“I Tried Trader Joe’s Organic Vegan Nacho Dip and Here’s What I Thought”

Trader Joe's shows no signs of slowing down its consistent releases of new vegan and plant-based products. Just two weeks ago, the cult-favorite grocer debuted a vegan-friendly buffalo dip, and now, TJ's is stocking shelves with a brand new Organic Dairy-Free Vegan Nacho Dip, selling it for $3.99 for an eight-ounce container. This new Vegan Nacho Dip takes the place of its Organic Creamy Cashew Fiesta Dip, cashew-based dairy-free queso that was discontinued a few months ago.

Trader Joe's rarely announces their "drops" so you have to know where to look to find them. As soon as I saw Melissa Ben-Ishay of @bakedbymelissa's TikTok review this weekend, I knew I had to race to TJ's to test it for myself. While the previous cashew-based queso was a good start, I was hoping for a dip that was a bit more similar to real cheese and had less of a watery, grainy texture. After reviewing the delicious buffalo dip, as well as loving recent releases like the Vegan Tzatziki and Vegan Caramelized Onion Dip, I was hopeful that this new vegan queso would stack up.

I know a vegan product is great when I taste it and have to double-check the ingredient label to make sure it doesn't include animal products. Although I haven't had cheese in many years, this tastes spot on from what I remember as real cheese taste. This vegan queso has a distinctly Velveeta-like flavor, so if you are averse to processed cheese, you may not love it, but I was impressed by how well TJ's captured the tang of nacho cheese. You could fool a dairy-eater with this vegan nacho dip, and it's far better tasting than any of the other dairy-free cheese dips on the market in my opinion.

My one caveat would be that it is fairly salty. I would prefer if there was just a touch less salt, so I recommend choosing chips that are unsalted or lightly salted to accompany this dip.

Unlike its predecessor, this vegan nacho dip is smooth and creamy. It has a thick, rich consistency that holds up nicely when heated and would work great as intended over tortilla chips. The consistency of the dairy-free dip is similar to Tostito's Nacho Cheese Dip and it melts just as dairy cheese dips do.

This cheesy dip also uses cashews, as well as coconut oil, tapioca starch, and sunflower oil for a richer, creamier texture. Its got a pretty clean ingredient label which also contains fruit juice for color, garlic powder, and sea salt. Healthwise, this vegan nacho dip rings in at 60 calories per serving (two tablespoons) and contains 15 percent of your daily saturated fat, eight percent of your daily total fat, and seven percent of your daily sodium.

This Vegan Nacho Dip is one of my new all-time favorite Trader Joe's items. I can tell the brand spent a lot of time developing a flavor that matched that of dairy cheese so closely. I recommend anyone who lives near a TJ's to give it a shot and think this would be a total crowd-pleaser at any gathering. It would also probably be a great base to make vegan sauces with and would fare well in a dairy-free mac and cheese recipe.

For more plant-based recommendations, visit The Beet's product reviews.