This vegan cheese sauce is so creamy and amazing you won't believe it's made with a healthy vegetable base! A huge hit even with dairy eaters.
This is absolutely the best vegan cheese sauce recipe. It's made in a blender and perfect for mac and cheese, baked casseroles and anything else that requires cheese sauce!
This recipe was originally published on 7/8/2015
It's pure magic how you can take vegetables and create this incredibly creamy healthy cheese sauce, without even using milk! I know you probably doubt me, but I promise you need this. I have used this strategy to make my vegan white cheese sauce and my vegan nacho cheese sauce with success!
Ingredients
The gooey base of this cheesy vegan sauce comes from potatoes. When you blend cooked potatoes at high speed, it creates a stretchy texture.
I figured this out one day when I was making the pizza crust for my Thai Chickpea and Veggies Pizza and used a blender instead of a food processor.
You will notice this vegan cheese sauce has no nutritional yeast. I am not a nutritional yeast fan, and I don't really think it tastes cheesy, but if you like it feel free to add some in!
Here is what you need to make this recipe:
- Potato
- Red pepper
- Orange carrot
- Sweet or yellow onion
- Raw cashews
- Garlic
- Lemon juice
- Chickpea miso
- Ground mustard seed
- Paprika
- Sea salt
How to Make Vegan Cheese Sauce
Thank goodness this recipe is so easy to make, because it's in our regular rotation! Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Load all ingredients into a blender.
- Blend on high until you get a creamy gooey consistency.
- Use nice and hot!
Preparation Tips
When it comes to creating the best vegan cheese sauce, there are few key things to remember:
- If you have a regular good blender instead of a high speed one you can still get creamy awesomeness by grinding the cashews with a coffee grinder first. Grind them dry and simply add to the blender with everything else.
- You can also soak them overnight before boiling with the veggies, but this still may not give as creamy of a result as the grinding.
- You can thin out the consistency of the vegetable cheese sauce with some extra liquid.
- Use either water, dairy free milk, water from the boiled veggies, or pasta water if making mac and cheese.
- When you measure the veggies, measure them packed in not just loosely scooped up.
- Start with a little salt, and once everything is blended taste the cheese sauce. Add more salt if necessary.
What to Make With This Cheesy Vegan Sauce
This plant based cheese sauce recipe is amazing with everything! Seriously there are SO many things you can do, so little time. Here are some of my top faves:
- Mac and cheese of course, SO good.
- Drizzle it over veggies, okay maybe it's more of a drench than a drizzle.
- Enjoy as a dip with chips, crackers, or veggies, or apple slices.
- Load it onto a baked potato.
- Nacho cheese dip, I add chopped nacho jalapeño slices.
- Top your favorite tacos.
- 7 Layer Taco Dip.
- Roasted Poblano Mac and Cheese.
- Mexican Nacho Burger.
- Smother Oven Baked Fries.
- Pair with Vegan Pigs in a Blanket.
- Top Vegan Scrambled Eggs.
- Use on your favorite homemade pizza.
- Include it in your favorite dairy free cheese casseroles.
- Eat it with a spoon...Don't judge, just try it.
Substitution Suggestions
I tried a variety of combinations for this dairy free cheese sauce, I did after all spend years of trial and error, and the ingredients listed are the best for creating the correct flavor and texture. Here a few swaps you can experiment with:
- If you can't have cashews you can try other nuts such as macadamias, walnuts, or pine nuts. Just note that the flavor will be affected.
- For a completely nut free sauce try white beans or sunflower seeds. (I didn't care for the sunflower seed version but others have.)
- You can also leave out the cashews without replacing, but the texture will not be as thick and creamy.
- Red potatoes are suggested but any other starchy potato will do. Avoid sweet potatoes or other root veggies.
- Chickpea miso has the right flavor, white miso can be used but the taste will be more mild. Some have even completely left it out and still liked the flavor!
Flavor Suggestions
You can adapt this recipe to make different flavors of vegan cheese sauces. Any time you mix in an addition, start with a little and blend in more a little at a time until you get the flavor you want.
If you want chunks of the add ins, pulse them in instead of blending, or stir in with a spoon.
- Salsa
- Jalapeños - fresh or pickled
- Taco seasoning
- Chili seasoning
- Chives
- Roasted red peppers
- Sun dried tomatoes
- Broccoli (cooked and chopped)
- Caramelized onions
- Vegan sausage
- Mushroom bacon
- I prefer this vegan cheese sauce without nutritional yeast, but for those that are a fan feel free to shake some in.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- Prep this vegan cheese sauce recipe in advance by cooking the veggies and roast the garlic. Store in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use.
- Store the prepared cheese sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- You can freeze this for up to 3 months so you can have vegan cheese sauce at your fingertips any time!
- When you defrost, leave it on the counter all day so it can slowly come to room temp.
- Feel free to return the defrosted sauce to the blender
- You can reheat this in the microwave or in a pot with a splash of nondairy milk (I use cashew) and mix well. Add splashes of milk and mix until you have the right consistency. It may need more salt depending on how much milk you add.
How to Make Vegan Cheese Sauce in an Instant Pot
Instead of boiling the vegetables, you can use your pressure cooker.
- Put all the ingredients (except for roasted garlic and lemon juice) into an instant pot with 2 cups of water.
- Set it to manual high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Let it naturally release.
- Blend in a high speed blender until smooth.
Common Questions
There are a number of recipes out there that all use different methods for creating cheese sauces with only plant-based items. This recipes uses potatoes, veggies, cashews, and seasonings to create a thick and creamy sauce.
There are some plant-based store bought cheeses available, but it's best to make your own with whole foods!
Many use dairy free milk and nutritional yeast to capture the cheese flavor, but I've had better luck with veggies and chickpea miso.
This sauce for one! Vegan Parmesan is also really easy to make and tastes so good!
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
Now that you know how easy it is to make your own homemade vegan cheese sauce, you need more varieties to try! Here are more plant based cheese recipes I know you'll love:
Best Vegan Cheese Sauce Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked potato (about 3-4 potatoes, see note)
- 2 tablespoons cooked red pepper (about ⅓ of a medium sized pepper)
- 3 tablespoons cooked orange carrot (about 4-5 baby carrots or one medium sized)
- 5 tablespoons cooked sweet or yellow onion (about ½ a small)
- ½ cup raw cashews (see note)
- 1 teaspoon roasted garlic (about 2-4 cloves, depending on size)
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon chickpea miso (see note)
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard seed
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt (can use less or more depending on taste preference)
- Your favorite pasta if making Mac and Cheese
Instructions
- Roast the garlic by peeling and wrapping it in tin foil with a splash of veggie broth. Roast at 400 F (205 C), in a regular or toaster oven, while you cook the veggies.
- Put potatoes (peel if you don't want specks of skin), red pepper, carrots, onion and cashews in a pot and cover with water. If you don't have a high speed blender and are grinding the cashews, then don't boil but grind them dry and place them in the blender.
- Cook over high heat until water boils, about 15 minutes if uncovered. Turn heat to medium and boil another 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
- When done, drain water (keeping some to thin out sauce if prefer a thinner sauce), separate veggies and put the cashews in the blender. I use a fork to fish out the veggies, then drain the cashews over a pasta strainer.
- Measure out the needed amount of each veggie and place each in the blender. Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Blend on high until you get a creamy gooey consistency. If you have a tamper tool use it to help mix the sauce as it blends. If you don’t have one, then you will need to stop and push down the ingredients every once in a while.
- If you want to thin it out, add some of the reserved cooking water, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the desired consistency. Use nice and hot!
To make the ultimate Mac and Cheese:
- Cook your pasta according to package directions.
- Drain pasta reserving about 1 cup pasta water.
- Add the pasta back into the pot and add desired amount of cheese sauce.
- Then add pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing well in between additions, until you get the desired consistency for your Mac and Cheese. If your pasta is too starchy (as some gluten free pastas are) you can also use regular water or even non dairy milk to do this. Add salt if needed, it most likely will since the sauce is no longer as concentrated. Devour!
Notes
- Makes 3 ½ cups sauce. Serving size for nutrition info is ½ cup.
- Nutrition info is for cheese sauce only.
- I used red potatoes but any starchy potato will work, just don’t use sweet. It also won't work to substitute with something that is not an actual potato (such as another root vegetable).
- If you are not using a high speed blender, you can grind the dry cashews into a fine powder using a coffee grinder (do not boil them for this method). You can also soak them overnight prior to boiling with the veggies or just boil them with the veggies.
- You can make this nut free by eliminating the nuts, however you will lose some of the thickness and creaminess. It will still be pretty good in taste, but just lacking some of those elements. You can also try subbing with another nut if you are allergic to cashews, I suggest walnuts or macadamias, however the flavor will be different. I did try it with multiple nuts and liked the taste of the cashews best.
- If you don’t have chickpea miso, you can try using a white miso although it will be a little more mild in flavor so you may need more. See the comments for others that have tried using white miso.
- I did not add any liquid to this when I made it, but depending on what you use it for, you may want to thin it out with some water, water from the boiled veggies or pasta water if making mac and cheese.
- You can reheat this in the microwave or in a pot with a splash of nondairy milk (I use cashew) and mix well. Add splashes of milk and mix until you have the right consistency. It may need more salt depending on how much milk you add.
- You can also freeze leftovers in a freezer safe container as it freezes great. Defrost slowly when ready to eat. You may think it didn't freeze well, but as you heat it up the consistency comes back!
- Cook the veggies and roast the garlic. Store in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use.
- This can be mixed into any baby food or be used for a toddler as a dip. You could also just blend the veggies on their own for baby.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Erin Robbins
In the directions you don't mention when to add the miso and spices. Can you comment?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Erin! In the directions it says to add the rest of the ingredients after you measure out each veggie. In instruction 6.
Gloria
Hello, may I know if I could substitute ground mustard seed with yellow mustard (bottled), thanks!!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Gloria! You can give it a try. I haven't done that yet but it may work. I'd start with less and taste first.
Annie
THIS MAC AND CHEESE IS BOMB!!!!! seriously, it was so so creamy and delicious, tasted just like creamiest mac and cheese you've ever tasted. I added more salt than the recipe stated (just a person preference) and that made it so good. THANK YOU!!
veggiesdontbite
Yay! So happy you love it Annie! Thank you so much!
Christine
My husband put on half a stone at Christmas and wants to cut back. He baulked at my idea of cauliflower and broccoli bake because of the cheese sauce.
I suggested a plant based cheese flavour sauce, only problem is I couldn't use nutritional yeast as he is intolerant to yeast and didn't want to risk it.
Thank you so much for your recipe. I made X3 so we would have lots for the bake and some to freeze. My husband kept asking what if it is awful?
'You like everything in it... don't you?'
He agrees it isn't cheese but you have won him over. I had everything in the house to make it.
One thing, can you use peanut butter that is simply made up of peanuts instead of cashews. My husband bought a huge tub and it tastes awful on stuff. I'm desperately trying to find recipes to get shot of it in.
Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks for the amazing sauce!😃
veggiesdontbite
I am so thrilled you guys liked it!! I would not use peanut butter, it has a very strong taste and it would not taste right in this recipe. Cashews have a neutral creamy flavor here and are what you need.
JG
Hi, add salt to the peanut butter, that's probably the reason and mix in the peanut oil. Also add it to smoothies and porridge.
Noelle
Also I just used regular red miso and Dijon mustard and it was phennnoommmmenal!! I have no idea how u figured this out!!!
veggiesdontbite
Haha! Awe thank you again!!
Noelle
THIS IS THE MOST INNNNNNCREDIBLE NACHO CHEESE RECIPE !!! This tasted better than aaaaaannnyyyy vegan cheese that I’ve EVER HAD?!! I am so shocked that the texture is perfect , the flavor, the color. ITS DELICIOUS! I can’t wait to put this on evvverything!!!
veggiesdontbite
Wow!!! Thank you so so much Noelle! I am thrilled you love it!
Amy
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't like nutritional yeast either and I was so hesitant to try any of those other recipes. Then I found yours and now there is no need to try the others. This is so good. Yum!!
veggiesdontbite
Wow! Thank you so much Amy!! I am so happy you like it!
Anaelisa Cornejo
Can I substitute the potato with squash? 🙂
veggiesdontbite
Hi Anaelisa! Unfortunately you can't sub squash if you want the same flavor and texture. Potato contributes to the creamy gooey texture and the creamy flavor.
Michelle Connor
I do not like to use nutritional yeast. This recipe is amazing. I am shocked at how much it taste like cheese sauce. Excellent!
veggiesdontbite
Yay!!! So so happy you liked it! Thank you so much for the great review!
Kellie
I followed the recipe and made this last night and let it marinate until this morning, SO DELICIOUS! Because of COVID we are having a simple family dinner for my sons first birthday instead of a party. I plan to serve it as Mac n Cheese inside roasted buttercup squashes! Thank you for a great recipe!
veggiesdontbite
Yay! So thrilled you like it!!! That all sounds delicious!!!
MD
What if you don’t use miso at all?
veggiesdontbite
Hi! I have had people not use miso, it works but the flavor won't be as cheesy. You will also need more salt so play around with it until you get the taste you like! I have also had a few people add a tiny bit of soy sauce too.
Nakela hernandez
Perfect. I just transitioned over to WFPB lifestyle and I cannot stand nutritional yeast. It taste great! Even my husband was confused. Thank you so much.
veggiesdontbite
Yes for no nutritional yeast! I am not a fan, and so happy to reach others that aren't either! Thank you so much for the great review!
Lynn
I’m giving 5 stars just based on your honesty and personality. 😄 I just started going plant based in June, and have a baby on the way- due in September. For a momma whose favorite food is fettuccine Alfredo, finding plant based “cheeses” has been difficult. The cravings for Mac n cheese have been REAL the last few weeks, and I’m desperate to find a solution! I’ll be giving this a go this weekend! Thank you even if only for the boost of hope I have that I can satisfy my palate and my wellness goals for me and baby at the same time!
veggiesdontbite
Hahaha!! Love this!! I hope you like it! Also, I am working on an easy Alfredo recipe so stay tuned!
Ivybelle
You are absolutely right! This is the best cheese sauce I have made. And I've made a lot of cheese sauces looking for the best recipe. I had yet to find one until now. Thank you so much!!!
veggiesdontbite
I am so happy you loved it!! Thank you so much for the great review!
Gabe
I just made this today, Prepped a serving for 6. I was short 1 cup of potatoes. I only had white miso and was running short on bell pepper so I used a red jalapeño to make the difference up. Even with the shortage of ingredients it was hands down the best Mac and Cheese vegan recipe we have tried. The carrot was coming though a bit strong but that was probably the missing potato, nothing a little salt couldn’t fix. This will be my go to from now on.
As an extra bonus, we had about two cups extra cheese and made some nachos for the kids, absolutely devoured them. I saved a little extra for tomorrow’s vegan burger, I can’t wait.
veggiesdontbite
I am so happy you like it Gabe! Thank you so much for the great review!
Tami
This was amazing! Two meat and dairy eaters, but working towards plant based. I made this as is, but without the miso (didn’t have it on hand). I even goofed up and just cooked my potatoes in the Instant pot and put everything else in my high speed blender, without roasting the garlic, and it was still FANTASTIC! We were both shocked it tasted good and looked like cheese say we. It’s amazingly good!! Thanks for the recipe! Yum!
veggiesdontbite
Yay! What an awesome review! Thank you so so much!!