One sauce. A hundred ways to use it!
This amazing, vegan cheese sauce is the perfect sauce because you can use over pasta, in burritos, in cheesy potatoes, as a chip dip, over enchiladas, as a base for a cheesy soup, over veggies, as a topping for toast …
Aaaaannd … it makes the most scrumptious vegan lasagna. (Recipe coming next week 😊)
And, it’s nutritional-yeast-free. (Which makes us happy since we try to avoid that ingredient.)
And, what’s more, it’s easy. Just dump a few ingredients in your blender jar, hit blend, and *poof*, you have this luscious, creamy sauce that has a fascinating ability to take just about any ingredients from your pantry or refrigerator and transform them into a delicious meal.
Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce (without nutritional yeast)
Prep
Total
Yield 1 3/4 cups
A delicious, plant-based cheese sauce that tastes great over potatoes, pasta, steamed vegetables, and more.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1/3 cup approximately peeled and sliced raw carrots, (about 1 small carrot)
- 2 teaspoons granulated onion
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Rinse cashews in a colander under very hot water.
- Place all ingredients in blender and blend until very smooth.
Notes
1. It may take several minutes to blend if you don’t have a powerful blender. Mixture should be very smooth with no graininess.
2. If you have a powerful blender, just peel and trim a medium carrot and place in blender whole. No need to slice and measure.
Perfect! Delicious! I made it to pour over salad as a dressing, and it’s absolutely awesome. I like that it doesn’t have nutritional yeast in it, yet it still tastes kind of cheesy. And it’s so fast and easy to make. I’ll be using this often.
Good to hear! I never would have thought to use it as a salad dressing.
Do you have a preferred brand of tahini?
Yes, the brand of tahini that I always buy is the one linked to in the recipe. It’s creamy and has a mild flavor.
I hope you enjoy! 🙂
Is there something wrong with nutritional yeast?
Hi Mary,
I personally try to avoid nutritional yeast because it is suspected to possibly affect neurotransmitter function in the brain and artificially stimulate the appetite. But studies need to be done on this, so I don’t push it too much.
Jennifer
I’ve searched Medline using various combinations of “nutritional yeast”, “neurotransmitter or neurotoxin”, and “appetite” published between 1960 and 2019. The only article that seems to remotely reflect what you are both claiming about the negative effects of Nutritional Yeast is a peer-reviewed journal article by Steck et al. (2018). The authors investigated the affects of yeast on gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) in Drosophila. Drosophilia is the scientific name for the genus in which fruitflies belong…. In short, I believe your “suspected correlation/causation” is based on a study about common fruit flies, not humans.
There is also a study by Jung et al. (2008) investigating the effects of yeast hydrolysate, but, again this study was done on non-human species (i.e., rats).
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for your comment. My decision to avoid nutritional yeast actually doesn’t have anything to do with studies involving fruit flies 😊
As I have stated several times on my blog, there aren’t studies done on nutritional yeast; and for me, the simple fact that there are NOT studies is actually a good enough reason (for me) to avoid it. It isn’t a naturally-occurring food, like a fruit or a vegetable, and I tend to error on the “play it safe” side.
That said, there IS plenty of anecdotal evidence that nutritional yeast increases appetite; and, as a weight loss coach who wants to give her clients every advantage they can get, I like to develop recipes that give them good-tasting options that don’t include potential appetite stimulants.
To be clear, it is very possible that nutritional yeast may be perfectly fine to eat. I am not claiming it is and I am not claiming it is not. But until I know for sure, I prefer to avoid it.
Jennifer
Yes, nutritional yeast is naturally occuring MSG. It accumulates in the brain, is a brain toxin, and causes us to not want to stop eating. The neurotoxin causes headaches and brain fog and confusion at the very least!
Nancy,
According to Westonaprice.org, Nutritional yeast does not contain MSG unless it was purposely added.
I searched Medline for articles about MSG consumption and found a systematic review (this is the highest possible level of evidence) by Obayashi et al. (2016) investigating the correlation between MSG consumption and headaches. The authors found that in 5/6 studies in which participants in the cohorts consumed food with the high-dose oral MSG, there was no significant difference in headaches when compared with the control groups. The same was true in 3/7 studies in which participants did not consume food with the high-dose MSG. As you can see, *high-dose* MSG consumed *without* food may contribute to headaches. However, MSG consumed in moderate doses, with food does not significant contribute to headaches.
I’ve searched for articles about the effects of MSG in relation to other health problems and there is no evidence to support a relationship. In fact, Fernstrom et al. (2018) wrote in their conclusion “these and related discoveries explain why the ingestion of MSG in the diet does not lead to an increase in brain glutamate concentrations, and thus does not produce functional disruptions in brain [activity].”
I made a baked ziti for dinner tonight. I used your marinara sauce and this cheese sauce. I didn’t have tahini sauce and substituted a can of chickpeas with liquid (instead of water). When it was finished baking it smelled like pizza and was absolutely amazing and delicious!
Ooooooohhhhh! That’s sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try that!
If you put your cashews in a electric pressure cooker ( mine is a Cuisnart) and cook on high pressure for a few mins and npr you can use a cheap blender (that’s what I have) and put the cashews in a few at a time, you will get a smooth texture. Just soaking them has never given me smooth sauce. For my sad blender I would cook the carrots too.
Yum! I am sadly off of nutritional yeast, and this is the first cheese sauce I have tried. I was doubtful but it’s good! Thank you.
So happy you liked it!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Unfortunately I run out of thaini sauce, what can I do? It’s the same if I don’t use it o I need a substitute? Thank you so much!
Hi Diana,
I definitely think this cheese sauce is better with the tahini, but you could leave it out. OR if you have Amazon Prime, you could have some tahini on your doorstep in two days. 🙂
Jennifer
I wish I had pictures for you. I have my doubts with nacho sauces. But OMG was this one amazing. I love how simple it is and I had everything in my house. I spooned it on pizza last night and it cooked perfectly. Best pizza ever! This afternoon I put it on chickpea pasta for Mac and Cheese. Licked the bowl!! Thank you so much for an awesome recipe!
Thank you Betsy! This seriously makes my night. So happy you liked it. I think I need to come over to your house for dinner, though … Pizza one night and Mac and Cheese the next! Yum! 🙂
Right? !?!
Lititle update. I froze half the batch and it thawed wonderfully. We put it over broccoli last night. Hubs has declared it had to become broccoli soups so I will be attempting that this week ♡♡♡
Sounds delish! I had some in my freezer too, so I thawed it in the refrigerator overnight and had it over cauliflower today.
Yummy. Well we made Broccoli soup with it and it’s incredible!!! The kids ate their bowls! I realized last night that if you added spinach and some water chestnuts it would be spinach dip. Oh it is happening! Lol. Thank you for such a versatile recipe!
Just made this and drizzled it over potatoes. It is soooo good! Thanks for the recipe, I really appreciate the no-nutritional yeast- I’ve suffered from migraines most of my life and steer clear of any potential triggers. Now I’m looking for more ways to eat this 😛
Hi Wendy,
I’m so happy you like it. It’s definitely one of our favorites! We eat it over pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, rice, potatoes, bread, green beans, peas, … just about everything. : )
Thanks so much for your comment!
Jennifer
Wondered if this can be made with other nuts? Our family is sensitive to cashews. Any suggestions?
Hi Ann,
I tried this with sunflower seeds and it was okay – not great – but okay. I haven’t tried it with other nuts (cashews really do give it the right flavor), but blanched almonds might work if you made sure you blended the sauce really well to ensure a smooth texture.
Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Jennifer
Would you please tell me the brand of the tahini you use? When I click the link it will not pull up
Hi Madilyn,
I fixed the link. Thanks for letting me know. : )
Can it be heated for over pasta please?
Hi Marian,
Yes, we reheat this sauce and serve it over pasta often.
I hope you enjoy!
Jennifer
Thank you so much for this. I made it today and it was amazing. Can you please tell me how long I can keep it in the refrigerator? Thanks again.
Hi Reena,
I am so happy you liked it. It keeps for about 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. I have frozen on occasion too. The consistency isn’t so great after it’s been frozen, but if you re-heat it thoroughly and stir it really well while you are reheating it, it turns out pretty good.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer. Thank you so much for your response and for the information on freezing.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I can’t stand nutritional yeast, and this tasted beyond amazing. I just tried it over rice, chips with refried beans and some leftover pasta, all three were amazing!!
Aw, thanks for your comment, Jasmine. I’m so happy you liked it! 🙂