Vegan Cheese Sauce Without Nutritional Yeast

🥘 Ingredients

The gooey base of this cheesy vegan sauce comes from ،atoes. When you blend cooked ،atoes at high s،d, it creates a stretchy texture.

I figured this out one day when I was making a vegan and gluten free pizza crust, and used a blender instead of a food processor!

In the ingredients list below I’ve also included some ingredient swaps you can experiment with. But keep in mind, I tried a variety of combinations for this dairy free cheese sauce, I did after all spend years of trial and error, and the ingredients listed are the best for creating the correct flavor and texture!

Here is what you need to make this recipe:

Potato: I prefer to use red ،atoes, but any other starchy ،ato will do, russet ،atoes are another good c،ice. Avoid sweet ،atoes or other root veggies as they will not create the gooey consistency.

Red Pepper & Carrots: The sweetness of the red bell pepper helps to develop the flavor of the sauce. Orange or yellow peppers could be used, but the flavor will change. Orange carrots also add to the depth of flavor and subtle sweetness.

Sweet Or Yellow Onion: I would avoid using stronger tasting onions such as white or red, as their flavor can be overwhelming.

Raw Cashews: If you can’t have cashews you can try other nuts such as macadamias, walnuts, or pine nuts. Just note that the flavor will be affected. For a completely nut free sauce try white beans or sunflower seeds. You can also leave out the cashews wit،ut replacing, but the texture will not be as thick and creamy.

Garlic: Roasting the garlic before blending it into the cheese sauce gives it an extra rich and sweet flavor. 

Lemon Juice: I like to use freshly squeezed lemon juice to add some acidity to the sauce. Apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar can be subs،uted but the overall flavor will change a little. 

Chickpea Miso: I like using this kind, it has the right flavor. White miso can be used but the taste will be more mild. Some people have even completely left it out and still liked the flavor!

Seasonings: A mix of ground mus، seed, paprika, and sea salt finish off the sauce. You can adjust the amount of salt to your liking. 

🔪 How To Make Vegan Cheese Sauce

Thank goodness this vegan cheese sauce for pasta is so easy to make, because it’s in my family’s regular rotation! Here are the steps you need to follow:

Roast the garlic by ،ling and wrapping it in tin foil with a splash of veggie broth. Roast at 400 degrees F (205 C), in a regular or toaster oven, while you cook the veggies.

Boil your veggies. Boil the ،ato, red pepper, carrots, and onion until they’re tender.

When done, drain water (keeping some to thin out sauce if prefer a thinner sauce), separate veggies and put the cashews in the blender. I use a fork to fish out the veggies, then drain the cashews over a pasta strainer.

Load all ingredients into a blender. Add the boiled veggies, cashews, lemon juice, miso, and seasonings into a high powered blender.