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Home » Blog » Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce (Without Nuts)

Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce (Without Nuts)

By Lynda · Feb 1, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

This delicious, creamy cheese sauce is entirely plant-based. It’s perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and everyone else who likes good food!

This versatile cheese sauce is made using vegetables, seasonings, and nutritional yeast.  You can use it as a dip, to make vegan mac and cheese, or seasoning it to make nachos.  It’s a blank canvas waiting for your culinary artistic touches!

vegan mac and cheese

How To Make Vegan Cheese Sauce

For this simple vegan cheese sauce without nuts, you need the following ingredients:

  • potatoes
  • carrot
  • chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
  • water
  • vinegar (regular or apple cider)
  • salt
  • lemon juice
  • nutritional yeast flakes (do not confuse with the yeast you use to make bread)
  • onion powder
  • garlic powder
  • cayenne
vegan cheese ingredients

To make it, you start by cooking the potatoes and carrots in a pot of boiling water until they become soft.

potatoes and carrots in a pot

Once they become soft, drain them in a colander.

draining vegetables

Next, add the cooked vegetables, chickpeas, water, vinegar, and lemon juice to a blender or food processor.  

vegetables in food processor

Blend or process on HIGH until they are well combined.

pureed vegetables

Add the salt, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne and process or blend until it becomes smooth and creamy.

pouring cheese

You can use the sauce immediately or refrigerate for later. If it thickens up too much in the refrigerator, whisk in water until desired consistency.  Re-heat in the microwave.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

vegan mac and cheese

To make mac and cheese, boil macaroni noodles according to the directions on the box.  

Meanwhile, make the Vegan Cheese Sauce.  Once the macaroni noodles have finished cooking, drain them, and then stir in the cheese sauce.

Vegan Nacho Sauce

vegan nacho cheese sauce

To make Vegan Nacho Sauce, prepare the vegan cheese sauce according to recipe directions.  In step 4, also add ½ teaspoon smoked paprika.  If you like the taste of cumin, you can also add ½ teaspoon.

Once the sauce is smooth and creamy, you can add chopped jalapeños for a spicy nacho cheese sauce or leave them out for a more traditional nacho sauce.

nacho cheese dip

Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce

This delicious, creamy cheese sauce is entirely plant-based. It's perfect for vegans, vegetarians, and everyone else who likes good food!
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Plant-based, sauce, vegan
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 39kcal
Author: Jane Smith

Equipment

  • Pot
  • Blender or Food Processor

Ingredients

  • 1 cup potatoes diced large
  • 1 cup carrots diced large
  • 1 cup chickpeas
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • dash cayene

Instructions

  • Boil the carrots and potatoes until they become soft.
  • While the carrots and potatoes are cooking, combine the salt, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne and set aside.
  • Drain vegetables and rinse with cold water in a colander.
  • Place the vegetables, chickepeas, water, vinegar, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor and process until blended. Add the seasoning blend and process until smooth and creamy.

Video

Notes

Use immediately or refrigerate.  If it thickens up too much in the refrigerator, whisk in water until desired consistency.  Re-heat in the microwave.

Nutrition

Serving: 1¼ cup | Calories: 39kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 397mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1786IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

Veggie Sauce

This sauce can also be used to top cooked broccoli or cauliflower. Think of it a healthy way to get picky eaters to eat their veggies.

broccoli with cheese

Other meat-free recipes you might enjoy at Southern Kissed:

  • Brazilian Portabellas
  • Tomato Curry
  • Healthy Strawberry Salad

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Comments

  1. talbert says

    March 05, 2021 at 3:34 am

    5 stars
    Love your recipes

    Reply

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Lynda and Johnny statue

My name is Lynda and I am a recovering sugar addict and travel junkie. I'm also a mom of two children & 2 dogs, wife of 1....and a messy cook taking life one bite at a time.

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