This vegan cheese sauce with nutritional yeast and cashews is a and delicious alternative to cheese sauce that actually tastes comparable to the real thing. This sauce is perfect served with tortilla chips and guacamole as a vegan appetizer for a New Year’s Eve or game day party.
This vegan cheese sauce is perfect drizzled on top of tacos or nachos. You could also use this as a sauce for dairy free mac and cheese. It’ll just have a little more kick than traditional mac and cheese on account of the jalapenos (which you can just omit if you prefer a milder sauce).
Vegan Cheese Sauce (With Nutritional Yeast And Cashews) – Key Ingredients
Nutritional yeast is the star of this sauce and gives it its cheesy flavour. Commonly used in vegan cooking, nutritional yeast has many health benefits and imparts a cheesy flavour to vegan versions of classic dairy based dishes such as mac and cheese, spinach artichoke dip, and pesto.
Cashews give this cheese sauce its creamy texture without overpowering the other flavours in this recipe. Pickled jalapeños add a little zing and spice, and the puréed pumpkin adds body and colour to this healthy vegan cheese sauce. You can easily substitute pureed carrots or butternut squash instead of pumpkin if you prefer. Or if a white sauce is more appealing, go ahead and substitute white beans instead of pumpkin.
For another plant based appetizer, try these goat cheese and pecan stuffed dates. They’re the perfect little fingerfood appetizer for parties. They’re easy to prepare and can be made ahead of time to keep things easy when you’re entertaining. Or try this falafel hummus recipe. It has all the flavours of falafel but without the deep frying and it’s perfect served with raw vegetables.
Vegan Cheese Sauce With Nutritional Yeast And Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 cup soaked cashews (cover cashews with boiling water, soak for one hour, then drain and rinse)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, add the cashews, pumpkin purée, water, nutritional yeast, pickled jalapeños, salt, and garlic.
- Process or blend until smooth and creamy.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Makes approximately 1 3/4 cups of dairy free cheese sauce.
Notes
- You can make this sauce in advance and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
Nutrition
Vegan Cheese Sauce With Nutritional Yeast And Cashews – Nutritional Information:
I’m Jennifer, the author at A Sweet Alternative. I’m a home cook with a passion for creating gluten free and refined sugar free recipes that call for nutritious ingredients.