Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
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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!
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
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210 Comments on “Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce”
So good even my kid likes it! Just wondering how many cups of sauce this recipe makes? I used 3 cups of water but I forgot to measure to figure out how much is a serving?
Hi Lisa. I’m glad the nacho cheese sauce is a hit! I would say it makes about 12 1/4-1/3 cup servings. Hope this helps.
So easy to make and I was surprised by how much it actually reminded me of dairy nacho cheese. Very tasty! I’m making it again
Thanks April! I’m glad you loved it!
You really inspire me! This is excellent! I was inspired to try something else from this, after soaking my cashews I put them in the vitamix with a jar of Picante sauce and some nooch and a little lemon juice and salt. Yum!!! Thank you so much!!!
Amazing! such a hearty and delicious recipe. Even in a not so high powered blender it works wonders. I put it on nachos with some olives, red onions, and impossible meat. Had to tone down the spice a little as my family doesn’t like spicy food but nonetheless it was delish!
I can’t believe it has taken me a year of being vegan to make this recipe. Obviously, it has been awhile since I had the real deal nacho cheese sauce, but I am convinced this is better. I made some black bean nachos with it. Let’s just say it was a good thing no one was home to watch me eat them. Oink, Oink! Ha! Amazing. Thank you for this beautiful recipe. I would hug you if I could. Lol
LOL! Thank you, Melissa, for your fun and terrific review! I also love this cheese sauce. Thanks a lot for taking your time to share! Happy cooking!
Dear God that was delicious! I’m slowly having more plant based days and I could do this everyday if food is this delicious!
Hi Melanie…I’m glad you loved the cheese sauce! If you try my other recipes, let know how they go for you! Thanks for sharing!
holy. moly. best cheese* sauce ever.
Thanks Chloe! Glad you love it!
Great recipe! Had a lot of warmth and umami to it and it was delicious! We had a snack spread tonight and served it simply, over crunchy tortilla chips dotted with jarred hot jalapeños. Instead of the lemon juice, which I had forgotten, I stirred in the same amount of jarred jalapeño juice instead. Super tasty and delicious, and quite filling! Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Alexia. Your snack spread sounds so fun! I’m glad you loved the cheese sauce. Thank you for sharing!
Love it! I just 1 teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of jalapeño salt! Amazing!
Glad you love it, Kathryn! Thank you!
The best in texture, taste, and color. I am so happy I made this cheese to use in my seitan enchiladas. My family loved the taste and the tumeric is a must for the color! Thank you for my new favorite cheese recipe.
Hi Janice. I also love the color that turmeric give this sauce! I’m glad you love the cheese sauce! Thank you for taking the time to share!
Overlooked the name “casserole”and said WOOPS cause i planned on making actual enchiladas! They were scrumptuous!