Easy dairy free queso
Love nachos, but wish they were vegan? This easy vegan nacho cheese sauce is for you. Rich, creamy and delicious, this recipe will elevate your vegan nachos to the next level. Made with cashews, nutritional yeast and more
It’s never been easier to make nachos vegan. The world of vegan cuisine is growing by the minutes. Vegan cheese has never tasted better.
The secret to making creamy vegan pasta or cheese sauce is to use raw cashews.
Where to buy raw cashews
I love buying raw cashews in the bulk section of my grocery store. Most natural food stores have them, as well as Whole Foods.
If you can’t find them near you, then you can order them in bulk online. Buying in bulk is the most cost effective.
Make sure to buy sustainably and ethically sourced cashews, as they sometimes use poorly paid workers from poorer countries who work in terrible conditions. Here is a great ethically sourced brand.
This dairy free queso recipe is:
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Easy
- Healthy
- Satisfying
- Dairy free
How to make the perfect vegan nacho cheese sauce
The base of this queso is raw cashews, potatoes and carrots.
First, boil them in a sauce pan until the potatoes and carrots are tender. This should take about 5-10 minutes depending on how big you chopped your vegetables.
Boiling the cashews makes them nice and soft and ready to be blended in any blender. You don’t need a fancy Vitamix for this.
Then just drain your potatoes, carrots and cashews and add them to your blender with some garlic powder, onion powder, pickled jalapenos and brine, salt, lemon juice, water and nutritional yeast.
To thicken the vegan cheese sauce up a bit, after it’s well blended, add it back to your sauce pan on medium low. Make sure to stir the sauce the whole time. This should take 5 minutes or so.
If you want to add a little texture and more flavor, I love stirring in a couple tablespoons of chunky salsa at this point.
Serve on top of tortilla chips with your favorite toppings like black beans, guacamole, salsa, vegan sour cream and VOILA, you’ve got loaded and delicious vegan nachos.
More creamy, vegan cheese recipes:
Vegan smoked gouda mac and cheese
Loaded jackfruit vegan nachos
Instant pot vegan mac and cheese
Instant pot vegan chili
Easy vegan nacho cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 small potato
- 1 carrot
- 6 pickled jalapeno slices
- 3 tbsp pickled jalapeno brine
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp salsa (optional. Add this in the end and don't add this to the blender)
Instructions
- Peel and roughly chop potatoes and carrots. Place carrots, potatoes and raw cashews into a sauce pan and cover with water.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes and carrots are tender. About 8-10 minutes.
- Drain the water from the sauce pan and add the potatoes, carrots and cashews to a blender as well as all the ingredients, MINUS THE SALSA, above.
- Blend on high until well combined. Add a splash of water or two if it's too thick.
- Transfer the cheese sauce to a sauce pan and heat on low until sauce thickens, stirring the whole time.
- Stir in a couple spoonfuls of salsa if you'd like. Taste, and add salt if needed.
- Serve over tortilla chips and top with your favorite nacho toppings.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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