Silky smooth Cashew Cheese Sauce made with just a handful of ingredients in minutes. It tastes rich, creamy, and cheesy and is super versatile. Use it any way you would regular cheese sauce!
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Yep, this silky smooth luscious sauce is made from cashews. Who would have thought it? It's perfectly rich, cheesy, and creamy and so quick and easy to make.
Simply throw the ingredients into a blender or food processor and with the push of a button you have yourself a batch of delicious cashew cheese sauce!
In this post:
This is a must-have vegan staple that is uncomplicated, easy to make, and will be a huge hit with the whole family!
Looking for a virtually fat-free and nut-free vegan cheese sauce recipe? Check out my very popular easy Vegan Cheese Sauce or my Cauliflower Alfredo recipes!
Ingredient Notes
With a handful of ingredients and some seasonings, you can make creamy cashew cheese sauce that is so tasty you will want to drizzle it on everything!
The ingredients are vegan staples that I always have on hand:
And a few ingredient notes:
- Raw cashews - Cashews are a magical vegan ingredient! They blend easily to make a delicious dairy-free cheese or carbonara sauce and you can even use them to make cashew milk. It's important to use raw cashews, not roasted. Raw cashews blend much more smoothly because they are softer and they also have a more gentle, mellow flavour.
- Plant milk - Any type but it must be unsweetened and unflavoured.
- White wine vinegar - Enhances the cheesy taste and balances the flavours. Apple cider vinegar can be used instead if it's all you have but white wine vinegar is best.
- Nutritional yeast - That superstar vegan ingredient, added here for a cheesy flavour.
- Onion powder & smoked paprika - Both enhance the cheesiness. Chipotle powder makes a good alternative to smoked paprika.
How to Make Cashew Cheese Sauce
This easy dairy-free sauce is ready to enjoy in almost no time at all! Here's how it's done:
- Soak the cashew nuts in boiling water for 15 minutes.
- Drain, and add to a blender with the other ingredients.
- Blend until smooth.
- Serve or use in your favourite recipes.
Success tip: If planning to use on hot pasta, make the sauce a little thinner than you would ideally like because it will thicken on contact with the hot pasta. Or save some of the hot pasta boiling water to thin after you've tossed them together.
Variations
- Spice your sauce up with some sriracha, canned green chilies, chipotle peppers, fresh/roasted jalapeños or Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies.
- Try adding some chopped fresh herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, or a dollop of pesto.
Serving Suggestions
This healthy, high protein, and multipurpose dairy-free cheese sauce is a gateway to lots of quick and flavourful dishes. It can be served hot, warm, room temperature, or cold.
Some of my favourite ways to use it:
- Toss through freshly cooked pasta for an easy dinner. Maybe with a sprinkling of vegan parmesan too?
- Pour over vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower
- Use to make lasagna, vegan mac and cheese, or Alfredo
- Drizzle on nachos, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, fries, burrito bowls, pizza or baked potatoes
- Use as a dip with tortilla chips, pretzels, no yeast flatbread or raw veggies
- Pour a little into risotto right before serving to make it extra creamy!
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
If you want to make this yummy cashew cheese sauce ahead, or you have some leftovers, store it in a sealed container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
To reheat, microwave it for 30 seconds then stir and repeat until it is heated through. Or pour into a small pan and heat very gently on the stovetop.
Cashew-based sauces do have a habit of thickening up as they sit. If you need to thin it add a few drops of plant milk or some water and stir well. Stop when it is at your desired consistency.
Recipe FAQs
Even if you have a high-powered blender I recommend soaking your cashew nuts in boiling water before proceeding with this recipe. It makes the sauce incredibly silky and smooth!
No. For this recipe, you need to use raw cashews. This is because raw cashews are neutral in flavour. Roasted cashews have a nutty, toasty flavour that is noticeable and detracts from the cheesiness. Secondly, when raw cashews are soaked, they soften and plump up. This makes them easy to blend which in turn creates a silky sauce. Roasted cashews do not behave the same way.
Stored in a sealed container in the fridge it should keep for up to 5 days.
Yes. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. I recommend blending again once it's defrosted because the texture changes slightly. Blending will smooth it out. Add a little water or plant milk to thin as necessary.
More Sauce Recipes
Recipe
Cashew Cheese Sauce
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140 grams) raw cashew nuts
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 small clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika , or chipotle powder
- ¾ to 1 cup (180 ml to 240 mls) plant milk , (must be unflavoured & unsweetened)
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the cashews in a small bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover. Leave to soak for 15 minutes. Even if you have a high-powered blender it's worth doing this as it makes the sauce extra silky and glossy!
- Drain the cashews through a sieve, (discarding the water) and add them to a blender along with all of the other ingredients. Start off with the lowest quantity of milk so that you can adjust to suit your needs.
- Blend until completely smooth. Check the consistency and add more milk as necessary, blending for a few seconds between each addition to combine.
- Finally taste to check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on May 22nd, 2015. I've since added new photographs & rewritten the post and now I am republishing it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
LeAnn says
Last minute, I was looking for a cheese sauce that used ingredients I had at home. This fit the bill and it didn't disappoint! I made mac and cheese with it. It was very creamy and delicious!
Heather says
Tried for the first time tonight, I'll definitely be making again. Delicious!
Susan B says
I really love this cheese sauce and use it all the time now - thank you! I use lemon juice instead of vinegar, as I prefer the flavour and I think it does the same job.
Kendall G says
Hello! Just curious if the white wine vinegar is for texture or adds to the taste or both.
Melanie McDonald says
Taste. It makes the sauce cheesier (don't ask me why but it really does make a difference!), and adds some acidity which is necessary with the cashews as they are naturally a bit sweet.
Lisa A. says
I've been making a variation of this sauce for years. It's nice to have a written recipe to follow rather than trying to remember what I did before. 😂 I think the slight differences in this recipe make it even better! It's delicious!
Michelle C says
I finally found my go to vegan cheese sauce! Perfect consistency and so yummy!
Melanie McDonald says
Love to hear that! Thanks for coming back to leave a review Michelle. It's much appreciated!
EAS says
Quick , easy and tasty I'm several different recipes.
Wendy says
Hi Melanie,
Do I use the same amount for either nutritional yeast powder or flakes? Thanks!
Melanie McDonald says
I've never seen or used nutritional yeast powder so can't say for sure. Maybe go for 3/4 of the amount, taste, and add a little more if you want a stronger cheesier flavour.
Cranky says
I used almond milk, and apple cider vinegar as replacements. I could not get it silky smooth. Then I added dairy milk and popped it in the microwave which caused it to have the same texture as hummus, yuck (I was making pasta). I don’t know if it was so much the cashew as the nutritional yeast that would not blend
Melanie McDonald says
Sounds like you need a new blender. Boiling water soaked cashews and nutritional yeast shouldn't be difficult to blend at all. It also sounds like you then really overcooked it in the microwave. You don't need to heat this sauce if making pasta. Just boil the pasta, drain it, put it back in the pan, pour in some sauce and toss it together over a very low heat. By the time you've tossed it together the heat from the pasta and the very low burner will warm the small amount of sauce you are using and it's ready to serve. It takes 20 to 30 seconds.
Megan says
Very tasty. I wasn’t able to get a smooth texture with my ordinary blender, however. I am considering boiling the cashews next time to help soften them even more. Do you have thoughts on other ways to get the smooth texture shown in the photo above?
Janine says
The best vegan cheese sauce ever!! Thank you!!
Mary Hawkins says
What could I use to substitute for the nutritional yeast? Any substitutes would be awesome as I would love to make this for my family! Could you use any vegan cheese in place of the nutritional yeast and would there be any different methods in the preparation of it? Thank you so much for your lovely recipes! Love them all!
Melanie McDonald says
For the best flavour I'd recommend sticking with the nutritional yeast. Most vegan cheeses don't have much flavour. Nutritional yeast gives this recipe a delicious savoury, seasoned flavour and there really isn't anything else that gives a similar effect. Hope that helps!
Amber says
This recipe made me a believer. I followed to the T, only adding a pinch of herbes de Provence for a slightly changed flavor. Thank you, thank you, so much.
Nina says
I love your blog… Couple of questions… what are the changes your have made and updated from your original old recipe? Also, what plant milk do you use in the recipe? I am in the UK so perhaps different products. Thanks Melanie for all the amazing recipes that you post and share. Stay safe…
Melanie McDonald says
It's very improved! The original recipe was shared when no-one ever came here and was just for me really. The photo was so bad that I don't think anyone would have actually made it and I had no clue about recipe development, search engine optimization or photography, so it was just poor all over and wasn't doing me any favours. I've added onion and garlic powder because they enhance the cheesiness, used milk instead of water for more creaminess, and switched lemon juice for white wine vinegar because the white wine vinegar just works better flavour-wise. Also instead of soaking for 2 hours like before, now it's just 15 minutes in boiling water to make it quicker. It was ok before but now it's really delicious.
Regarding the milk I use, it won't be useful for you as the brands here are totally different. I generally use either Suzy's Oat Milk, Earth's Own Naked Oat Milk, Eden Soy milk, or Elmhurst. All the shops carry different ones so it depends where i"m shopping. Basically they are all the ones that don't have huge ingredient lists and are just oats and water, or soy and water, or nuts and water.
As long as you use an unflavoured milk (i.e no vanilla) and an unsweetened one it will be fine. Soy and oat are my preferences for cooking because they are the most neutral and aren't as naturally sweet as nut milks tend to be.
I haven't been back to the UK for years now so I'm not familiar with the milks available to be able to recommend one.
Here's the original recipe if you want to see:
1 cup of raw cashew nuts (dry measurement and soaked in water for at least 2 hours)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast .
juice of half a lemon
a big pinch of smoked paprika
as much water as you need to get the texture you like - I used half a cup
salt and pepper to taste
Hope that helps!
Nina says
Hi Mel…
Happy New Year! I left questions for you, which you so kindly answered. I was scrolling questions on this posting and saw my question and read your very full detailed answer. Please accept my sincere apologies for not thanking you before now. I genuinely only just read your reply…. Thank you so much, very helpful… I am going to make the new version this week…
Some snow here in the UK at the moment!! Best wishes and thank you again… Nina
Melanie McDonald says
No worries! You should get a notification when a questions/comment is answered. Maybe it went to spam? Hope the snow isn't causing too much chaos. You've got it before me in Canada this winter!
Lester says
I’m eager to try this appealing recipe. What do you think about using diluted tahini instead of unsweetened unflavored plant milk?
Thank you!
Melanie McDonald says
I wouldn't. Tahini is too strongly flavoured and will overpower any cheesiness.
Karen McEwen says
Love this with pasta. Also love that its so high in protein !
Sue says
We had it with broccoli and cauliflower as a side. Absolutely delicious!
Maria says
I love your recipes. This and the feta are my favorite cheese ones!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Maria!
Nina says
Fabulous recipe, I can find smoked sweet paprika and smoked hot paprika. Which one if any, would work? Thanks
Melanie McDonald says
Although mine is just labelled "smoked paprika", it does have a slightly sweet taste so it is probably similar to the sweet one you have seen. But if you like a bit of heat, the hot one might be nice too! If I had the chance I'd buy both. Its my favourite spice and I've never seen a hot one in the shops here!
monicageglio says
Can you use regular paprika?
A Virtual Vegan says
Smoked paprika has a totally different flavour to regular paprika and really adds something to this cashew cheese sauce. I have never tried it with regular paprika. I think it would be ok though or you could just omit it completely. I've made it without when I've run out.
monicageglio says
Just saw this response! I will get some smoked paprika bc I've been wondering about the difference between the two. Thanks!