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All-Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce
Yield
1 cup (250 mL)
Soak time
overnight or 30 minutes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Here it is: my favorite vegan “cheese” sauce that not only tastes amazing, but can also be used in a wide variety of dishes! Who knew that just a few simple ingredients could create such a silky, decadent, and pourable sauce? No, the recipe isn’t quite a dead ringer for traditional cheese sauce, but we think it’s delicious in its own right. This pairs perfectly with my Chili Cheese Nachos or Mac and Peas recipes from Oh She Glows Every Day, but is just as good heated up and used as a nacho dip for salsa, guacamole, or refried beans. It’s also fantastic drizzled over roasted or steamed broccoli or cauliflower. A big thanks to Ruth Tal’s Super Fresh cookbook for inspiring this versatile and wallet-friendly recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (35 g) raw cashews, soaked*
- 1 1/4 cups (190 g) peeled and diced yellow or red potatoes**
- 1/2 cup (60 g) peeled and diced carrots**
- 2 to 3 tablespoons (8 to 11 g) nutritional yeast, to taste
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) grapeseed oil or refined coconut oil***
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37.5 mL) water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
- 1 medium (4 g) garlic clove, peeled
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar, to taste
- Sriracha or other hot sauce, to taste (optional)
Directions
- Soak the cashews in a bowl of water overnight. Drain and rinse. (For a quick-soak method, bring a small pot of water to a boil and turn off the heat. Add the cashews to the hot water and soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain and rinse.)
- Add potatoes and carrots to a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes until fork tender. Drain. Alternatively, you can steam the veggies until cooked through.
- Add all ingredients except hot sauce to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. (See my tip for a food processor option.) If the mixture is too thick, a splash of water or oil can help it along. Sample the sauce and adjust seasonings as desired. Add Sriracha (or other hot sauce) as preferred, if you’d like to give the cheese a spicy kick! The sauce will keep for up to one week refrigerated in an airtight container.
Tip:
* If your blender has a hard time blending cashews smooth, you may omit them (or try using a tablespoon of raw cashew butter instead!).
** To cut down on cooking time, be sure the potatoes and carrots are diced finely.
*** If you don’t have either of these oils on hand, a light-tasting olive oil should do the trick. Be sure not to use virgin coconut oil as it can impart a coconut flavour in the sauce (unless you’re down with that of course!). Refined coconut oil has no flavour.
If you don’t have a high-speed blender, a heavy-duty food processor will work in a pinch. Note that you may have to process the mixture for several minutes, and keep in mind that if you use cashews they won’t fully break down like they do in a Vitamix, resulting in a slightly more textured sauce.
Make it nut-free: simply omit the cashews. The sauce won’t be quite as rich, but still tastes great. You can also add an extra tablespoon of nutritional yeast if omitting the cashews.
Tried this recipe for the first time and the taste is amazing! However the texture feels a bit gluey. Has anyone else had this experience? My guess is the potatoes are causing the texture but I wanted to see if anyone else had ideas about it!
Hey Gabi,
Yes it’s a result of the potato starches I believe. :) I kind of like it because it reminds me of cheese sauce. If it bothers you, I would suggest trying with cooked cauliflower..I haven’t tried it yet but I’ve heard that it can work in place of the potatoes. Hope this helps :)
Hi Angela – should I be melting the refined coconut oil before using?
Thanks!
Hey Courtney, I measure it from solid state, and then I melt it before adding to the blender. Hope this helps! :)
Made this today with red potatoes – excellent flavor and nacho cheesy texture! I mixed some of my favorite salsa into it and it made a perfect chip dip… will definitely keep this as a go-to recipe!
Hahh, this is pure genius! Even the stickiness of it, just like a cheese sauce. I will try to fool some omnivores with this. I made this tonight and will be serving it with a vegan sweet potato bar tomorrow for dinner.
Thank you!
Hey Jo, Totally agree with you on the consistency! That sweet potato bar sounds like a dream. What are you serving with it?
Just made this recipe and it turned out beautifully! Wondering how you typically reheat the sauce if making it in advance?
Hey Priya, I put it in a medium pot and heat it over low heat. I don’t have a microwave so I haven’t tested it in the micro before. Hope this helps!
HI I just wanted to ask if the white wine vinegar can be substituted with apple cider vinegar?
Hey Amit, I haven’t tried it with ACV, but it should be fine. ACV has a bit sweeter flavour so it might stand out a bit more? I’d love to hear how it goes!
Hi, this looks so creamy and yummy! I’m mostly comenting to sign up for your newsletter, idk how else to do it ?
Hey Annica, You can sign up here: http://ohsheglows.com/newsletter/ Hope this helps and thanks for your support!
This is so good! Thank you!
We need to keep our little off potatoes for a while. Any substitution suggestions?
Hi Ann, I haven’t tried these yet, but you may be able to use sweet potato or even cauliflower in place of the potatoes.
Absolutely amazing….
My sister in-law made this for your nachos and it was amazing!! I was just wondering if you can make it ahead and freeze it?
Hey Erin, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks :) As for freezing, I have tried freezing it before (make sure it’s fully cooled first). I find it thaws fairly well, but the texture does thicken a bit and it becomes *slightly* grainy after thawing. I think this is from the potato? Anyway, I didn’t notice much of a flavour change at all so all in all I think it’s an option if you are in a pinch and need to make it ahead.
Love this recipe. I discovered it only recently and already I have made Mac&Cheese with it which was delicious and I also made it for your nacho recipe which I brought to a party and everybody loved them. And today I thought to use some leftover sauce to make a cheesy toasted sandwich. I slathered two pieces of bread with the sauce and added some tomato and spring onion and toasted the sandwich. It turned out great and will definitely be making it again as it really hit the spot.
Thank you so much for this recipe it’s fast becoming one I could not live without
Oh wow…that sounds incredible!! Thanks for sharing :)
aWESOME
i am a teen vegan. I love cheesy noodle dishes. i have to cook for myself so this will be awesome.
What can I say? This ‘cheese’ sauce is divine. Made it to go over cauliflower and it’s so quick and easy and absolutely delicious. You owe it to yourself to make some!
Awww thank you Fiona!!
I’m trying to use less cheese and dairy at our house but find that so many recipes call for cashews or cashew cream. My husband is allergic to cashews so that isn’t an option. Is there a universal replacement for cashews or does it depend on the recipe? I’d love to make this and other vegan recipes but have been struggling to figure out how to replace the cashews. Thank you!
Hey Valerie, I’d say it depends on the recipe, but I’m happy to help you troubleshoot if you have any in mind! You can sub soaked raw sunflower seeds in this cheese sauce if you can’t use cashews or they can be left out all together for a slightly less rich sauce. Hope this helps :)
OMG what an amazing sauce!
I recently went vegan after I found it I have celiac disease and started to notice most meats also don’t sit so well with me.
With options like this sauce, I’m not going to feel deprived at all. Thank you so much!
Hey Catherine, Thanks so much for trying it out…so happy you love it!
I’m not vegan and this recipe is worth switching to! Save yourself the calories and use them for ice cream b/c this “cheese” is perfect for nachos and veggies!
Wow thank you so much Alexandra!
Does it freeze well? I like to make large batches to use later.
Hey Heidi, You can freeze the cheese sauce, but there is a slight change in texture after thawing it. I think this is from the potatoes, but the cheese sauce gets a bit grainy after freezing. From what I recall it’s not a huge amount, but it is a detectable change.
This sauce is delicious! I made a quadruple batch and froze it in servings. When it’s thawed and heated it’s exactly the same as freshly made! Freezes beautifully.