This hot donair dip recipe is absolutely delicious and satisfying. It’s rich and creamy, packed with flavor and fairly simple to make!
While donair dip is traditionally made with condensed milk and ground meat, for a vegan friendly version, just use coconut milk and veggie ground round!
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What is Donair Dip?
Donair is a classic Halifax recipe that loads meat, sweet sauce, tomatoes and onion into pita bread.
Donair dip takes that delicious sweet sauce and adds spiced ground meat, onion and tomatoes together. This is typically topped with shredded cheese, baked and served as a hot donair dip!
While none of this sounds vegan, simply substitute the condensed milk for coconut milk, and use veggie ground round in place of ground meat. The result is an epic vegan dip recipe!
Why is Donair Dip Called Halidip?
Donair dip is the “official” name for this recipe; however, donair and donair dip originate in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada). Over time, it has been renamed to reflect its origins and is often called halidip or Halifax donair dip.
How to Make Easy Donair Dip
A regular or vegan donair dip is simple to make. You just need to make some sweet sauce, cook ground meat or veggie ground round, then toss together in a baking dish with onion and tomato.
In my donair wrap recipe, I make the sweet sauce with coconut milk. When creating this recipe, I first tried using two cans of coconut milk. While the final product was delicious, it didn’t thicken much, nor did it sit in our stomachs too well.
On my second attempt with this recipe, I decided to make a change. To thicken the dip, and lighten the final product (without sacrificing flavor) I replaced one can of coconut milk with cooked cauliflower and potato.
The combo of cauliflower and potato is how I regularly make vegan cheese sauce so I knew it would create a delicious and creamy dip; which it did!
It’s an added step to create the perfect vegan donair dip, but it’s well worth it (and your digestive system may thank you).
What to Serve with Hot Donair Dip
You can serve crackers, chips, pita bread, tortilla chips or veggie sticks with this hot donair dip. Crusty bread, crostini or a bread bowl would also be fantastic.
If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!
Hot Donair Dip Recipe (Vegan)
Equipment
- Baking dish
- Medium-sized pan
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 cups cauliflower , diced
- 1 ½ cups potato , peeled and diced
- 1 cup water
- 1 ¾ cups coconut milk (regular/ full fat; 14 oz/ 400 mL can)
- 2 tablespoons starch (I use corn starch)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Ground “Meat”
- 300 grams veggie ground round
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dry basil
- ½ teaspoon dry oregano
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- black pepper (to taste)
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
To Assemble
- 1 cup tomato , diced and strained
- 1 cup onion , diced
- ½ cup vegan cheese shreds (I use a mozzarella style)
Instructions
Prep
- Dice the tomato and place it into a mesh strainer. Toss with a pinch of salt and set aside to allow some liquid to drain. This step is optional, but helps ensure the dip is rich and creamy (moisture from the tomatoes can thin/ water down the dip).
- Dice the onion and set aside.
- If needed, shred the cheese for topping.
Sauce
- Dice the cauliflower and potato. Place into a pot with 1 cup of water and cook, with the lid of the pot half on (at an angle to allow some steam out). Bring the pot up to a boil over high heat and cook until the cauliflower and potato are fork tender, about 8 minutes (depending on how large the cauliflower and potato pieces are).
- Once the cauliflower and potato are cooked, keep ½ cup of the cooking water and drain the rest.
- Place the strained cauliflower and potato into a blender along with remaining sauce ingredients (1 can coconut milk, 2 tablespoon starch, 3 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ¾ teaspoon salt). Blend until smooth.
Ground “Meat”
- Either cook the veggie ground round while the cauliflower and potato boil, or complete this task before or after.
- Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium heat. Then add the veggie ground round and break into small pieces, tossing it with oil.
- Add all the spices (2 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon dry basil, ½ teaspoon dry oregano, ½ teaspoon celery seed, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper to taste) along with the ¼ C of vegetable broth. Toss the spices around to coat the meat, then turn off the heat and get ready to assemble.
Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
- Spray a medium-sized baking dish with cooking spray.
- Pour in sauce from the blender.
- Press any additional liquid out of the tomato (through the mesh strainer), then add tomato to the baking dish.
- Toss in onion and ground “meat” to the dip.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Then remove from the oven, top with the shredded vegan cheese and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before serving. The dip will thicken as it cools.
- Serve with your favorite dippers!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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About Nicole Stevens
Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out.
She helps people thrive on a vegan diet with balanced recipes and easy-to-understand nutrition science.
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