A silky smooth, lusciously creamy, Vegan Cheese Sauce that is nut free, gluten free and really low in fat. Whip it up in minutes in your blender!
Oh my word … This super easy Vegan Cheese Sauce is going to change your life.
Well, maybe that’s a bit extreme, but it’s seriously good and it’s nut free and gluten free and also really low in fat.
There aren’t many nut free vegan cheese sauces around. Cashews tend to be used on repeat for creamy sauces in the vegan world and although they make a really tasty, glossy, yummy sauce that I love, hey, sometimes there are times when you could use a recipe without them.
Maybe you have guests with allergies, maybe you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a bag of nuts (cashews aren’t exactly cheap!), or maybe you are trying to be good after eating your way through an entire cookbook for the past 5 or 6 months!
Um … that would be me ….
Whatever the reason you want a nut-free vegan cheese sauce, I’ve got you covered, because this recipe is just perfect for any of the above occasions.
So, what’s the deal exactly?
This recipe came about when I had was thinking about vegan tofu recipes, because I had some leftover silken tofu in the fridge. I also had many random packets of almost finished spaghetti and linguine that I wanted to use up. That along with a very strong craving for cheesy, spinachy pasta.
So the silken tofu got thrown in a blender along with some other random things and magic happened. I didn’t expect it to be anything special but as soon as I tasted it I knew I had to share it.
It’s a super simple Vegan Cheese Sauce, made in seconds, and it’s luscious, smooth and creamy and can be used in any recipe where you want a thick, creamy, cheesy sauce. And did I mention it’s got no nuts, no gluten and no fat in it? I did but I feel the need to repeat myself.
Because it’s made from silken or soft tofu, it is super, super velvety and smooth. So much more so than a nut-based sauce and it tastes lighter.
It’s a basic, simple sauce that is totally yum, and ready for you to do whatever you like with. Me, I made a really quick and easy creamy mushroomy, spinach spaghetti type recipe which I am for sure going to recreate to share with you too because it was so good.
The possibilities are endless though. I’m thinking:
- cauliflower cheese
- mac and cheese
- lasagna
- dips
- pasta bakes
- cheesy soups
- loaded nachos
- drizzled on all the things
You get the idea.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE
SEE MY VIDEO FOR A VISUAL GUIDE. FOR INGREDIENTS & FULL INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE SEE THE RECIPE CARD AT THE END OF THIS POST
This simple, Vegan Cheese Sauce couldn’t be easier to make.
Here’s what you need:
And here’s how it’s done:
STEP 1
Put all of the ingredient in a blender or a food processor and blend. (That is incidentally actually another good thing about this recipe. Because everything in it is super soft, you don’t need a fancy pants high powered blender to make it super smooth. Any blender or food processor should be able to take care of it).
STEP 2
Warm it gently through in a pan on the stove top or use in any recipe calling for cheese sauce.
That’s it. It’s the easiest sauce ever!
This Vegan Cheese Sauce is:
- Super quick and easy to make
- High in protein
- Really low in fat
- High in protein
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- Really tasty
- And ready and waiting for all of your many cheese sauce needs!
A NOTE ON NUTRITIONAL YEAST
Please be sure to use a good tasting nutritional yeast for this recipe. All nutritional yeasts are not created equally. Some brands taste a lot better than others.
I personally do not like Bob’s Red Mill nutritional yeast, even though I love all of their other products. I do not recommend you use it in this recipe as you won’t get the intended cheesy flavour. It’s ok used in small amounts but in a recipe where you use a lot like this it will make a big difference to the overall result.
My personal favourite is Hoosier Farms and an added bonus is it’s super cheap too. It comes in a massive tub that lasts ages. I get mine from Amazon. It looks like this (tap the pic to go right there):
For more vegan dairy substitutes, check out these great options:
And if you love this recipe, please do check out my cookbook, and subscribe to my email list for a fabulous FREE eCookbook featuring my top 10 recipes. Being on the list means you will be first to see my new recipes and you’ll be kept in the loop on all things new and exciting too!
Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce (no nuts!)
Ingredients
- 12 oz / 340 g silken or soft tofu
- ½ cup / 35 g nutritional yeast , make sure it's a good tasting one
- 1½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika , or chipotle powder
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsweetened milk of choice , soy milk gives the best result tastewise
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Warm the sauce through gently in a pan on the stove top before serving.
Long time vegan, creator of A Virtual Vegan & author of the book 
Beth says
Hello. This looks yummy. In the recipe you state to just add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, then to warm the sauce on stove top before serving. You also state that the unused sauce will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.
Just seeking some clarification: After blending up the sauce, it is best to just portion out the amount of sauce I need to heat up each day during the 5 day period? Or is it okay that the entire batch of sauce gets heated up on day one and then (perhaps smaller portions) get reheated during the next 5 days?
A Virtual Vegan says
Food safety wise it’s probably best to portion it out and warm up just what you want at the time rather than keep repeatedly warming and cooling it. When I make pasta with it though, I don’t warm the sauce separately. I just cook the pasta, drain it, return it to the pan on a low heat then pour over some sauce (enough to coat) and stir it in. In less than a minute it’s warm enough to serve. Saves dirtying another pan!
I hope that helps!
Beth says
Well I can only dream about this sauce now. I have a brand new soy allergy and now cannot make what I’m sure would have been an absolutely amazing sauce.
Thanks for the info. I’ll know what to do if I find any other soy-free, nut-free, gluten-free cheese sauces on your blog.
Sarah says
Great texture, great flavor. Not an exact replica of cheese per se, but it worked well on pasta and gave me the same satisfaction as Mac and cheese. I used Bob’s red mill nooch (all I had) so maybe it’d be a closer match to the real deal if I’d used the recommended brands. I’ll be making again for sure!
elisabetta says
Made this today and use it both for dipping and as a base for cauliflower cheese. Texture is different once baked as mentioned but still lovely flavour! Will be making this again and again!
Jane Boden says
Does this ‘split’ if you use it in the oven e.g. in a ‘bake’ or lasagne?
A Virtual Vegan says
It doesn’t split, but the texture doesn’t stay as silky smooth. Lots of people still use it for baking in dishes like that though and are happy with it.
Alicia says
Love the ease of just blending soft ingredients! Question: have you made this with refrigerated tofu? I had that on hand and so used it over the silken, but I’ve had trouble with tofu based sauces having kind of a funny after taste no matter what type of tofu I use. Have you ever had trouble with this?
Thanks!!
A Virtual Vegan says
The silken tofu I use is refrigerated. Whether it’s refrigerated or not won’t make any difference as long as it’s silken tofu. With this recipe the tofu must be really soft and silky for it to work and for the sauce to have a really great silky texture. The firmer tofus won’t give anywhere near as good a texture. I also find that silken tofu tastes less like tofu if that makes sense. Sounds silly but it doesn’t taste as soy like as firm or extra firm tofu for instance. If you can’t get silken tofu, tofu labelled “soft” also does a great job. I wouldn’t recommend going any firmer than that.
I kind of already part-answered your question on the tofu taste, but can hand on heart say that this sauce does not have any tofu taste at all as long as you follow the recipe exactly. The balance of flavourings/seasonings do a great job of covering up any very slight tofu taste that there might be.