Whipped Red Pepper Tofu Dip

If Muhammara and Whipped Tofu Ricotta had a baby, this Whipped Red Pepper Tofu Dip would be it. It has an intensely fruity and smoky flavor from the roasted red peppers, high protein from the tofu, and is super creamy as you whip it up in your food processor. Its taste is reminiscent of whipped feta, yet entirely vegan and secretly healthy. Though when you mop it up with your favorite cracker, bread or roasted vegetable, you’d never guess, it’s just so ridiculously flavorful.
And what’s best? It comes together within 5 minutes.

 

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• Why You’ll Love This
• The Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Equipment Used
• How to Make this
• How To Store
• FAQ
• Other Recipes You Might Enjoy

Why You’ll Love This 

TL;DR

• Quick & Easy: Ready in under 5 minutes of hands-on time (after pressing the tofu).
• High-Protein & Healthy: Made with firm tofu and roasted red peppers for a guilt-free, nutritious boost.
• Secretly Vegan: Tastes like creamy whipped feta but is entirely plant-based.
• Intensely Flavorful: Combines the fruity, smoky flavor of roasted peppers with savory, cheesy notes from miso and nutritional yeast.
• Super Versatile: Use it as a dip, a sandwich spread, a pasta sauce base, or a flavorful dollop for roasted vegetables.

Perfect Combo Of Flavor And Protein

This roasted red pepper dip has both the creamy high protein base of whipped tofu, with all the vegan cheesy goodness of Nisha Vora’s recipe, but with the added fruitiness of the peppers, which you can simply buy jarred to save time.

Takes Just Minutes To Make

The hands-on time for this recipe is about 5 minutes after you pressed the tofu to remove some of its moisture, and most of that time is spend watching your food processor work. No chopping required.

Super Healthy

With the bulk of this creamy whipped-feta like dip being made of high protein tofu and fibre from roasted red peppers, I think it’s safe to say that this is a really healthy snack! Some added miso provides fermented goodness, and a little olive oil gives you a bit of healthy fats. What more could you want from a versatile flavor boost?

Versatile to Use

Now that I mention it: This dip isn’t just that. You can use it as base for roasted vegetables (Try cauliflower. It’s a revelation!), as pizza or pasta sauce, flavorful high protein spread as base for all sorts of sandwiches and, yes, as dip with either a lovely soft flatbread like this fluffy sourdough discard naan or, as I used it last week, with these super crispy seeded sourdough discard crackers (which have 3g protein per cracker. So you can use them as perfect post workout snack!).

Vegan Version Of Whipped Red Pepper Feta

If you ever wanted to try the creamy whipped feta with red peppers, but are vegan, here is your solution: the ultimate Dairy-Free Feta Dip! This simple Tofu Dip Recipe uses a few secret ingredients to make this taste cheesy, salty and tangy like the original, yet no animal products in sight.

Ingredient Notes

The complete ingredient list with amounts is, as usual, in the recipe card. Just a few notes here.

• Tofu – I use firm or extra firm tofu here. Both will work and need just a quick pressing to remove excess water. For this recipe silken tofu is too wet.
• Roasted Red Peppers – You sure could roast red peppers yourself by holding them over a flame until the skin is blackened, then resting them, covered with cling film, in a bowl until softened and the skin comes off easily. But since I have no gas hob and am admittedly lazy, I just use them from a jar. This cuts down the work to draining and ripping them into large chunks. You can get them very cheap from Lidl here, which is where I got mine.
• Miso – White miso paste is best for this recipe, as it has a mild, slightly sweet flavor which goes really well with the peppers.
• Nutritional Yeast – This is what gives the dip the cheesy flavor. Vegans will probably have it at home, since it can be used in a million ways. Nutritional yeast is also a complete protein, and it’s often fortified with Vitamin B12, which is crucial for vegans and non-vegans alike. I’m not a vegan, yet I love using it in a million recipes for the incredible umami hit it adds.
• Pomegranate Molasses – This might be a little exotic, but it’s entirely worth hunting down for the intensely fruity, sweet, and tart flavor it adds. Even supermarkets like Tesco here in Ireland now carry this sweet and tangy Middle Eastern ingredient.
• Smoked Paprika – One of my most used spices, smoked paprika enhances the smoky notes from the roasted peppers and rounds out the flavor of this creamy whipped tofu dip.

substitutions

• Tofu – If you don’t have tofu around, but a big block of feta (for the non-vegans), you can use that too. Though if you do, leave out the miso, nutritional yeast and reduce the salt.
• Miso – While I used white here, if you only have brown miso, that works too. Your dip will just have more umami depth to it. I made it with brown miso before and found it rather lovely especially as pasta sauce.
• Roasted Red Peppers – If you don’t like peppers I urge you to try them in this recipe anyway. This is what converted me from being a live-long peppers hater to now loving them!
• If you are allergic however, you could replace them by using roasted cherry tomatoes instead for a similar effect. Drain them a bit, to get rid of most of their juices.
• Nutritional Yeast – If you are not a vegan, you could use some parmesan instead. Alternatively some vegan grated parmesan. If you have neither, you can just leave it out. There will be less umami punch in the dip, but it has plenty of flavor going on without.
• Pomegranate Molasses – If you can’t find it balsamic vinegar works well instead. Add a hint more lemon juice to replicate the fruity acidity from the pomegranate.
• Smoked Paprika – If you don’t have any (Get it. Really! You won’t look back!) you could substitute some sweet red paprika powder and a little liquid smoke. The dip will still be good without added smokiness, yet it just makes it extra special.

Equipment Used

• Tofu Press – Or a towel and something heavy on top, like a book and cast iron pot.
• Food Processor – Or a high speed blender like Vitamix. I do feel this dip works best in the food processor. It’s basic version without peppers (but with smoky chili oil) sure does, as it’s a bit too dry for the blender. Now, the peppers in this one add a bit more moisture, so it could be ok in a really high powered blender like Vitamix, but don’t even attempt it in, say, a Nutribullet, as it will kill the poor thing.

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food processor

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How to Make this

And we are at the easy part again.

Press The Tofu

While the original whipped tofu ricotta from Nisha Vora works best with unpressed extra firm tofu, the roasted red peppers in this version introduce a good bit of liquid that we need to remove from the tofu, to get a creamy instead of runny dip.

You have two options for doing this:

Tofu Press

This is what I recommend (see story of chipped tiles and broken pot below). Simply add your unwrapped block of tofu to the press, secure the rubber bands and leave it to its own devices for about 30 minutes. You can absolutely do this the evening before and leave it to press overnight in the fridge. But if you choose to press overnight, wrap the whole thing into a freezer bag, to avoid any dried out edges.

Towel and Heavy Objects

Note:

I have a bit of a cautionary tale about that combo:
In a second of not watching, said cast iron pot tumbled off the tofu-book tower onto my wood grain tiles, smashing its handle and leaving a chip in the tiles.
So…proceed with caution or do what I did and get a tofu press. They are pretty cheap, last forever and are just super useful for an endless array of tofu dishes.
If you do get one, try my crispy breaded and pickle brined air fryer tofu.

This method is a little more precarious as it relies on your tower building abilities and hope that the tofu doesn’t tilt to one side while being pressed. So proceed with caution.
Wrap the unpacked tofu into a clean kitchen towel. It should have a few layers around it, so the moisture is absorbed. Put it on a plate or a chopping board with rim, just in case moisture does seep out.
Now you want to add weight on top. A heavy book and a cast iron pot are recommended in many recipes. Make sure that any possible tilt is towards your wall, so the pot can’t crash onto your floor. Though frankly, I do not trust the method as mentioned.

Or maybe you’d like to add a little workout step to your cooking and just firmly press it by hand for a while, until no more water seeps out.

Drain The Roasted Red Peppers

If you are using jarred roasted peppers, tip them into a fine meshed sieve and allow to drain while your tofu is being pressed.

For home roasted peppers: Remove seeds and skin before using.

Process Your Ingredients

Now that we are done with the hard work, lets get to the blending:

Crumble your now fairly dry tofu into your food processor with the blades attached.
Roughly tear the roasted red pepper into it and throw in the nutritional yeast, garlic (I like to slice mine, but you could throw it in just peeled), salt (start with 1 tsp), olive oil, lemon juice and smoked paprika.

Add just 1 tbsp Miso and 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses to start with. I like my tofu cream fairly salty-sweet, but you might not. So better to start on the lower spectrum, as you can always add more later.

Process everything for a few minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times, until your dip is creamy. The texture will be similar to ricotta, with a hint of graininess, but smooth enough that you won’t notice when munching this with a cracker or bread.

Balance The Flavor

Now you can adjust the acidity, cheesy flavor, salty umami and sweetness by tweaking the amounts of lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso and pomegranate molasses according to your preference.

So if you know you like your dips on the lower salt spectrum, add for example less miso. Or more for an even more intense umami flavor. I often find myself adding more lemon juice, which also lifts the saltiness.

Serve Your Whipped Tofu Roasted Red Pepper Dip

And your bright red, fruity and smoky protein dip is ready to serve!

Top it with a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of seeds and maybe some fresh parsley if you have it.
I love mine with seeded sourdough crackers, for even more protein. But it’s equally good on a bowl with roasted veggies and rice or over a quick plate of pasta.
Try it as flavorful spread on your favorite sandwich or wrap (heavenly when topped with fried halloumi!) or in the middle of a mezze spread like this one.

Watch The Video

Variations

• Make this taste more like red pepper cream cheese by leaving out the miso, pomegranate molasses and reducing the lemon juice.
• Switch up the vegetable. Roasted (drained) cherry tomatoes or roasted beets are fabulous in whipped tofu.
• Gently heat it and use as super high protein sauce over grilled chicken or fish
• Add some toasted walnuts or pecans before blending, to bring this even closer to muhammara and give it some crunch.
• Throw in any soft herbs you love. Basil would be particularly good, but parsley or mint work nicely.
• Add tahini instead of miso for a more hummus-like flavor and even creamier texture.
• Top with chili crisp for extra spice. Careful though, this is highly addictive!

How To Store

This creamy red pepper tofu dip will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

You can freeze it in a lidded plastic container or freezer bag for up to 3 months and thaw a few hours before you want to eat it. However, tofu changes its texture slightly with freezing (it becomes more grainy, meat like and absorbent when frozen in blocks, which is often used to great effect when aiming for meaty texture), so you might need to blend it again after defrosting.

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

And if you enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating, sharing, or leaving a comment – your feedback truly helps my blog grow!

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