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
Mine came out “gritty” – any way to fix it?
This is probably because you used a regular blender instead of a high powered blender like a Vitamix. A high powered blender can get nut based recipes super creamy and smooth, while a normal blender often can not.
Lovely “cheese” sauce. Thank you for the recipe.
Made It! Love it!! opens up so many new possibilities! New to the vegan diet and I’ve been struggling with giving up all years of recipes. This recipe will certainly help towards enjoying to cook once again.
THANK YOU NORA 🙂
Good cheese sauce and so easy! I didn’t have lemon juice, but it was still really good! I had it with nachos and also with just tortilla chips.
Hi Ann. I’m thrilled that you loved the cheese sauce! I appreciate your wonderful review! Thank you, and happy cooking!
I liked that the ingredients were things that were already in my kitchen. I didn’t have to go out and buy some odd whatsit to make this tasty vegan Nacho Sauce.
I appreciate your feedback! Thank you, Mark!
nice
Is there anything I can substitute the cashews with? I would really like to make this but I have a severe nut allergy. Thank you in advance.
Sunflower seeds work pretty well in place of cashews in sauces/dressings like this one. Soak them well. If you can have those. I also have a recipe for Nut Free Vegan Cheese Sauce you might like, I think it’s really good!
I have used white beans of any kind works amazing and low fat.
This sauce is the bomb!!! Made it with the enchiladas last night and made another batch to have nachos tonight. I could drink this sauce!
And if you are not a huge fan of chili like me, the recipe is still amazing without it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks Nora! 💜💚💜
You are welcome, Angela! Thanks for sharing your awesome review and feedback! This sauce is so delicious with so many things! I’m thrilled you are loving it!
I had a craving and made this , but neglected to read the serving size. Now I could feed my entire street with queso and probably also the block over.
And I’ll never get my 30 bucks in cashews back.
I really wish I read things more carefully .
Yes, and this is delicious in the nachos recipe.
Pasta, baked potatoes, broccoli, a soup. Lots we can do with this once it’s in the refrigerator. I’m looking forward to the combinations. Thanks, Nora.
You are welcome, Lee! I love seeing all the way you use the sauce! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
I hear you on the expense of cashews, but if there is an ALDI near you, organic raw cashews are about $8 or $9 a bag (14 oz.) – non-organic are even less – which makes vegan life much much less expensive!
Hope this helps.
Just made this cheese sauce for the enchilada recipe and it tastes great! I could just eat this with a spoon! Yummy
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! 🙂
Firstly; excellent recipe. I had no plant based milk, so I used the water I simmered the potatoes and carrots in. I also forgot about cashews (btw, one of your ad sponsors had their ad blocking part of your ingredients list)..since I was using the hot water from the veggies, I added my non soaked cashews to the blender and it blended very well. Smooth, not grainy whatsoever.
Hi Rose. I’m really glad the cheese sauce turned out for you and that you enjoyed it! Thanks for the heads up about the ad sponsor. I appreciate your awesome review and feedback! Happy cooking!
I don’t see any mention of potato’s or carrots?
Yeah there are no potatoes or carrots in this recipe; I wonder if the commenter actually made a different recipe. I have a nut free vegan cheese that uses potatoes and carrots…
Holy Smokes! This was wonderful. I love your recipes. They always knock my socks off. I agree with someone else. I only use your recipes and I’m an old cook that has cooked forever! Thanks so much for all you do.
Hi Irene. I am so inspired by your wonderful words! I’m thrilled you love the cheese sauce! Thank you for your wonderful review! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Have you tried canning this? I’ve frozen it before and love it but would love to can some and have them as grab and go meals.
I have not tried that and don’t know anything about canning unfortunately! But I could see why that would be convenient. 🙂
Has anyone tried to freeze this cheese sauce? If so how did you reheat, thaw first or reheat from frozen?
Hi Sue Ann! The cheese sauce freezes very well. You can thaw it first OR reheat it from frozen (on the stove or in the microwave) 🙂
I am a mild-flavor-only boring person so I skipped the hot sauce but ultimately that probably gives the sauce a more accurate flavor. But I am still spooning it on tortilla chips for my lunch 😆 It is creamy and orange so it works for me!
For those of us without a high-powered blender, I get the creaminess using a handheld strainer. I boil the cashews until the water is nearly gone and strain the rest out, then I add the cashews to my little Ninja blender, blend everything up, and use the strainer *again* to pour into a small pot. The strainer filters out all the cashew bits that were not chopped. Heating and whisking per the recipe made it perfectly creamy, no hard bits. Handheld strainer is only 5-10 USD vs the 300 USD Vitamix! I did have one many years ago and loved it for lots of things, but for one person it isn’t completely necessary.
Thanks for such helpful information Leah!
How long does this last stored in the refrigerator?
I’d say about 4-5 days.
Can you substitute water for unsweetened soy milk?
Sure!
This nacho cheese was so awesome to make…but I would like to add a couple of critiques…
*nutritional yeast (Braggs cheesy selection) or else you can grab the plain selection
*cashews should sit longer then 10 minutes in the boiled water (mine cashews were not fully softened)
But other than this, Nora your recipe is amazing and Thank You
Hi! I have am allergic to yeast.
Would I be able to omit the yeast or is there a substitute I could use?
Thank you!
I’m looking forward to eating a cheese sauce! Really miss it!
You can leave it out if needed, it’s still good without it. Hope you love it!
Thank you for the fabulous recipe! I followed the recipe exactly but mine came out a bit runny. Still super delicious and my kids loved it too 🙂 Have recently moved to a dairy-free lifestyle and this was just as easy, if not easier than making homemade cheese sauce! Huge win
You are welcome, Sandra. Thanks for sharing your great review and feedback! I’m glad the cheese sauce was a win with your family! Happy cooking to you!
Made this and it’s a hit with minimal ingredients! Used it for Nora’s enchilada recipe and mixes perfect using it that way adds ton of flavor and texture. I used gochujang instead of sirraacha, pretty good wished I had jalapeño juice or something to make it a little spicy.
Thanks Nora, love how simple and realistic your recipes are!
You are welcome, Kassandra! I am really encouraged by your feedback, and am glad to know you find my recipes simple and delicious! That is part of my goal! Thanks for taking time to share your awesome review and feedback! Happy cooking!
I made 1/2 the recipe and it’s pretty good, although too much for the two of us. Can we freeze it?
Yes, the cheese sauce freezes very well!
LOVE this recioe! But, how much is considered 1 serving?
Thank you, glad you are enjoying it! The nutritional info is for 1/12th of the recipe, or about 1/3rd cup per serving. Hope this helps!
Nora I love this nacho sauce and make it quite often. Whenever I have a small amount of broccoli I need to use I make broccoli cheese stuffed potatoes and sprinkle it with crispy onion rings. One of my hubby’s favorites. My question is can you freeze this sauce for later use?
Thanks again! Love your recipes!
Your ideas sound so good, Sue! I’m so glad you are loving the sauce! Yes, the cheese sauce freezes very well! Thanks for your fabulous review!
How much is the serving…in tablespoons or something. I can’t figure it out. Appears to be about 1/12 of the whole but…separate in 12 parts is hard. 🙂 Just trying to see as cashews are high in calories. Love this cheese though!! Thanks.
Hi Sandy. I’m glad you love the cheese sauce! I would say it makes about 12 1/4-1/3 cup servings. Hope this helps.
OH! What a wonderful recipe! Thank You!
I have a poor man’s Ninja Blender and I soaked the cashews overnight and used very hot water for the 3 cups of water in the recipe and it worked perfectly!
I’m waiting for it to cool slightly as I’m going to vacuum pack this liquid gold! ha!
Thanks Again for your artistic talents and sharing Nora!
I only use Nora recipes bc they’re consistently amazing! I halved the water the second time I made this, and it was even creamier. Best cheese recipe I’ve made! Thanks!
Aww, I appreciate you Laura! Thank you for sharing your great review and feedback! Wishing you happy cooking!