Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce is made with soaked, raw cashews, blended with water, nutritional yeast and spices; and warmed on the stove until it reaches nacho cheese perfection! Optional but good: Add Sriracha to taste or keep it mild for kids with sensitive palates. Serve nacho cheese sauce with chips, or even drizzle on steamed broccoli or baked potatoes!
Last week, we ate at the Veggie Grill near us. Oh my goodness, I could eat there every day! Unfortunately (or fortunately, for the budget!), it’s a good 25 minutes away, so we really don’t get there often enough. We do live near Portland, THE Mecca for vegan food, but it’s far enough that with 3 kids and traffic, we rarely make it to the city for good vegan eats.
Anyhow, we got the nacho appetizer to share, and that’s when I started thinking about the fact that I really needed to up my nacho game. I was anxious to come home and try to re-create the nacho cheese sauce they had. It was SO good. And mild enough that I knew my kids would totally go for it.
I do have a tried and true recipe on the blog for Vegan Queso Dip with Cashews that is somewhat similar to this one. It’s amazing and a real crowd pleaser, but it is quite spicy and has chunky tomatoes and green chiles in it, which my kids aren’t crazy about. It’s also thicker, and makes for a better dip with chips than a pourable sauce.
I hope you love this Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce! It’s:
- Creamy and rich
- Mild, but spice adjustable
- Pourable; not too thick
- Kid-friendly
- Easy and Quick to prepare
- Versatile: Enjoy with chips, on a baked potato or drizzle on steamed vegetables!
Want more delicious vegan Mexican recipes? Try any of these:
Ultimate Fully Loaded Vegan Nachos
Cauliflower Walnut Mushroom Taco Meat
Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole
If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! Rate it, leave a comment and tag a photo @noracooksvegan on Instagram or find me on Facebook. Enjoy!
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Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
- 4 cups water, divided, plus more as needed to thin
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, optional for color
Instructions
- Soak the cashews: You can either do a quick soak, or soak the cashews for several hours or overnight. To quick soak, simply boil water in a tea kettle or on the stovetop, cover the cashews with the boiling water and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain.
- Blend: In a high powered blender, add the cashews, lemon juice, 3 cups of the water, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and the salt. Add optional turmeric to make the cheese more yellow/orange.
- Warm: In a medium saucepan, add the cheese sauce from the blender. Using a whisk, warm over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it begins to bubble and thicken. Add the last cup of water, depending on how thick or thin you want the sauce to be.
- Add more salt to taste, and Sriracha if using, depending on your spice preference. If the cheese sauce sits for a while, or you refrigerate the leftovers, it will thicken. Simply warm it again on the stove, adding water as needed to thin. Serve over tortilla chips, steamed broccoli, baked potatoes and more.
Video
Notes
- Raw slivered almonds may be able to subbed for cashews, but they will need to be soaked very well. If you need a nut free cheese sauce, check out my Nut Free Vegan Cheese Sauce.
- You do really need a high powered blender for this cheese to get smooth and creamy. A food processor or regular blender just won't be able to get it very creamy. I use a Vitamix blender and love it.
Nutrition
I have not yet made the sauce. My daughter is vegan and is having her 18th birthday party. She requested that we serve all vegan food for her friends to try. Could this be served in a crockpot to stay warm for guests to eat when they please. or will it separate or change the consistency
Yes, that would work quite well! Just whisk it every now and then to keep it from getting too thick. If needed, add a little bit of water to thin it out. Enjoy!
Just wondering, do you have to use the nutritional yeast? I have all ingredients except this…
You could leave it out, but it does add a lot of “cheesy” flavor.
We tried this tonight and the flavor was great. However, ours was not as smooth as the one pictured in the recipe. Is there something we didn’t do right?
Did you use a high powered blender such as a Vitamix? If you didn’t, it won’t get as smooth and creamy so that would be why. Did you soak the cashews? If you are using a regular blender or food processor, make sure to soak the cashews well for a smoother cheese sauce. Hope that helps!
This is one of my go to recipes! I’ve made it a few times – it’s great! Any tips though for making it that yellow nacho cheese color like in your pictures? Mine turns out more of a pale yellow.
Thank you! A tiny pinch of turmeric will make it more yellow/orange.
This was seriously life-changing!!
Vegan of 2 1/2 years here (also former cheese snob) and this is the only queso I’ve made that does not disappoint! Like another reviewer said, the rest always end up in the trash. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Aw thanks! So glad you love it!
LOVE the recipe and was a huge hit with the family. We used the sauce for vegan nachos and I shared my experience here: https://www.trylearngrow.com/2019/05/06/vegan-nachos/
Thank you for sharing the wonderful recipe!
Thank you, I’m so glad it was a hit!
OMG I made this tonight and added sautéed jalapeños, onion, and garlic to the blender. It came out soooo yummy! Thank you for this recipe. It was my 4th time trying to make a tasty vegan cheese and it’s perfect!
Woo hoo! I’m so happy you finally found a winner.
Absolutely awesome!!! Even my kids liked it
Definitely a favorite in my household
I made this recipe yesterday and am loving it! Love the consistency and taste. Best vegan cheese sauce I’ve had yet!
Thank you for this recipe!!! Me and my friend always go to a restaurant about 30 minutes away called the lunch room just to get their nachos because they’re so good. This tastes just like it and it a lot cheaper and more convenient making it at home.
You are welcome! I’m so happy you like the cheese, I agree it’s delicious and so easy to make.
It tastes great! Making this for a nacho bar at work. How did you get it so yellow?? I put a touch of turmeric to help. We’ll see if that makes it less flesh colored! ?
Glad you like it! 🙂 I think the nutritional yeast and paprika do the trick with the color, but turmeric will certainly make it more yellow. It also could be how I edited the photo, but the color in the photos is pretty close to how it looks when I make it.
Hello Nora,,
Delicious ?. As one of your readers wrote, most of the vegan cheese I have tried have ended up in the trash :(.
Can you you freeze leftovers?
Thanks ?
Aw thanks Brigitte! 🙂
You can freeze this cheese sauce, I have done it before with success. 🙂
Can you use cashew milk instead of cashews and water? We’re ona tight budget and really want to try more vegan dishes.
I’m sorry, it really wouldn’t work because cashew milk is so thin, you really need the thickness and richness of the cashews for this recipe to work. There are several potato based cheeses out there that are pretty good and certainly a lot less expensive to make. I like this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPLur2kWZw
This was fantastic!!! I actually added 1 can of adobe chilis in this to give it a little kick and it was yummy, not too spicy! Then I took the filling from the vegan enchiladas to top the nachos and made a deluxe version also using the recipe for the vegan sour cream from the vegan enchiladas as a topper as well. YAY!
That sounds delicious, the addition of adobe chilis! Your nachos sound incredible. Thanks!
How long will the extra last in the fridge ? This is delicious btw!!!
I’m glad your enjoying it! It will last at least 4-5 days and maybe up to a week in the fridge.
YUM! tried it last night per my daughter’s request. She is just starting to go plant based and we LOVED it!
Thanks for posting!
Yay! Thanks for sharing Shari!! So glad you guys enjoyed it!
Thank you! This was very good!! I replaced 1/4 of the liquid with jalapeno juice and a few chopped jalapenos 🙂 YUMMY!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂 I love the jalapeno addition!
Loved this recipe! I’ve tried numerous others and the consistency was never right. This one was perfect! Obviously it’s not going to taste just like nacho cheese but it’s close enough for me!
I made a half batch and wish I had more more ?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 You’ll have to make the full batch next time, hah!
As a new vegan with dairy and eggs allergies, I’ve been skeptical of any “cheese “ sauce because I loved the real thing. I just made this and was pleasantly surprised. If you’re like me and are intimidated by too much seasoning, DON’T be! It’s what makes it actually taste good. No, it’s not cheese, but it’s the closest I’ve tried. Most others ended up in the trash can.
I’m so glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for sharing.
This was seriously delicious!! I used boiled water and only about 2.5 cups and skipped the stovetop part ?
Oh great Tiffany! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I see you say it is 12 Servings. Do you know how much per serving? Like 1/2 cup etc? And you show the calories to be 130 kcal. What does the “k” stand for?
kcal just means “calories”. I would say it makes about 12 1/4-1/3 cup servings.
I’ve made this multiple times now! It always turns out well and so yummy! It is my go-to cheese recipe! Thanks so much!
Thanks Jaime! I’m so glad!
Made this tonight and LOVED it! Put some jalapeño in a small batch for the adults. My 5yo would have eaten with a spoon if I let him!
Thanks for letting me know! ? Yum with the jalapeño, that sounds so delicious.
Could you use a different but other than cashews?
I haven’t tried it with another nut, but I’m guessing you could use almonds with ok results, it won’t be quite the same though!