Vegan 7 Layer Mexican Taco Dip (Easy + Healthy)

We simply love vegan Mexican food! It’s savory, flavorful and often surprisingly healthy. This vegan 7 layer Mexican Taco dip is no different.

If you’ve never had a seven layer bean dip before, just imagine all the delicious Mexican ingredients you can think of in one single bite!

There’s creamy guacamole, crunchy lettuce, bell peppers, savory black beans, homemade vegan nacho cheese (oh, yeah!), spicy onions and salsa — all ready to be scooped by a bowl of corn tortilla chips.

Too many colors, flavors and textures to count, all of which perfectly combine in your mouth to create an epic snacking experience!

But no need to get into junk food territory for this classic party food — our vegan 7 layer Mexican taco dip is completely whole food plant-based, made with accessible real ingredients that are both delicious and really nourishing.

Here’s why you need to try it!

The Best Vegan 7 Layer Dip

• Ultimate party food
• Completely plant-based & healthy
• Easy 10-minute recipe
• Secretly healthy comfort food
• Great for meal prep
• Flavorful & crowd-pleasing
• Oil-free, dairy-free & so nutritious
• Easily customizable

This vegan 7 layer dip might be among our favorite easy to make and healthy plant-based Mexican recipes alongside our cozy bean chili, easy homemade burritos and cauliflower tacos!

What’s a 7 Layer Mexican Taco Dip?

Okay, first things first — if you’re a 7 layer dip-newbie (just like we were most of our lives), here are some basic facts.

This classic Mexican party food or appetizer is usually made by layering the following ingredients on top of each other:

• Refried beans
• Sour cream
• Guacamole
• Salsa or Pico de Gallo
• Cheese
• Green onions
• Olives

Optional ingredients or layers include onions, tomatoes, bell peppers and fresh cilantro. Yes, we’re well aware that last part is a “love or hate” kind of thing.

Needless to say, tradition 7 layer taco dips are loaded with high-fat and high-salt dairy products (sour cream as well as cheddar cheese, the latter of which has 6 g of saturated fat per ounce). As you might expect, this means it tends to pack a whole bunch of calories. 

This also means that they are usually not vegan, but since they do already feature a couple of “accidentally plant-based” ingredients, all you need to do are two simple food swaps.

For a traditional recreated vegan 7 layer Mexican taco dip, you can just use some store-bought or homemade vegan sour cream and a cup of vegan cheddar cheese from the brand of your choice.

However, our recipe for a healthy plant-based 7 layer dip is a bit different! Here’s why.

Healthy + Easy 7 Layer Veggie Dip

If you’re new around here, you might not know that we like to follow a specific vegan diet, which is a whole food plant-based or WFPB diet. 

Although nothing has to be taken to any extremes here, we generally don’t eat store-bought oil-based vegan cheese alternatives — although they are super delicious and have improved so much over the years.

We like to make whole plant-based foods our go-to when we’re at home, which is why our recipes are made from scratch with easy staple foods like beans, nuts, veggies and fruit — with the exclusion of oil, sugar and most other processed foods.

This is why this vegan 7 layer Mexican taco dip calls for our easy homemade vegan nacho cheese sauce as well as cooked black beans instead of the (oftentimes oily) refried beans traditionally used in layered taco dips.

How to Make a Vegan 7 Layer Mexican Taco Dip

Making a vegan 7 layer dip is pretty much as easy as it gets! Once you’ve washed and chopped your veggies of choice (red bell peppers, lettuce and onion in our case), you need to get a decent-sized glass container to arrange all the layers in a pretty manner.

Now, if you don’t have any vegan nacho cheese sauce or dip on hand and want to make it from scratch, you need to add about 20 minutes of prep time — during which you can also whip up some homemade guac and salsa, by the way.

But it’s your call how many items of this vegan 7 layer Mexican dip should be whole food plant-based or not! There are decent store-bought versions of all of them, too.

Finally, layer everything in your glass container, starting with the guacamole and followed by the black beans, chopped veggies, salsa and vegan cheese. Top with olives, cilantro and a spritz of lemon, then refrigerate for about half an hour and serve chilled.

Vegan 7 Layer Mexican Taco Dip Ingredients

• Guacamole — easily whipped up at home (recipe here) or just grab some at the store.
• Black Beans — super healthy plant-based protein option which you can blend and flavor to your liking for a more traditional 7 layer dip experience.
• Bell Peppers — getting those additional veggies in whenever we can!
• Lettuce & Onion — crunchy and flavorful add-ins that aren’t often used in Mexican taco dips but we love them!
• Salsa — either opt for store-bought or homemade salsa or Pico de Gallo.
• Nacho Cheese — we like to use our 30-minute low-fat vegan nacho cheese sauce but anything along those lines works.
• Olives & Cilantro — our optional yet highly recommended toppings!

Tips & Ideas Around This Healthy Plant-Based Recipe

While this is a pretty straightforward recipe, there are a few more tips we want to share with you when it comes to our vegan 7 layer Mexican taco dip.

Because we want this to be the perfect creamy, flavorful, savory and filling appetizer to feed your whole family or guests!

How Long Does This Vegan 7 Layer Dip Last?

This vegan Mexican bean dip works well for preparing ahead of time! Its leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days, although the raw veggies can get a bit soggy as the days go by.

You can also enjoy your vegan seven layer dip with rice and beans or make a taco salad bowl with it!

Serving & Adjustment Ideas for This Bean Dip

Make sure to serve this vegan 7 layer Mexican dip in a large glass container. Serving it like this is the most visually appealing way to do it — that way  everyone can see the colorful layers!

Apart from the uses we just mentioned, the obvious way to serve this plant-based seven-layer dip is with tortilla chips (homemade or store-bought, most varieties are actually vegan though fried in oil) or just enjoy it by the spoonful.

By the way, we sometimes like to add jalapeno peppers, cashew sour cream or avocado instead of guacamole to this healthy veggie dip! 

You really cannot go wrong with these kinds of ingredients, so feel free to try out a few variations.

More Healthy Vegan Condiments

Our blog is full of easy plant-based dips, sauces and dressings that make any healthy food taste fantastic! Try these ideas next.

• Cashew Sour Cream
• Herbed Tofu Ranch
• High-Protein Cheese Sauce
• Yogurt Garlic Sauce
• Sugar-Free Tomato Salsa

Continue to Content

Vegan 7 Layer Taco Dip Recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Super easy and healthy vegan 7 layer Mexican taco dip made with whole food plant-based ingredients in just 10 minutes! Perfectly balanced, crunchy, creamy and flavorful, this vegan appetizer is great for parties, game day or late-night snacking.

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup black beans
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into small cubes
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1 small lettuce, roughly chopped
• ½ cup tomato salsa
• ½ cup vegan nacho cheese
• ½ cup black olives, diced
• 8-10 fresh cilantro leaves, to garnish
• ½ lime, juiced
• Tortilla chips (to serve)

Instructions

1. Get a 9-inch glass bowl or container and start layering all of your ingredients. Put the guacamole at the bottom, followed by the black beans, bell peppers, green onion and lettuce.
2. Next, add all of the toppings: tomato salsa, vegan nacho cheese sauce, olives and cilantro. 
3. You can drizzle your vegan 7 layer Mexican dip with some fresh lime juice and rearrange the layers in any way that looks pretty to you! No hard rules here.
4. Cover and refrigerate to chill for about half an hour or serve immediately alongside tortilla chips and veggies!

Notes

• For a richer plant-based 7 layer dip, you can add some vegan sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese and replace the black beans with a layer of refried beans.
• Feel free to make the guacamole, salsa and cheese sauce yourself or just opt for vegan store-bought varieties.
• Any leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge for around 5 days but do keep in mind that the raw veggies become a bit soggy over time.
• Make sure to serve this healthy 7 layer dip cold, preferably chilled in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 167Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 399mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 6gSugar: 5gProtein: 8g

Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated automatically, their accuracy is not guaranteed. Just focus on whole plant-based foods and eat until satiety!

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Alena Schowalter is a Certified Vegan Nutritionist who has been a vegetarian since childhood and vegan since 2012. Together with her husband, she founded nutriciously in 2015 and has been guiding thousands of people through different transition stages towards a healthy plant-based diet. She’s received training in the fields of nutrition, music therapy and social work. Alena enjoys discussions around vegan ethics, walks through nature and creating new recipes.