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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"I finally found my go to vegan cheese sauce! Perfect consistency and so yummy!" - Michelle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
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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!
This is a must-have vegan staple that is uncomplicated, easy to make, and will be a huge hit with the whole family!
Mel x
P.S. 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. You just need a handful of vegan staples:
- 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 cheese 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 then warm gently in a pan before serving, or use in your favourite recipes.
Success Tip
If you are adding the sauce to hot pasta, make it a little thinner than you would ideally like because it will thicken on contact with the hot pasta. Or save some of the starchy hot pasta boiling water to thin after you've tossed them together.
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:
- Tossed through freshly cooked pasta or spaghetti for an easy dinner. Maybe with a sprinkling of vegan parmesan too? I love to serve it with roasted cherry tomatoes on top!
- 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!
Recipe FAQs
Even if you have a high-powered blender I recommend soaking your cashew nuts in boiling water as per the instructions. 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.
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) dairy-free milk , (it 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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Christine Smith says
I am looking for a vegan cheese sauce that can be used in the oven. A pasta/vegetable bake for example. Would this sauce work? Thank you, Chris.
Melanie McDonald says
I use this for cauliflower cheese and lasagna etc but it's best with some extra liquid added as it can bake up a bit dry otherwise. I usually make it as directed then add either more dairy-free milk or some water until it looks like single cream or half and half kind of consistency. It looks alarmingly thin for a creamy cheese sauce but by the time its been baked its perfect. Hope that helps!
Nicole Gillespie says
Came out fantastic!!! Love it!!! Thank you so much!!! 😍