step 3: Spread warmed refried beans on the bottom of your serving dish. Layer with ½ cup of vegan cheese sauce. Top with ½ cup of guacamole.
Step 4: Chop ¼ cup of white or red onion, and a ¼ cup of tomatoes diced. Layer on top of the guacamole. Top with finely chopped cilantro, sliced black olives, and a few slices of fresh jalapeño pepper (optional). Serve with whole grains chips.
Expert Tips
- Prepare each part of the dip (refried beans, cheese sauce, and guacamole) before assembling the dip to make it simpler.
- If you prefer to save time on preparing each of these ingredients you can use canned vegan refried beans, and store bough vegan cheese sauce.
- Use a fresh jalapeño rather than jarred or canned. Be careful when slicing (I wear gloves) because it can burn your hands! I’ve learned from experience!
Recipe FAQS
Yes, Fritos bean dip is vegan according to the ingredients listed on the back. Fritos bean dip contains the following ingredients: Water, Pinto Beans, Vinegar, Corn Oil, Salt, Maltodextrin (Made from Corn), Dried Onion, Sugar, Jalapeño Peppers, Spice, Chili Pepper, Dried Garlic, and Natural Flavors. All of these ingredients are vegan-friendly.
Yes, vegans can eat most canned beans. The challenge becomes refried beans in particular. Many brands of refried beans add lard to their recipe. Lard is that fat from pigs. When choosing a brand of refried beans take a look at the ingredient label to be sure lard has not been added. There are many varieties that say “vegetarian” on the front, in which case lard has not been added. Most other canned bean varieties do not have added animal ingredients, but do include other ingredients, often water, salt, and sometimes sugar.
You can eat bean dip both ways. I like it hot, but I like everything hot! It also tastes just as good cold, so you can bring it to a party and leave it out as an appetizer and it will still taste amazing!
There are so many things you can do with leftover bean dip.
Wrap it into a tortilla to make a burrito.
But it into a crunchy corn tortilla for a taco.
Add it to some lettuce and serve with chips for a taco salad.
Roll into tortillas and make enchiladas.
Serving Suggestions
The best and most popular way to serve Vegan 7 Layer Dip is with tortilla chips! Finding plant-based tortilla chips can be tricky if you’re avoiding oil. I look for ones that are organic and whole grain. You can also make your own air fryer tortilla chips which are much healthier and super easy!
You can also serve this dip with whole-grain crackers, or even veggie sticks!
We had some leftover dip and wrapped it in some corn tortillas to create a mini burrito!
How to Store
Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to a day. Because this recipe contains avocado that quickly browns it cannot be kept for long periods of time.
The other ingredients are more resilient. If you are preparing this dip in advance it’s probably a good idea to leave the guacamole layer off, or assemble the ingredients just before you’re ready to serve.
More Vegan Dip Recipes!
Recipe
Vegan Bean Dip: 7 Layer Mexican Dip
Equipment
- Shallow bowl for serving
- Cast Iron Skillet for preparing the beans
- High Speed Blender for preparing the cheese sauce
Ingredients
Refried Beans
- 3 cups pinto beans cooked
- ½ cup white onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½-1 cup vegetable stock
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 ½ cups vegetable stock
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Guacamole
- 1 avocado
- ¼ cup lime juice
Toppings
- ¼ cup onion diced (red or white)
- ½ cup tomatoes diced
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 2.25 oz black olives canned and slices
- 1 jalapeño pepper sliced into rounds
Instructions
Prepare Refried Beans (or use 1 15 oz can of vegan refried beans)
- Dice onion and mince garlic. Heat skillet to medium high. Add ¼ cup of vegetable broth or water to the pan. Add onions. Sauté for 5 minutes or until translucent. Add minced garlic and sauté an additional minute.
- Add chili powder, cumin, and salt to the pan. Stir to combine, and heat for a minute to allow flavors to meld together.
- Add cooked beans to the pan. Stir to combine. Cover and heat on low for 5 minutes. Add ½ cup of vegetable stock or water. Mash beans using a potato masher. Add an additional ¼-1/2 cup of vegetable stock or water to achieve the creaminess you desire. Spread on the bottom of a shallow serving dish.
Prepare Vegan Cheese Sauce
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add cashews. Reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes or until cashews have softened and plumped.Drain cashews.
- Add drained cashews, vegetable stock, nutritional yeast, spices, and lemon juice to high speed blender. Secure lid. Blend until smooth and creamy, starting at the lowest speed and slowly increasing to the highest speed.
- Transfer to a small saucepan. Bring to a bubbling boil, whisking constantly until thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add about ½-3/4 cup of cheese sauce on top of the beans. Reserve the rest to enjoy later!
Guacamole
- Mash avocado with ¼ cup of lime juice until smooth and creamy. Gently spread over cheese sauce.
Add the Toppings
- Dice onion the onion and tomato. Layer on top of guacamole. Drain olives, sprinkle on top of tomatoes and onions. Thinly slice jalapeño pepper, and place on top (optional). Serve with whole grain chips!
Video
Notes
- Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. It’s best to prepare this dish fresh and serve it immediately. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.
- If you’re pressed for time you can use canned refried beans, just make sure they are vegan friendly by looking at the label to make sure they don’t contain lard.
- I recommend not using store-bought vegan cheese for this dip. The homemade version is much better. But it’s fine to use to save yourself some time.
Jersey Girl Cooks
Yum! this is my kind of summer appetizer or dinner…lol!
Gloria
With summer entertaining happening, this is perfect for parties. I love the fact I can please meat lovers and vegans at the same time. Easy to make. Always a hit.
Beth
Yum! This looks so delicious! I can’t wait to make this!
Jamie
I brought these to a party and they were such a hit! Everyone loved all the layers and it was gone in no time! Delicious.
Ashley
Yum!! I’m pinning this for when we have supper club again!!