Easy dairy free queso
Easy vegan nacho cheese sauce. Rich, creamy and delicious, this recipe will elevate your vegan nachos to the next level. Made in a blender 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.
This recipe is:
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Easy
- Healthy
- Satisfying
- Dairy free
Ingredients
- Raw cashews – This is the base of the vegan nacho cheese sauce. This gives the cheese a nice fatty content and helps to thicken it up as well.
- Small potato & carrot – These also make up the base of the cheese sauce. The carrot and potato help to thicken it.
- Jalapeno slices & brine – This will give the sauce that nice nacho cheese flavor.
- Lemon juice – To add a little bit of acid. This helps balance out the flavors.
- Seasonings – I use garlic powder, onion powder and nutritional yeast
- Salsa – At the very end, to add some texture, I love adding a spoonful or two of salsa.
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.
Helpful tips
Boil the potato, carrot and cashews together. This saves a lot of time. Then just pour it into a blender with the rest of the ingredients.
Thicken the cheese sauce on medium low so it doesn’t burn. Make sure to stir the whole time.
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.
Storing tips
This keeps in an air tight container in the fridge for about a week.
This can be frozen in a freezer friendly bag for 3 months. Just thaw out in the fridge before using.
Re-heating – When you re-heat, you will need to add a few splashes of water, since this thickens up a lot after storing.
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
- Dairy free mac and cheese
- Vegan fondue ( Swiss style)
- Tofu cream cheese
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
Boil
- 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.1 cup raw cashews, 1 small potato, 1 carrot
Blend
- 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.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
Warm up on the stove
- 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.2 tbsp salsa
- Serve over tortilla chips and top with your favorite nacho toppings.
Notes
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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