If you're looking for a delicious, creamy, and cheesy sauce that’s 100% plant-based, this vegan cheese sauce is the answer! Made with simple whole-food ingredients like potatoes, carrots, and cashews, this sauce is nutrient-packed, dairy-free, and oil-free. Perfect for drizzling over veggies, vegan nachos, or pasta for mac and cheese or using as a dip, this easy vegan cheese sauce will become a staple in your meal prep. This plant-based cheese sauce is kid-friendly.
Why You'll Love This Vegan Cheese Sauce
- Dairy-free & Vegan – No milk, butter, or cheese required.
- Nutritious – Made with whole plant food ingredients that provide fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
- Oil-Free & Whole Food Plant-Based – Ideal for those following a WFPB lifestyle.
- Easy to Make – Simple ingredients and quick preparation.
- Versatile – Perfect for mac and cheese, dipping, or even as a soup base.
What is This Vegan Cheese Made of?
- Potatoes: Add a natural starchy creaminess, helping to thicken the sauce while providing fiber, potassium, and a mild, neutral flavor that enhances the cheesy texture. 🥔
- Carrots: Contribute a subtle natural sweetness and vibrant orange color while providing beta-carotene (vitamin A) and antioxidants for added nutrition. 🥕
- Raw cashews: Provide a creamy, rich texture and a source of healthy fats, plant-based protein, and minerals like magnesium.
- Nutritional yeast: Adds a cheesy, umami flavor while being packed with B vitamins and protein.
- Garlic powder: Infuses a savory, slightly pungent taste with immune-boosting properties.
- Onion powder: Enhances the sauce with a mild, sweet-savory depth of flavor.
- Lemon: Enhances flavor with bright acidity and provides vitamin C.
- Cayenne pepper: Adds a spicy kick.
The potatoes and cashews give this sauce body and creaminess. The carrots give the cheese it's orange color and the cayenne gives it a subtle kick of heat. Of course, the nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor.
How to Prepare
Boil peeled and chopped potatoes and carrots in a medium-large pot of water for 15 to 18 minutes. Add cashews to the pot and continue boiling for another 4 to 5 minutes. Potatoes and carrots should be fork-tender. Strain potatoes, carrots, and cashews and retain the cooking water (set aside).
Add one cup of the potato-carrot-cashew cooking water you set aside, and all other ingredients, to a high-speed blender. Blend and add more water until you reach desired consistency.
Enjoy this cheese sauce over broccoli, oven-baked or air-fried potato wedges, grilled or roasted mushrooms, baked potato, or Oven-Baked Tortilla Chips for Vegan Nachos. Or you can use this as the base for Vegan Mac 'n Cheese.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do Vegans use for Cheese?
SAVE THIS RECIPE!
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
We'll also send you other yummy recipes. No worries! You can unsubscribe at any time. 💙
There are several types of vegan cheeses on the market. Many are made with coconut oil, which is also high in saturated fat (like animal-based cheeses). Eating a diet high in saturated fat has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke by raising LDL (or "bad") cholesterol levels. Check out this article from Harvard Health to learn more.
The American Heart Association recommends keeping saturated fat to less than 6% of daily calories. For someone who eats about 1,800 calories per day, this works out to less than 12 grams of saturated fat.
So, that is why I'm a big fan of this vegan cheese sauce recipe. It's low in saturated fat with less than 1 gram per serving. Whereas some store-bought vegan cheese brands will pack upwards of 3 to 6 grams of saturated fat per serving.
How do I live without cheese?
There was a period in my life where I seriously believed that cheese was the holy grail of food. It was difficult to imagine life without it. Dramatic, I know, but I loved cheese from cows to the moon and back.
Once I discovered how dairy cheese from cows was harmful to my health, and how easier it was to lose weight and manage my blood pressure without it, I was determined to explore new ways of eating non-dairy cheese. This recipe does just that. This delicious cheese sauce was inspired by The Simple Vegan and Healthier Steps. It is so flavorful and mimics the smooth texture of a traditional cheese sauce, but without the harmful saturated fat and hormones found in animal-based cheeses.
This vegan cheese sauce will make you forget your first love, and you will leave baffled every time. It is a go-to favorite, and can be used on top of a baked potato, steamed broccoli, air fryer potato wedges or as the base for an amazing Vegan Mac 'n Cheese!
We hope you love this vegan cheese sauce as much as we do. Please rate and leave a comment below. Be sure to share a picture on Instagram and tag us @danielsplaterecipes so we can see your creation!
Vegan Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 ½ to 4 cups russet potatoes peeled and chopped (about 3 medium potatoes)
- ½ cup carrots chopped (about 1 medium carrot)
- ½ cup cashews raw
- 5 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 ½ tsp garlic powder
- 2 ½ tsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice (about ½ medium lemon)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- salt to taste (I use about ½ tsp)
Instructions
- Boil peeled and chopped potatoes and carrots in a medium-large pot of water for 15 to 18 minutes. Add cashews to the pot and continue boiling for another 4 to 5 minutes. Potatoes and carrots should be fork tender. Strain potatoes, carrots, and cashews and retain the cooking water (set aside).
- Add one cup of the potato-carrot-cashew cooking water you set aside, and all other ingredients, to a high-speed blender. Blend and add more water until you reach desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Robie Sullivan
Made this for our Chiefs watch party last night and loved it! It is the third vegan cheese dip I have tried and is definitely the easiest and most tasty. Thank you!
Gigi & Sersie
Yay! That's great, Robie. Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Anna
This “cheese” sauce is amazing! My whole family like it.
Gigi & Sersie
Yay! That's wonderful Anna! So healthy too. 🙂
Marie Nitz
This recipe has been my favorite for quite sometime.
I am loving the new look on Danielsplate.com!
Gigi & Sersie
Hey Marie. We're so glad you love the cheese sauce and the new look of our website. We do too! 🙂