This oozy, gooey vegan cheese sauce is just as good as the real thing! Versatile and easy to make, it's delicious on pasta, nachos, and more.
You don’t have to be vegan to fall for this vegan cheese recipe! It’s creamy, tangy, and rich, with a crave-worthy oozy texture just like that of dairy-based cheese sauce. Even Jack – the biggest real cheese lover I know – adores this recipe. Last time I made it, we stood at the counter, scooping it up with tortilla chips. We only got halfway through the first batch before we decided to make a second. Yep, it’s that good!
Serve this vegan cheese as a dip with tortilla chips or fresh veggies, toss it with pasta to make vegan mac and cheese, top it onto a baked potato, or drizzle it over chips to make a vegan nacho platter. Once you have it on hand, you’ll find endless ways to use it, and you won’t be able to get enough!
Vegan Cheese Recipe Ingredients
This dairy-free cheese is not only delicious – it’s good for you, too! Unlike processed vegan cheese that you might find at grocery stores, it’s made of a short list of whole foods ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Yukon gold potatoes and cashews – They’re the key ingredients for giving vegan cheese recipes oozy, creamy texture.
- Sweet potatoes – You couldn’t make a cheddar-style cheese sauce without an orange ingredient! Sweet potato gives this recipe its vibrant color, and it adds a light sweetness that’s delicious with the rich, tangy flavors here.
- Nutritional yeast – It gives this dairy-free cheese the nutty, savory flavor of the real thing!
- Garlic and onion powder – They add delicious depth of flavor.
- Apple cider vinegar – It gives this vegan cheese a bright, tangy finish. Yum!
To make this cashew cheese recipe, start by boiling the potatoes. When they’re tender, transfer them to a high-speed blender. Add the nutritional yeast, garlic, onion powder, cashews, and vinegar, along with water, extra-virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, adding more liquid as needed. Then, enjoy!
Best Vegan Cheese Variations
Though I love this recipe as written, I also like to change it up from time to time. Here are a few of my favorite variations:
- Change the veggies. If you don’t have sweet potato on hand, swap in carrots or butternut squash.
- Make it smoky. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, to taste. I love to serve this variation as a loaded queso dip with guac, pico de gallo, and black beans!
- Spice it up. For extra heat, blend a tablespoon of pickled jalapeños or a chipotle pepper from a can of chipotles in adobo into the cheese.
Let me know what variations you try!
More Plant-Based Basics
If you love this vegan cheese recipe, try one of these plant-based basics next:
- Cashew Sour Cream
- Sriracha Baked Tofu
- Coconut Whipped Cream
- Vegan Bacon
- Homemade Oat Milk
- Marinated Tempeh
Then, check out this post for more of my favorite vegan recipes!
Vegan Cheese
Ingredients
- ¾ cup peeled and diced Yukon gold potato
- ¾ cup peeled and diced sweet potato
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup water
To make your cheese spicy or smoky, try adding:
- ½ to 1 chipotle pepper from canned chipotles in adobo
- 1 tablespoon pickled jalapeños
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Add a few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until fork-tender, 8 to 12 minutes.
- Drain and transfer to a high-speed blender with the garlic, cashews, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, olive oil, and water. Blend until smooth.
- For spicy vegan cheese, add the chipotle pepper or pickled jalapeños. If you’d like a smoky flavor, add the smoked paprika.
- Serve with tortilla chips for dipping or over pasta to make vegan mac & cheese.
Hello
I wonder if I can skip the oil in the vegan cheese (following plant base food)
In the vegan cheese recipe?
Thank you, Nora
Hi Nora, you can – just add additional water in it’s place so it blends.
Do you soak the cashews before hand?
Hi Samantha, using a Vitamix, I don’t, but you can if you have a less powerful blender.
I made it for today’s lunch because I wanted a healtier man’n’cheese and OMG! So easy to make and extremely delicious! It’s already in my favourites 😍
Thanks for sharing this recipe! xx
I have not tried this yet so didn’t rate, but I have a question. Do you need to use nutritional yeast powder or flakes? I am wondering also the same thing about your vegan Parmesan substitute. I am not vegan, but I keep most nuts on hand for making flours, meals, as well as breams and butters. So I have raw cashews as a regular staple. I would make this more for when I make a quick pasta dish and see I have run out of Parmesan and also just to try it. I am pretty much certain I will never give up real cheese, but I love to try everything. It is all good.
Hi, I use nutritional yeast flakes.
Wow!! This sauce is amazing!! I’m generally skeptical of “cheeze” and cheese substitutes, but this sauce is delicious! I made it with the smoked paprika and a bit of the sauce from chipotle peppers in adobo as suggested and the flavor and texture are incredible! Thank you for this recipe!
This recipe looks good, yet do you have any nutritional information? That would be most helpful. Thanks so much
I am a renewed vegan and never before tried to make cheese, I had just given it up completely! I am happy to say that I made this last night and am pretty please. It’s not cheese, and I don’t think anything can ever be cheese, LOL, but it definitely was good to cover over my chickpea noodles to give me my vegan GF rendition of mac&cheese. It does resemble hummus to me quite a bit. But good outcome for my first time. Thanks for ths recipe!
Hi there, I see it says recipe serves 4. Can you tell me does it yield a half cup, cup? It looks delish!
Hi Kathy, around 1 1/2 cups.
Oil free version? Can I just omit it?
you can add additional water in it’s place.
Hi, ive just made the recipe using google to try to work out how many grams/ml of each ingredient and it seemed to be a bit wrong proportion wise (im in uk so dont have us cups to measure with).
Comparing the amounts of the ingredients to oyur pictures it looks off and although it had the correct looking texture after i added extra water to it, the only real flavour it had was extra virgin olive oil, so i wondered if next time you made the recipe, if you could roughly measure the ingredients in ml/grams or lbs or something so i could make it exactly without guessing it would be much appreciated! 🙂
Hi! I am planning on making this recipe tomorrow and i am super excited :)!! One quick question though, can you freeze the sauce? If not, how long does it last in the fridge?
Hi Thaya, it’ll last up to about 5 days in the fridge (give it a stir if it separates), but it doesn’t freeze well. The texture isn’t quite as creamy once thawed. I hope you enjoy!
Made and love it !! I am sensitive to dairy, and the store bought vegan cheese is not an option for me. Tried different blogs without liking any. Found out my new grandson is allergic to dairy, so grandma needs to save the day !!
Do you have a nutritional facts list for this recipe?
This recipe had to be adapted because I am allergic to cashews, but our version was delicious with venison link sausage!
can you share what the nutritional information for the sauce the way you made it? I try to track my macros. We are delighted to find a non dairy recipe for “cheese”.
Very interesting texture and flavor. I like the garlic in this recipe. Seems a little weird using as “cheese” dip.
I was wondering if there was a way to take this recipe and make it into shredded cheese. Can you cool it and shred it?
Hi Alex, I don’t think that’ll work – this recipe is a cheese sauce, it won’t become thick enough to grate.
Hi how long can you refrigerate this cheese?
Hi Sachi, about 5 days in a sealed container or jar. I hope you enjoy!
How long does this keep for in the fridge ?
about 5 days
Is the cheese sauce freezable? I really love it and made a double batch based on your description, but I am the only one in the house eating it and don’t want to throw any away. Also, how long does it keep in the fridge?
It’s not, I wish it was! The texture becomes gritty once frozen and thawed.
Hi
If WE don’t have nutrinonal yeast , Can WE Skip it or replace it ?
Thanks
you can skip it!