Vegan Beer Cheese Dip Recipe with Soft Pretzels

This vegan beer cheese dip is perfectly creamy, rich and flavourful. It’s the ideal dip to serve with soft pretzles or whatever you like to dip into cheesy goodness.

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Is Beer Vegan? Can Vegans Drink Beer?

Not all beer is vegan but there are certainly plenty of beer options for vegans to drink.

Learning that alcoholic drinks may not be vegan was a surprise to me during my vegan journey. How can something made from plants not be vegan?

Certain steps of the brewing and filtering process (for beer and other alcoholic drinks like wine and spirits) may use animal derived ingredients.

So, if you want to be sure that the beer you select is vegan, check out barnivore.com. Simply search for your beer of choice and they should hopefully have an answer for you!

Can this Vegan Beer Cheese Dip Be Made Without Alcohol?

While I assume most people clicking onto a recipe for vegan beer cheese dip are looking to use beer, some people may prefer to skip the alcohol.

You can certainly choose and alcohol-free beer if that meets your needs.

Otherwise, you can skip the alcohol completely by replacing the beer with another liquid. I recommend vegetable broth with 1 tsp of vinegar. Apple cider vinegar works nicely.

Beer has a slight bitter taste (or really bitter taste, depending on the beer) so the vinegar helps to round out the flavours.

Excluding alcohol makes this a kid-friendly recipe and can also make it gluten free, if that’s a consideration for you. If gluten is a concern, there are gluten free beer options to try out!

Selecting the Right Beer for a Vegan Cheese Dip

There are literally thousands of beers to choose from when making a delicious vegan cheese dip. I typically use whatever beer my husband has around!

However, there are some things to keep in mind when selecting a beer to cook with.

Firstly, we’re using a whole bottle of beer, so the flavour is absolutely going to come through in the final dip. What this means is:

• If you select a light beer, very little flavour will be in the final dip
• Selecting a beer with more flavour (such as an IPA) creates a more noticeable beer flavour in the dip
• If the beer is dark in colour, this colour can come through as well; I wouldn’t recommend anything too dark, maybe a light amber at the darkest

None of these options are right or wrong. It completely depends on your preferences.

If you enjoy drinking the beer on its own, you’ll probably enjoy it in the dip. You likely can’t go wrong with a run-of-the-mill lager or pale ale, but that’s just my opinion!

Making a Creamy Dairy Free Cheese Dip

I’ve based this recipe off of my creamy vegan cheese sauce which is made with sweet potato and cauliflower.

In fact, the recipe is almost the same except for how the vegetables are cooked. For this recipes, the vegetables are cooked in some vegan butter and the beer!

This process creates an amazing depth of flavour. This beer cheese dip is truly one of the cheesiest vegan dips I’ve ever had. It tastes unbelievably like cheddar cheese (although this depends a bit on the beer you select and how much of that flavour is coming through).

Beyond the cooking method, another important consideration for a creamy dairy free cheese dip is blending it as smooth as possible.

I didn’t have a high speed blender for the longest time and made this recipe for a while with a standard blender. It works but takes a bit more time and requires multiple batches for blending. With a high speed blender, you’re likely to achieve a sauce that’s a bit creamier and smoother!

Vegan Pretzel Dip: How to Serve your Beer Cheese Dip

This beer cheese dip makes the ultimate vegan pretzel dip. In fact, that’s why I created the recipe in the first place: to have something to dip my soft pretzel bites into.

However, if you don’t have soft pretzels around and don’t want to make some, you can dip any type of crusty bread into this dip. Tortilla chips, pita bread, crackers and veggies also work well!

This is truly the ultimate vegan cheese dip recipe so I hope you enjoy. Let me know which type of beer you used in the comments below and be sure to tag me @lettucevegout if you share your creation on social media!

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5 from 1 vote

Vegan Beer and Cheese Dip Recipe

For this beer and cheese dip, simply simmer veggies, butter, cashews, beer and vegetable broth on the stove; then blend everything together with soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and nutritional yeast.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword Beer and Cheese Dip, Vegan Beer and Cheddar Dip

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 2 litres (about 8 servings)

Calories 286kcal

Equipment

• Large pan
• Cutting Board
• Knife
• Blender

Ingredients

• 1 C onion
• 4 C sweet potato
• 3 C cauliflower
• ¾ C cashews
• 2 tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil
• 1 bottle beer
• 1 C vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• ¾ C nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika

Instructions

• Dice 1 C onion, 4 C sweet potato and 3 C cauliflower. Place into a large skillet with ¾ C cashew and 2 tbsp vegan butter.
• Place pan onto stove over medium heat and let the butter melt and the vegetables to begin to sizzle in the butter. Add the bottle of beer. Place a lid on the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the 1 C vegetable broth to the pan and simmer with the lid off for another 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender (easy to poke a fork through them – it may take longer if the vegetable pieces are larger).
• While the vegetables and cashews simmer, place the remaining ingredients into a blender (2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, ¾ C nutritional yeast, 2 tsp salt, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp smoked paprika).
• Add the cooked vegetables to the blender and blend until smooth.
• Serve dip hot, topped with green onion.

Notes

Note: Accuracy of nutrition information cannot be guaranteed (certain ingredients may not have all nutrients listed in the database); amounts may vary (and will vary depending on brands of ingredients used); all nutrition fact values rounded to the nearest whole number.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serving (1/8 recipe) | Calories: 286kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 990mg | Potassium: 770mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 21362IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 3mg

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Written with help from Katelyn Chadder, nutrition student at University of Guelph.

This is an updated post: Original post date May 2019.