There is something so wonderful about chips and dip. Chips and salsa, chips and guacamole, chips and french onion dip, chips and artichoke dip, chips and spinach dip, corn chips and bean dip… They’re all so good! And what you quickly come to realize when you have to cut out all dairy, is that almost every single dip on the planet is made with cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, and more cheese. When I had to make the transition, I even had to give up one of my favorites: Queso Dip.
Enter my new obsession: cashew cheese.
My daughter was craving Queso Dip and I wasn’t about to go to a restaurant and just watch her eat it, so we decided to make our own Dairy-Free Queso Dip using cashew cheese and ground turkey. Plus, it was way easier than I thought because I had everything I needed leftover from other dinners, which is pretty much the best thing ever.
We already had the corn tortilla chips, ground turkey, and Spicy Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce leftover from making Ground Turkey Nachos With Nacho Cashew Cheese and Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas with Nacho Cashew Cheese. All I had to do was combine them together and add a few extra spices.
I combined one big scoop of leftover ground turkey and one big scoop of the Nacho Cashew Cheese Sauce into a sauce pan. Cashew Cheese firms up in the refrigerator, so I also added a couple tablespoons of cashew milk to thin it out. I then added two additional tablespoons of taco seasoning to bump up the flavor and warmed it up over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the Cashew Cheese Queso Dip just started to bubble a bit.
I served it with corn tortillas chips and after the first bite I decided this was heaven. Cashew Cheese is my path back to Queso Dip and I don’t even have to feel guilty about it.
If you want to make this Spicy Ground Turkey Cashew Queso Dip from scratch, the full recipe is below… happy eating!
Spicy Ground Turkey Cashew Queso Dip
Dairy-free eaters rejoice! This Queso Dip is your path to dippable, delicious, cheesy goodness without the cheese!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground turkey
- 2 packages Lawry's Taco Seasoning
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Corn tortilla chips
Instructions
- Put raw cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Let cashews soak 4-5 hours or overnight.
- Place ground turkey, 1/2 cup water and taco seasoning in a sauce pan and cook completely, stirring reguarly. Be sure to smash and break up the ground turkey well so there aren't any large pieces.
- Drain extra water from the cashews and add them to your food processor or blender with one package of the taco seasoning and the olive oil. Spoon out about 2 tablespoons of liquid from the fully cooked ground turkey and add it to your cashew cheese mixture. Blend until smooth.
- Add the cashew cheese to the ground turkey and mix together over low heat until the cheese begins to bubble. Transfer to a bowl and serve with corn tortilla chips.
Notes:
If you like your Queso Dip spicy, add 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
The amount of water you use will determine the thickness of your dip. A thick dip uses less water and a thin dip uses more water.
