This Instant Pot Cheesy Buffalo Cauliflower Dip is one of the best inventions ever. I don’t know if recipes qualify as “inventions,” but let me tell you, you’re gonna love this recipe SO much.
Why you’ll love this buffalo cauliflower dip
Easy
This might be the easiest recipe on my blog. All you do is dump 10 ingredients into the Instant Pot, give it a quick stir, and turn on the Pressure Cook setting. When the time is up, perform a quick pressure release, and add the contents to a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy, and voila!
Seriously, that’s it. No hands-on cooking.
Quick
As you can imagine, this recipe is also quick. The only prep work involved is cutting up some cauliflower into florets, and chopping up half an onion and a few garlic cloves. This should take no more than 5 minutes.
And then the you pressure cook it in the Instant Pot for 7 minutes! Of course, it does take some additional time for the Instant Pot to build pressure, but since there’s minimal liquid in this recipe, it comes to pressure pretty quickly. And then you perform a quick pressure release (no waiting time there), and it takes a minute to blend.
That’s just 20 minutes, start to finish! And unlike many vegan sauce/dip recipes that use cashews, you don’t even have to soak the cashews in this recipe! The high pressure of the Instant Pot will soften those babies up on its own!
10 Ingredients
Yes, there are only 10 ingredients in this recipe, and nothing is an exotic or difficult-to-find ingredient!
Healthy
I know, something that has CHEESY BUFFALO in the title doesn’t sound healthy, but it is! It’s vegan, gluten-free, and even oil-free! It’s made with cauliflower, onions, garlic, and gets thick and creamy from a combination of cashews, cannellini beans, and plant-based milk.
Disclaimer: while this recipe is, in my opinion, healthy, it is fairly high in sodium, almost exclusively due to the buffalo hot sauce. If you are on a very low-sodium diet, this might not be the best recipe for you, or limit yourself to just a spoon or two.
Also, as I mention in the Tips section below, this dip is quite spicy as written, so you can always reduce the amount of hot sauce, and that will also reduce the overall sodium content.
PS: Looking for more buffalo flavored snacks for game day? Try these Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower bites!
Instant Pot Cheesy Buffalo Cauliflower Dip
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium white onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup (140-150g) raw cashews
- 1 3/4 cups (440g) cooked cannellini beans, or 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups (160-170g) cauliflower florets
- 3/4 cup (180mL)* Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce or Xtra Hot Sauce**
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika***
- 3/4 cup (180mL) unsweetened plain almond milk or other nondairy milk
- 1/2 cup (~30-45g) nutritional yeast****
Optional Toppings
- Chopped cilantro and/or green onions
For Serving
- Tortilla chips or crackers
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions
- Lightly grease the inner pot of the Instant Pot with a bit of oil or cooking spray. This is to make cleanup easy, but it’s optional. Feel free to omit if you are oil-free.
- Place the chopped onions, chopped garlic, cashews, cannellini beans, cauliflower florets, hot sauce, coconut sugar, paprika, almond milk, and nutritional yeast in the inner pot of Instant Pot and stir well to combine.
- Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Select the Pressure Cook/Manual setting and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
- Once the 7-minute timer has completed and beeps, perform a quick pressure release by switching the Pressure Release knob from Sealing to Venting and open the pot.
- Open the pot and, and carefully transfer the mixture to a blender. Be sure to remove the center cap from the blender lid to vent steam, but cover the hole with a kitchen towel. Blend until the dip is smooth, thick, and creamy. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender, but it will take several minutes, and the texture will be chunkier and not as smooth.
- Allow to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before serving.
Stovetop Directions
- Soak the cashews. Cover the cashews in boiling water and soak for 1 hour. Alternatively, you can soak them in cold water overnight or for 8 hours. Drain thoroughly and pat dry.
- Sauté the onions and garlic. Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add 2-3 teaspoons of olive oil or cooking oil* of choice. Once hot, add the diced onion and a pinch of salt and stir together for 1 minute. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened. Add the garlic and stir frequently for 2-3 minutes to prevent the garlic from burning. Turn off the heat.
- Steam the cauliflower. Bring about 1/4 inch of water to a boil in a large frying pan. Then add the cauliflower florets. Cover the pan and steam until very soft and tender, about 7-9 minutes. Drain any remaining water to prevent the dip from becoming watery.1. You can also steam cauliflower in the microwave or in a steamer basket. For the microwave.
- Assemble the Dip. Place the sautéed onions, soaked and drained cashews, and steamed cauliflower in a blender. Add the remaining ingredients—drained cannellini beans, hot sauce, sugar, paprika, plant-based milk, and nutritional yeast. Be sure to remove the center cap from the blender lid to vent steam, but cover the hole with a kitchen towel. Blend until the dip is smooth, thick, and creamy.
- Allow to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before serving
- *If you are oil-free, sauté the onions and garlic in water instead.
Notes
Fantastic recipe! Our family loved it. This is so versatile. It’s a keeper! Thank you for another healthy choice.
Arlene, Thank you for your thoughtful review! We’re so happy to hear that everyone enjoyed the dip.
Love this dip.
Hi Amy, thank you so much for your kind review!
Thank you for all your delicious recipes!
Is there any alternative nut besides cashews that might work for recipes such as this one and your vegan cheese sauce?
Hi Dawna, I think raw sunflower seeds could work in this particular recipe. They have a pretty strong flavor that’s more bitter than cashews, but with the other bold flavors in this dip, I think they will make a decent substitute. I wouldn’t recommend using them in our regular vegan cheese sauce though because the other flavors in that sauce aren’t as strong so you will definitely taste the sunflower seeds there.
I used this recipe as a dip first, but we prefer it as a pasta sauce. My cauliflower-hating spouse loves it. Thanks for another great one.
For those who struggle with baby mouth: When you reduce the Frank’s Red Hot, replace the lost liquid with vinegar (Ex. 1/2 c Franks, 1/4 c white vinegar). Helps prevent burning under pressure and keeps that great buffalo sauce tang without the additional heat. Important if you’re easily overwhelmed by nutritional yeast flavor.
This was wonderful! Thank you so much for posting. My non-vegan family liked it, too!
You’re very welcome, Teri! Thanks for making it and sharing it with the family!
Delicious!!! A huge hit with all the serious omnivores with whom I watched the Super Bowl!! Easy and so tasty. Thank you, Nisha.
We’re excited to hear the dip was such a hit, Mary! Thanks for making the recipe and sharing it :)
This burned in my instant pot. Twice!!! First burn warning I took it out. Cleaned the pot. Returned it with a bit more liquid and then did 5 min. Still burned. Taste was good but won’t make it again bc of the burn. Too time consuming
Just made it & it came out delicious! Thanks for another great recipe Nisha!
Awesome, Leena. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
could I sub tofu for the cashews? I have a cashew allergy. If so, what type of tofu would you suggest?
Hi Nicole, we think that could work. It won’t be nearly as creamy with the tofu, could you try using hemp seeds or sunflower seeds? If you use tofu, use the silken variety.
This is incredible! What is the serving size for the nutrition information listed?
Hi there, this recipe makes 16 servings!
Wow! Really good and spicy. Super easy to make. It makes a large batch. Can I freeze it? Any suggestions on what I might use it for besides chips?
Hi Lynn, glad you love it! Other ways you can eat this dip are over fries, in a grilled cheese, on top of potato skins, as a fry dip, it could even be a pasta sauce?, or used as the sauce on a pizza? Hope that helped!
Another winner from Rainbow Plant Life! This dip is delicious and so easy to make. I have made it two times now–once on the stovetop and once in the Instapot. Both times it turned out perfect. The flavor is more complex than one might first suspect when reading through the recipe. Thank you for making life more delicious, fun and beautiful, Nisha!
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much, Susan :) We are honored you love the recipes so much!
Tasted so much like the buffalo chicken dip that I miss! Loved it. Thank you!
Awesome, Sarah. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Okay, this was my first instapot receipt and I uses Chula hot sauce and wow was the heat delicious and gave it a Mexican flare! Quick question, this made a lot for just me and my sister can it be stored in the freezer?
Also! We mixed this with refried beans…. heaven! It was perfect!
Hi Victoria, it may lose some of its creaminess by being frozen but we think it could be done. Defrost in the fridge overnight and blend with a little additional nondairy milk before heating. Glad you loved it!
I was excited to try this recipe but unfortunately I had a lot of trouble making this in the instant pot. I tried 3 times and each time got the “burn” or overheat notification, even after adding extra liquid relative to the recipe. In the end I sautéed on the stove until it was soft enough to blend but the texture came out closer to a hummus than a queso. Flavor wise it was pretty good but I was saddened that is was so troublesome for me to make, since it looks like from reviews most others have had great success. Would be curious to know if anyone else has experienced the same issues and how they resolved them.
I also got the burn message repeatedly! So frustrating! This has happened to me with other recipes as well and when I’ve gone digging for solutions all I could find is that maybe it’s the model of instant pot we are using. I’m actually making this dip today for 4th of July because it’s still delicious! I’m trying out the stove top method this time around.
Super good. Thanks Nisha! I had it at all temperature levels (warm, room temperature, and cold), and it was good every which way. I’d imagine the temperature probably just depends on personal preference. I served it with tortilla chips, pita chips, and also raw celery, carrots, and bell peppers. All good. For me, the buffalo taste was a bit lacking immediately out of the blender. I drizzled additional buffalo sauce and hot sauce on top of the dip, much like one would do with olive oil on top of hummus, and that both kicked up the heat; but mainly amped up the buffalo flavor I was looking for. I’m attempting to go vegan for the month of March, and I promise this dip will become a feature as my friends, family, and I binge college basketball all month. Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing, Scott!
This is incredible. So clever and original. And easy. I served it warm. But I think it might have been even better the next day cold! Will definitely make again – and keep in mind as a “what can I bring? how about an app? ” option in the future. Thank you, Nisha! looking forward to buying your next book!
Thank you for the lovely review, Delnora! We can’t wait for you to see the new cookbook!
Made this for the Super Bowl yesterday and it was a hit! Followed the measurements as written and it was delicious! Might actually do a little more Frank’s next time but honestly this was great as-is. Our friends all commented on how good it was, and a couple even asked for the recipe. Another amazing recipe from Rainbow Plant Life!
Thanks for sharing, Elizabeth!
This looks so good! Could you recommend a way to make it kid friendly heat/spice wise? Thank you!
Thanks, Kerry! You could try removing most/all of the hot sauce and adding some vegetable broth in place. Enjoy!
I have made this SOOOOO many times! Absolutely love it & it’s extra easy using an Instapot.
Is it spicy, yes…but I think tolerable to most. You can always dial down the Franks, or as Nisha says, use your hot sauce of choice. Personally, I love this recipe as is & so did everyone I served it to!
Besides using it as a dip, I’ve used it to spread in wraps.
Love all your recipes as well as your presentation Nisha!!!!
Linda
Lind, So glad to hear you love this recipe!