One of the most basic and useful recipes I have, is this one. Seriously, it is vegan recipe that first gave me hope that I could do this! I could give up cheese, and survive to tell about it!
This easy vegan all purpose cheese sauce is something I almost always have on hand. It is a very convincing, ooey, gooey, white cheese. It keep well in the fridge and comes together in just minutes!
The base is cashews which work really well for substituting dairy. They break down super well and are extra creamy making them a popular ingredient in vegan cheeses.
If you are allergic to nuts, you can easily sub them out with sunflower or pumpkin seeds!! It works just fine!
You can use this vegan cheese sauce for pizza, pastas, grilled cheese, seriously so many different things.
The longer you cook it, the thicker and stretchier making it work really well as a quick vegan mozzarella. I actually perfect this cheese sauce on pizza and I make a LOT of vegan cheeses, including shredded mozzarella and soft mozzarella. This sauce is just so quick and so delicious I see no need to make things harder than they need to be!
The spice profile is pretty basic and can be changed up depending on what you are using it for.
Also check out our cashew queso recipe. It has a nice spicy kick and works well for quesadillas, and enchiladas, and tacos.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cashews
2 cups water, plus water for soaking nuts
4 tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 cup Sauerkraut, no juice
3-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast (I tend to lean towards being more heavy handed with the nutritional yeast. Adjust to your taste)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place cashews in a microwave safe container and cover in water. Microwave for 3 minutes. Drain water and rinse. If you do not have a microwave, you can boil them in a pot of water for 5 minutes or you can soak them for a few hours in hot water.
Add drained cashews, 2 cups clean water, and remaining ingredients to a high speed blender and process until the mixture is totally and completely smooth. This may take a minute or two of blending.
Transfer mixture to a medium sized pot over medium heat. Heat the mixture for a few minutes, stirring continuously with a whisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Once desired consistency, remove from heat. If it gets too thick, you can add a little more water to thin it back out.
Depending on what I am using the sauce for, depends on how thick I will allow it to get. If using it for pizza, then I will let it get pretty thick so I can dollop it on top of the pizza. If using it in a lasagna or in enchiladas, I will keep it at a thick pudding constancy so it’s easier to spread. You can use it as an alfredo sauce, just keep it on the thinner side. Feel free to add any extra spices depending on what you are using it for!
You can use this sauce for:
pizza, lasagna, enchiladas, as an alfredo sauce, stuffed shells, calzones, quesadillas, mac and cheese, cheese spread for sandwiches, grilled cheese, just to name a few
If you like this recipe, try these:
My favorite vegan cookbook is “Veganize It!” by Robin Robertson. I adapted and made some changes to her recipe for cashew pizza “cheese” to create this basic all purpose cheese sauce. If you are in the market for some great vegan cook books, be sure to check her’s out. Find a copy of Vegaize It at amazon or a local bookstore. I can not praise this woman enough.
