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
This cheeze sauce was a flavour explosion!
I’ve tried many cheeze sauce recipes and they always leave me wishing they were a little bit different… this one did not disappoint!
It was so good that my non-vegan partner wants me to make it over and over again… for everything
We used it for your Enchilada recipe and it was the cheeze on top :p
Hi Tabitha! Your review is great, and means a lot to me! Thank you for taking time to share it! I’m thrilled you guys love the cheese sauce! I appreciate you! Happy cooking!
Loved this! Just made it and it’s perfect
My household’s collective minds are blown by how good this recipe is. We’re not strictly vegan but I hate the dairy industry enough to seek alternatives. I set my standards to assume it would be fine but not as good as traditional cheese. It was so much better than expected that it’s become a staple in our home that everyone looks forward to having. The recipe makes a lot so we could try it in various ways. With the last batch I made we used it for dipping homemade pretzels, corn chips and raw veggies and my roomie used it to make mac and cheese.
You’ve created a beautiful thing here, so thank you for sharing it ?
Thank you so much for your review and fun, heartfelt comments! I am thrilled that you love the cheese sauce! I love that you are finding so many ways to eat it up! I appreciate you, and wish you lots of happy cooking!
This is a go to recipe. I love it.
Thank you, Sharon! I’m glad it’s a go-to recipe for you! I appreciate you taking time to share your review!
One of my favorites! My husband and I slather this all over baked potatoes, chickpeas, and broccoli and it’s so good! Definitely recommend giving it a try.
It sounds delicious! I’m so glad that you guys are loving the cheese sauce! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and comments!
Hi Nora- I love your site, and have made many of your recipes.
I have a question about soaked cashews.
This recipe calls for 2 cups cashews, before soaking.
What if my cashews are already soaked?
Same amount, or maybe a bit less? What do you think?
Thanks a lot!
-Suzanne
Hmm, maybe just a bit less if they are already soaked, but it shouldn’t matter too much. Enjoy!
I made this for my non vegan book club meeting to accompany tortilla chips. Everyone loved it. Such a great and simple recipe.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful review and comments! I’m glad the cheese sauce was a hit!
Amazing recipe! Will not regret buying a big batch of cashews at Costco, especially if that’s not part of your pantry stock.
Followed the recipe to the tee. We make it all the time when we are getting ready for lent.
Thank you for the share. ??
Hi Emma. I’m thrilled that you love the cheese sauce! I appreciate you taking your time to share your review and comments!
This sauce is amazing! My husband and I are transitioning to dairy free and more plant based diet. We both absolutely loved it. Glad to know it freezes well and is good with salsa added. I have an idea to do a chili mac and cheese with this sauce , salsa, beans and cilantro. Thanks so much! Keep creating.
Thanks for sharing your comments! Your chili mac and cheese sounds delicious!
made this for the fourth time today. This time I tripled the recipe. y husband loves it and its great after its been frozen and reheated. It has quickly become a favourite.
First time making a vegan nacho sauce and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was! I did feel that it needed more flavor so I added some chipotle. I think in future I’ll experiment a little more with some peppers but overall very happy to have this. Thanks!!
I am in love? Thank you!!!
Very delicious! Best vegan cheese sauce I’ve had so far!
I mixed some jarred salsa and put it on not very good quinoa cauliflower pasta and it was delicious enough to have two bowls!
I’m glad you enjoyed the cheese sauce! Thanks or sharing your review and comments!
Can you freeze the vegan cheese for later use? Over 3 cups of vegan cheese for only one person, me, was a lot. I loved it! It was just a lot of cheese to eat in a few days. Can I freeze it in an ice cube tray, store in a ziplock box, thaw it on the stove next week, & use it on broccoli?
I’m glad you like the cheese sauce! It freezes quite well. When you thaw it, warm it up, add water as needed to thin it, and whisk very well to make it creamy and smooth again.
I don’t ever leave comments but omigosh this is sooo good. I love love love it!
I’m so glad you love the cheese sauce! Thank you for sharing your review!
This is delicious! Wow ? Inam so impressed.
I think 3 cups of water was too much, even for my 2 1/2 cups of cashews. Came out really thin! 🙁
It will be thin until you warm it up in a pan, then it thickens a lot!
How long will it last in the fridge
Hi Cindy. This will last about 3-4 days in the refrigerator
I’m not even vegan or vegetarian but I was curious about this and WOW, it’s delicious!!
(It helps that I really love the flavor of nutritional yeast.)
I don’t have a Vitamix so I blended it in a mini-food processor. Even though it didn’t get super-smooth, it was delicious on broccoli and I’m going to use it as a dip for veggies and chips. Thank you! I can’t wait to try this properly blended and smooth.
Hi Barbara. I’m glad you love the cheese sauce! Thank you for sharing your great review and comments!
Wow! Just had this for my 74th birthday and smiled for two days! Now I’m not sure which is my all-time favorite– your Vegan Meatloaf or this enchilada w/vegan nacho cheese sauce!
Thanks for your very fun comments, Bill! Happy birthday! I’m glad you love the cheese sauce – and I hope you keep on smiling!
Tip for a busy family: premeasure yiur dry ingredients, bag them and label them. Then when you are going to make this you have the spices premixed and it takes less than 10 minutes. I use my Pampered Chef cooking blender. Throw it all in and let it blend/cook all at once. So easy and convenient.
Really good!! I probably should have blended a little longer in the Vitamix but that’s my fault. I put it over the vegan Doritos and it was delicious! Thank you!!
Glad you loved the cheese sauce! Thank you for sharing, Kara!
Soooooo good!! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing your great review!
I always make this cheese sauce and it’s the best!, but what other substitute can I use for the lemon juice? since I ran out :(.
It will still be good if you have to leave the lemon juice out. Or you can use lime juice or even a little white or apple cider vinegar instead. Glad you love it!
This will be my go-to vegan cheese recipe from now on! It was so easy and so delicious! Thank you!
I’m thrilled you love the cheese, Lisa! Thank you for sharing your review!
I am in love with this sauce. That is all.
I’m glad you love it! Thanks for sharing!