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Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
Life is just better with Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce. It is definitely a family favorite condiment of ours and this plant based version will knock your socks off. We use it to top off bowls of beans and greens, as a dip for chips, and as a sauce for burgers and sandwiches. Being so popular and versatile, we always have a container of it in the fridge.
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, unsalted (substitute for nut allergies: 1 cup rolled oats)
- ¼ cup raisins
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp onion powder
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp Bragg liquid aminos
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.
- Add a little water if necessary to get it blended well.
- As is sits, it thickens.
- Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
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Nutrition info
Calories: 112kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 4gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 5mgPotassium: 192mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 123IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 10mgIron: 1mg
27 comments
It’s a pleasure to have found this site. I’m in Scotland…right at the top edge..far away from everything but we grow all our veg in a polytunnel and have planted an orchard..and have soft fruit trees. There are many things we can’t get up here…but I enjoy finding the alternatives to ingredients not available. Your eeducational shows are so clear and informative. Thanks Jill…
Just made this 1/2&1/2 oats/cashews to lower the cost and fat content. It is sweet. Was that the desired taste? Not spicey.
What can you use to replace the Braggs liquid aminos ?
Miso paste. It is also better for you, as miso, despite its high sodium content, does not appear to affect one’s blood pressure.
Greetings I gave this a try today, following the recipe to the t. Unfortunately it does not taste like nacho cheese. it actually isn’t the same color. Too sweet and paprika too strong.
I was so hoping as we have company coming for Mexican Night:-(
Hi, me too. Lol. W raisins, mine was dark not yellow and tasted more like an onion dip which I love but want that cheese dip taste. Jill pls help. Lolol
You can add more nutritional yeast. Some have a stronger taste than others.
Very sweet, I don’t find cheese. Nice for salad or coleslaw dressing. I keep looking for a cheesier version.
Can you please tell us how to bake the corn chips and can I use flour tortillas?
I just put the whole tortillas on the oven racks at 400°F and watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Flour tortillas work too, just watch them close because they burn even faster.
This is my go to cheese sauce. I love it! It is easy to make and so very tasty. I can eat it by the spoonful…and, I do! It is delicious atop a freshly baked potato. Jill thanks for experimenting in the kitchen and coming up with this awesome alternative to dairy cheese. It’s the best!
I finally tried your version of nacho cheese using 50/50 cashews and oatmeal. I have only tried no nut versions before that use potato/carrots.
I did find it too sweet for a cheese sauce but perfect for a dressing, next time I will use half the raisins. I used this for a bagged coleslaw mix for the dressing with some added vinegar and it was perfect. Thank you.
I find this much too sweet rather than cheesy or tasty.
I have a very similar recipe that tastes just like nacho cheese IMO; I have found 1 cup of nutritional yeast to 1 cup of liquid (milk, water, vegetable broth, or any combo of those) to be a good ratio, then you only need ¼ cup cashews because of the thickness added from all the nutritional yeast. The rest of the recipe can remain the same, but NO raisins! I agree that adding the raisins would turn it into a dressing.
I used oatmeal instead of cashews. The consistency was great, but it was too sweet with the raisins and didn’t taste anything like nacho cheese, in my estimation. For my purpose of using as a veggie sauce, I added an additional tsp of Bragg’s and a tsp of yellow mustard to amp up the flavor and give it some tanginess. I would omit the smoked paprika next time, maybe use a 1/2 tsp of garlic powder instead and increase the nutritional yeast as I’m a big fan of nooch. 🙂
Love it. I went 1/2 and 1/2 too. Next time I’m substituting red pepper (sweet) for the raisins, I found using less than 1/2 the raisins was still more sweet than I want. And, the time after that, yes, there will be another time because this_is_a_really_great_sauce, but the time after that I’m going to try pimientos instead of raisins.
Update: YUM! Over the last 10 days I’ve loved this sauce on salads, veggies, potato, and today I finished it with some chips (homemade flax seed ++). When the ingredients have time to settle the sweetness fades nicely into play. I think it illustrates why so many pre-packaged foods contain tons of sugar consumers don’t notice. I’m still going to grab some water-packed fire-roasted red peppers (in place of raisins) and try this again. Your dressings and sauces are amazing. Thank you.
What can I use instead of nutritional yeast? Many vegan chefs recommend against it since it’s still a yeast.
After reading the comments about it being too sweet, I replaced the raisins with two tablespoons each of pickled jalapenos and the juice from the jar. Came out perfect.
do i need to soak the cashews overnight to get rid of nutrients inhibitor in the nuts ? thanks
If I am correct, it helps the nuts to be more digestible if you soak them for at least 4 hours.
You use a lot of white wine vinegar in your recipes. I don’t have any of that but I do have Rice Vinegar. Can I substitute the Wine vinegar for the Rice? Thanks. Also, where I live its very hard to find any kind of miso. Can you offer a suggestion of what to get on Amazon?
Yes you can use the rice vinegar in place of the white wine vinegar. The taste is just a bit more mild but it will still be delicious. About the miso, I don’t really have a good substitute suggestion. Honestly, you can leave it out without it changing the flavor of the recipes. You might just have to add a little more of something “salty” like liquid aminos or nutritional yeast.
I was excited to try this and even got white wine vinegar just to follow the recipe to a tee. I did a fourth of the recipe in case I didn’t like it. Which I’m so glad I did lol. To my surprise the comments read my mind. Wish I read it before lol! It was kind of bland, sweet and tasted nothing like nacho cheese imo. I think I’ll add more salt or jalapeños to make it more savory.
LOVE this recipe! It’s easy and so far the best vegan cheese sauce I’ve had. Thanks, Jill!
Hi Jill I can’t thank you enough for sharing your family’s recipes with us. I’m brand new under a week old transition to wfpb living
With you 28 day course I just purchased it makes it super easy. This nacho cheese is amazing!! In the video you suggested 1 tbsp of raisins and the recipe said 1/4 c raisins makes total sense because that’s how you & your family likes it. So I did use the 1 tbsp of raisins, 3 tbsp of nutritional yeast and I had to use garlic powder because I ran out of onion powder!! And let me tell you it wasn’t too sweet, and it did taste like nacho cheese sauce! Thank you so much Im so excited for my healthy journal for me and my family’s health. God bless you and your family.
My favorite plant based cheese sauce. The raisins completely balance it out for me and I enjoy the bit of sweet with the smoked paprika. Thank you!