Cashew Cheese Sauce

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:

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.

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.

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!

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.

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