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.
Kelly Q
Finally! I’ve been on the hunt for a vegan cheese sauce without nutritional yeast and this will end the search! This recipe is DA BOMB! My non-vegan husband and son loved it too!
veggiesdontbite
I'm so happy to hear Kelly!! You made my night!!
Leigh
Would you consider posting measurements by weight rather than by tsp/tbsp? It's more accurate and it's pretty dang hard to try to measure out 2 tsp of bell pepper unless I dice it into oblivion first... Weight measurements are 100% accurate and then wouldn't require fine dicing and packing into a small measurement unit... it would work every time!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Leigh! Thanks so much for your comment. So, I personally do not do weight, I use measurements. Because my blog is an extension of my life, and most of my audience doesn't use weight either, I stick with measurements. I do however have a plugin that auto calculates weight for me. Most of the time it is right, but I do have a disclaimer at the bottom of every post. If you click on the word "metric" under the ingredients you will see it. Once in a while I will weigh stuff to spot check it or because of a reader request (which I don't mind doing from time to time) but it isn't something I do with every recipe because it takes me a lot longer. For this recipe, the tricky thing is that you measure the veggies after they are cooked. So the weight may be off. This is why I include about how many of each thing, then say in the directions to measure after cooked. Next time I make it I will try and weigh and see what I get and compare to what is listed!
Cheri
It's a really good sauce, but I wonder how long it's been since many of you ate actual cheese. I often cook for people who don't do dairy but I myself am a real cheese lover and this just doesn't taste like real cheese. It's good, very good, kid friendly, and i'll likely make it again, but it's not anything like cheese.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Cheri! I live a 90% plant based life and am not one of those people that hasn't had cheese in many years. I personally created this to taste like a velveeta like cheese sauce, the kind that's more fake cheese and bad for you but now I have made it plant based and not bad for you. I have brought it to gatherings full of non vegan friends and they all have loved it and thought it tasted very much like that. So I think it depends on the type of cheese sauce you are talking about. It is not meant to be a real cheddar artisan type cheese. I have a few other cheese sauces too, one that's a creamy sharp white artisan like cheese sauce you may like!
Sharon Bies
I have NEVER gone back to review a recipe before. This one rocked my world! I love cheese sauce but it doesn't love me. And since I've gone to a vegan diet, i miss that cheese. Well, today I made this! I love it. I kept some out and added jalapeno powder and red pepper flakes to it! It was fantastic! I can't wait for my honey to come home from work so he can try it! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Sharon! You totally made my day! I am so thrilled you like it!! I have other cheese sauce versions on my site too, one that is a Mexican white cheese and really yummy! Thank you so much for being here and please keep in touch with any questions!
Mallory Crisp
Sophia you have done it again. You are one amazing cook. My anti-vegan husband told me he could eat this all day! I used gold potatoes because that’s all I had on hand and I used white miso because I can’t find chickpea miso. Next time will probably use red taters because i think the gold leave just a touch of potato taste (my husband could not detect it though). I also love the beautiful color of this sauce. I can’t believe it’s such a gorgeous cheesey color without dyes.
veggiesdontbite
Oh thank you SO much Mallory! I am so happy you and your husband loved it! It's one of our favorites too!
Jeanne
This sounds good. But..I have to watch my sodium intake very carefully. I THINK miso of any kind is very high in sodium? Would you know of anything else I could use instead, and have this still come out really good? Thank you.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Jeanne! Yes, there is sodium in miso. I would leave out the salt in the recipe and adjust the amount of miso to match the amount of sodium you can have. That way you still get some of the cheesy flavor. Let me know how it goes!
Maureen
This veggie based cheese sauce is wonderful I did make a couple of substitutional changes because our son cannot have either soy or chickpeas, so the miso was a negative. Instead though, I used a soy sauce substitute (recipe from Cookng God’s Way), It really is a great soy sauce sub! That gave the sauce the extra umami for the cheese taste, Next time I will male the sauce with white carrot, golden yellow bell pepper along with the potato so the sauce can be used on a pizza, and look more similar to mozzarella. So glad there is no nutritional yeast in the recipe! I find nutritional yeast makes all cheese recipes taste the same no matter what type I am attempting to make! So this is a real taste blessing without it! The sauce should easily pour or drizzle over a dressed pizza, just not thinned much for a melted cheese consistency.
veggiesdontbite
I am so happy you liked it! It is definitely very versatile. I'm happy to provide a tried and true cheese sauce without the yeast!
Jina
AMAZING! I have made so many vegan cheese sauce recipe and they're all meh. But this cheese sauce is so delicious!! I'm making it now for the second time this week. First time was served over broccoli and potatoes, tonight I'm serving with noodles. Wondering if it's enough sauce for a pound of pasta??
veggiesdontbite
Hi Jina!! I am so happy to hear this!! We use it in so many ways too. I think it would be enough for a pound of pasta, depends on how saucy you want it but it should cover the past pretty well.
Rebecca
I have fallen in loove with a local vegan cheese sauce so have been a bit afraid to try to duplicate. But today Im trying it! I am going to beusing nutritional yeast rather than the miso as that is what I have on hand. Excited to see how this turns out! #amateurveganfoodblogger!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Rebecca! Thanks so much for giving it a try! I hope you like it. It's a whole food based sauce, so depending on what the sauce you currently love is made from will depend on what you think. I love that this one is based on veggies and not fake food (which I am not against once in a while but I pretty much shove cheese sauce into my mouth constantly, lol). If you like nutritional yeast, then go for it! I am not a big fan. Also, just know the miso does help give it some of that cheesy flavor, so if it's lacking make sure to try it as written with the miso next time. Let me know!!
Rebecca
The one I love so much is also all whole food and plant based sauce. I made this and it is delicious! I dont measure things when I cook, never really have so my flavors were a bit off. But once I made some adjustments, this was so good! We've been snacking on it all weekend! I will definitely look for the miso paste next time around. yum!
veggiesdontbite
So happy to hear!!! I am not one who naturally measures either so it took me some adjustment to post my recipes, lol. Especially this one! I worked hard on getting it just right. I so appreciate you giving it a chance and making it!! Thank you!
Ruba
Thanks for sharing this. I think I finally found my go to cheese sauce. It tastes really good.
veggiesdontbite
I am so happy to hear this!! Thank you so much for making it!
Deborah W.
I made this recipe to go with your taco meat recipe. Both were delicious. I only had white miso but it still tastes fantastic. They are my 'go to' recipes from now on, thanks!
veggiesdontbite
So happy to hear!! White miso definitely works, just may need a bit more. I'm glad you liked both recipes!!
Bekki Harper
Made this last night. Taste was so nice and creamy. Everything you expect in a cheese sauce. Nice job, great recipe!
Was a little more labor intensive separating the veggies than i had patience for after a full work day and trying to get dinner on the table. Next time I think I will throw caution to the wind and measure the veggies up front as best I can and then throw them in the blender instead of trying to separate it all.. Thanks for a great cheese sauce!! 5 stars
veggiesdontbite
So happy you liked it! Yes, you definitely could measure before hand, I needed to be precise for the recipe but I would definitely take the lazy way out for just us. LOL! Thank you for the kind words!
Alli
Hi Sophia, I can't wait to try this!!! But I just wanted to check first - should I add the rest of the ingredients ( i.e. from the lemon juice to the sea salt) at the same time as adding the cooked veggies to the blender and blend it all up at the same time? I couldn't see where to add the non-veggie ingredients in the recipe. Thanks!
Emily Kemp
Hi Alli, Sophia's on vacation at the moment until the 12th July. I'll try and find out the answer for you in the meantime. Thank you!
Katy
How much pasta would you use in order to make the ultimate Mac and cheese?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Katy! So it depends on how cheesy you want it. The sauce makes about 3 1/2 cups, and if you want to use all the sauce, and make it medium cheesy, I use 24 ounces pasta.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Alli! Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you but I just got back! Yes, you add everything in together with the veggies. I just put that back into the instructions, it must of deleted when I switched my recipe card over. Thanks so much!
jessica.strouse@yahoo.com
Hello, I was wondering what the point of the chickpea miso is? I have looked everywhere for it. Is it just to replace the taste of the nutritional yeast? And if so, since I can't seem to find it anywhere..can I just use nutritional yeast instead? Also how much would you suggest? Thanks
veggiesdontbite
Hi Jessica! The chickpea miso helps give if the sharp cheesy taste. You can also use white miso as others in the comments have stated but you’ll need more as it’s not as sharp of a flavor as the chickpea. You can also leave it out. The flavor wont be as rich or sharp but it will still be good. I’m not much of a nutritional yeast fan, as I talk about in my post but if you want to add it then go for it! However I can’t really advise you how much because I don’t use it in my sauces. Thanks!
marilyn
I made this today and it was amazing. I didn't have raw cashews on hand so I used roasted, and it still came out wonderful. I did use a bit too much garlic but that was my mistake, not yours. Even so, I portioned it out right away to keep me from being tempted to eat all of it in one sitting. I'm new to this whole vegan thing... in fact I'm still working on getting the last of the eggs and dairy out of my diet. I'm not sure it's exactly like cheese but it's so rich, creamy and delicious that it works very well as a substitute for me.
veggiesdontbite
Glad to hear you liked it!! You’re doing a great job, keep going!!