Creamy Vegan Nopales Dip
If you’re looking for a vegan nopales recipe, and hoping to make something other than salad, we’ve got a recipe for you! Nothing against salad, of course, but a little variety is always nice. This vegan nopales dip has a creamy, cheesy base, green nopales, sweet bits of corn, garlic and onion and a little spice from the jalapeño. The result is a deep and savory dip, highlighting the fresh, green flavor of nopales.
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Eating and Cooking Cactus (Nopales!)
Nopales are the paddles of the prickly pear cactus (which also produces the prickly pear fruit!). They are very popular in Mexico, and can be found at Mexican grocery stores. If you live in the Southwestern US, you can also probably find them outside if you want to do a little foraging! I have no personal experience with foraging nopales, but you can check out this guide for a few pointers. The taste of nopales is often compared to green beans, green pepper, okra, and asparagus, with a hint of lemon. They can be eaten cooked or raw. Similarly to okra, when raw and unprocessed, nopales release a mucilaginous slime, that has a good amount of sour flavor. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of the slime (read more about that a few paragraphs down). They also come covered in cactus spikes- again, we’ll tell you how to deal with those. If you’d rather not deal with spikes and slime, you can also buy nopales pre-processed and jarred.
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How to Make Creamy Vegan Nopales Dip
Like many creamy vegan recipes, this one starts with the magic of cashews. Soak or boil them to soften them, so they easily blend into a thick and creamy texture. In addition, we’ll be adding some nutritional yeast and white miso paste to give a bit of cheesy, umami goodness. Next we’re going to blend that together into a rich and creamy cashew base.
After that, it’s time to sauté our nopales and other vegetables. Start with garlic, jalapeño, and onion, and sauté them until the onions start to turn a little translucent. Add the nopales, and some seasoning. At the very end, add corn kernels.
Now bring it all together- using your food processor! You want to pulse the vegetables into the dip, making sure you get all the oil and seasoning you cooked the vegetables in so you don’t miss out on that flavor. You want to chop up the nopales some, but also have plenty of large pieces remaining (don’t over pulse it!). I ate my vegan nopales dip with corn chips, but this would also be so fantastic in a sandwich, maybe with some fat slices of heirloom tomato.
Using Fresh Nopales
I used fresh nopales for this recipe, but you can use fresh or jarred as you please (many people prefer to use the jarred variety as they require less work than fresh ones). Nopales have the same mucilaginous quality okra has, which is a texture many people prefer to avoid. Plus, the outside of the paddles are covered with sharp spines- we are eating cactus after all. Be wary about where your putting your fingers, until we get those spikes off. Start by removing the outside edges of the nopal, giving yourself spike-free sides you can now safely handle. Now run your knife back and forth across the cactus top, so you remove all the spines. Repeat with the bottom side. And voila, we should now be free of those pesky needles. We are cooking our nopales, so the easiest way to remove the sliminess is just by boiling them. Give them a good initial rinse, to remove any spines that might be sticking to the cactus. Cut them into pieces, and put them in a pot of salted water. Boil for 15 minutes, drain, rinse, and you’re good! Get started on your dip! If you wanted to make a recipe using raw nopales, you can remove the slime without cooking them by cutting them and letting them sit in a generous amount of salt. After around 15 minutes, rinse really well to remove the slime and the salt, and your nopales should be un-slimy.
Creamy Vegan Nopales Dip
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashew pieces (unsalted)
- 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp. white miso paste
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup chopped nopales pieces
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- ½ cup corn kernels (fresh, canned or frozen is fine)
- ½ tsp. Mexican oregano
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- First soften your cashews, either by soaking them overnight, or boiling them in plenty of water for 20 minutes. You can also get them super soft by pressure cooking them for 15 minutes if you have an instant pot or pressure cooker. Once softened, drain the liquid. Put the cashews in a food processor, along with the nutritional yeast, miso paste, and ¼ cup of water. Process until smooth.
- Mince the jalapeño and garlic, and dice the onion and nopales (please see notes for additional steps if using fresh nopales). Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add the cumin seeds, and once they pop add in the garlic, jalapeño, and onion, sautéing until the onions have softened. Add the nopales, and cook for another couple minutes. Finally add the soy sauce, corn, and Mexican oregano. Sauté until the corn is tender (and warm, if it started frozen). Remove from the heat.
- Transfer the contents of the skillet to the cashews in the food processor. Pulse several times to integrate well. You want it to remain nice and chunky, with visible pieces of nopales and corn in it. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate to chill. Serve with chips, or as a spread on sandwiches.
Notes
Nopales can be bought fresh, or pre-processed in jars. Jarred nopales should only need to be rinsed and chopped to size. To process fresh nopales, start by running a knife back and forth across the cactus paddle to remove the spines (don’t prick your fingers!). Cut the paddle into pieces (a dice, for this recipe), and place in a pot, covering the cactus with water. Boil with a little salt for about 15 minutes, until the nopales are tender. Drain, rinse, and they’re ready to use!
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