These vegan pizza dough breadsticks are served with caramelized onion cashew dip, making them the perfect healthy vegan comfort food dish!

What a strange week it has been for me here in blog land. This is the umpteenth attempt I am making at writing this post, using the old “Classic” post editor instead of Gutenberg, the so-called new and improved post editor, because for reasons unknown to me, Gutenberg has stopped working with my site. Basically, it stopped recognizing my Tasty Recipes recipe card plugin, so I would type up the recipe, hit “insert,” and then get a message that read “No Recipe Started.” Many hours of work have amounted to nothing this week, which has led to un-ending frustration about technology’s unwillingness to cooperate with me.

So, here I am on Friday, ready to engage in some serious comfort food-noshing in the form of these vegan pizza dough breadsticks with caramelized onion dip. If you, too, have had “a week,” might I suggest these as the perfect remedy?

Now, you might wonder if these breadsticks are worth the hassle. Yes, they are. If you are comfortable making pizza dough, these are a cinch to make. You’ll simply follow all the steps of making pizza dough until after it rises. Instead of flattening it into a round dough, you’ll divide it into 12 balls, and roll those balls out into 8-inch ribbons. Bake them for 10 minutes, brush them with olive oil and sprinkle on cashew parmesan. Bake them for 10 more minutes.

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You might just want to end there, and you totally can. The breadsticks are delicious with warm store-bought marinara sauce. But if you want to take them over the top, make the delicious caramelized onion cashew dip to go with. You won’t be disappointed, and because the sauce makes a gigantic batch, you can use leftovers as a pasta sauce or dip for oven fries the next day!

You can certainly serve these breadsticks as a fun appetizer or side dish with any Italian meal. Or, make a combo plate with this Avocado Kale Caesar Salad and this Crispy Baked Tofu!

FYI: This is a recipe for soft, doughy breadsticks, such as the ones from a pizzeria. They are not the crunchy variety.

I hope you all have a fun weekend planned that involves some (socially distanced) time with family or friends and, of course, good food!

And, as always, I hope you love these vegan pizza dough breadsticks! If you make them, leave a comment and rating below the post to let me know how you liked them. And if you share a photo on Instagram, tag me @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can see.

Enjoy!

Vegan Pizza Dough Breadsticks with Caramelized Onion Cashew Dip

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5 from 1 review

Author: Allison
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Yield: 12 breadsticks 1x
Diet: Vegan

Print Recipe

Description

You’ll love these soft, pillowy vegan pizza dough breadsticks served with caramelized onion cashew dip!

Ingredients

Scale

Breadsticks

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 tsp pure maple syrup
2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast
1 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 cup spelt flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

Cashew Parmesan

1 cup raw cashews
⅓ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
Scant 1 tsp fine sea salt

Caramelized Onion Cashew Dip

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into rings
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 cup raw cashews, soaked and drained
⅓ cup water
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp light miso
1 tsp pure maple syrup
½ tsp fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

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Instructions

Make the dough. Combine the warm water and maple syrup in a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Set aside and wait for the yeast to activate. It’s ready when the surface of the mixture is foamy. If the yeast fails to activate, it’s likely because the water was too hot or too cold; if this happens, start over.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir to combine, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Place in a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Place in a warm area of your kitchen and let it rise for one hour, or until doubled in bulk.
Meanwhile, make the parmesan and dip. To make parmesan, place the cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt in a food processor and blend until a coarse meal forms. Transfer to a container until ready to use.
To make the cashew dip, warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Turn down heat as needed to prevent burning. In the last five minutes, add the minced garlic to mellow its flavour.
Add the cashews, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso, maple syrup, salt, pepper, and caramelized onions to a blender. Blend until smooth, adding more water as needed to create a mayonnaise-like consistency. Transfer into a container until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Punch down the dough, knead a few times, and divide into 12 equal balls. Roll each ball out into 8-inch long ribbons. Transfer the ribbons to the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush the breadsticks lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle on some cashew parmesan to coat. Return to the oven and bake 10 more minutes.
Serve the breadsticks with additional cashew parmesan, warm marinara sauce, and caramelized onion cashew dip.

Notes

To make this recipe nut-free, use sunflower seeds in place of cashews in the parmesan, and use ¾ cup soaked and drained sunflower seeds or ½ cup of tahini in the dip.
Soak cashews in boiling water for 1 hour or in room temperature water for 4 hours before making the sauce. (This softens them and makes them easier to blend, and also makes them easier to digest.)

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Category: Appetizer, Side Dish, Bread
Method: Bake
Cuisine: Italian American