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Veggie-Packed Vegan Cheese Sauce

October 31, 2018 By Dianne 6 Comments

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vegan cheese sauce with pasta and baked potatoes and broccoli Pour this Vegan Cheese Sauce over baked potatoes, bowls of veggies, or any dish that could use a little cheesy goodness.  Use it with cooked pasta to make a healthy vegan mac and cheese. Homemade non-dairy cheese sauce can also be used to make casseroles, lasagna, and even dip! It’s delicious when drizzled over nachos. This easy recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, and oil-free, but it’s definitely not flavor-free! No one will guess that it’s made with vegetables and is sneakily healthy!

cauliflower carrots, onion, cashews, garlic, lemons, and noochComfort Food

A few weeks ago, I shared my recipe for cheesy Vegan Broccoli and Rice Casserole. Since then, I’ve been making the cheese sauce on its own and using it for macaroni and cheese. It’s perfect comfort for these chili autumn days.

Cheese Sauce ingredients in blender sauce mixing in blenderIf you remember that recipe, you might recall the cheesy sauce was made with carrots, potatoes, and onion. I like to make creamy sauces such as this with cauliflower. But when I created that recipe, Dennis was avoiding it, because it causes his gout to flare up. Fortunately, he’s doing better now.

Cheese Sauce cooking on the stoveCauliflower, Potatoes, or Cashews

Here, I’ve gone back to using cauliflower because it’s so nutritious. And also because I like to pour this sauce over baked potatoes, and a potato sauce on a potato is a bit weird.

Vegan Cheese Sauce in potOf course, potatoes will work really in this recipe, too, if you’re avoiding cauliflower. I like to use little yellow waxy potatoes when making creamy sauces. I’ve experimented with using sweet potatoes, but I’ve found that their strong flavor overpowers the sauce.

When first learning how to make vegan cheese sauce, I made them with a cashew base. I still love cashew cheese, and I like to keep on hand in the fridge to drizzle on my tacos and burgers.

pouring sauce over pastaVeggie-Packed Vegan Cheese Sauce

Since this cheese sauce has a vegetable base, it’s a little more nutrient dense and it contains less fat. It’s a great way to hid vegetables from picky eaters, and it’s perfect for giving meals a little nutrient boost.

Cheese Sauce on pasta for vegan mac and cheeseI haven’t had cows’ milk cheese since 2001, so I can’t say for sure if this tastes like its dairy-laden counterpart. It is creamy and has a bit of tang, thanks to nutritional yeast and cashews though. Most people eat with their eyes first, so if it looks like “the real thing,” it will be perceived as the real thing.

Cheese Sauce over baked potato with broccoli

Making Vegan Cheese Sauce is super easy!

  • First, you boil the vegetables in a large pot on the stove.
  • Then, you mix the vegetables together with the rest of the ingredients together with water in blender until smooth and creamy. (I like to use my Blendtec for this step.)
  • And finally, you heat it until it’s warm and thickened to your desired consistency. 

This Veggie-Packed Vegan Cheese Sauce is incredibly versatile. Mix with cooked pasta to make macaroni and cheese. Pour it over a loaded baked potato. Drizzle it over nachos. You can even add peppers and spices and make a spicy dip!

cheese sauce with baked potatoes and mac and cheese

Veggie-Packed Vegan Cheese Sauce in pot square
5 from 1 vote
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Veggie-Packed Vegan Cheese Sauce

Pour this Vegan Cheese Sauce over macaroni, baked potatoes, bowls of veggies, or any dish that could use a little cheesy goodness. 

This recipe makes about 4 cups of cheese sauce. A serving size is 1/3 cup

Course Condiment
Cuisine American
Keyword dairy free cheese sauce, non dairy cheese sauce, vegan cheese, vegan cheese sauce
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Yields 12 servings
Calories 69 kcal
Author Dianne

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized carrots, chopped (about a cup)
  • 2 cups chopped cauliflower
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • ½ cup raw cashews
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

  1. Place the carrots, onion, cauliflower, and cashews in a large pot. Fill it with enough water to cover the vegetables plus about two inches.

  2. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender.
  3. Drain the vegetables and save the water. Allow the vegetables to cool slightly and then place them in a high-speed blender or food processor along with the nutritional yeast, garlic, cornstarch, lemon juice, mustard, and salt. Add 2 cups of the reserved cooking water and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little more water if the mixture is too thick. Keep in mind that it will thicken when it’s heated.
  4. Pour the sauce in a medium-sized sauce pan and place it over medium-high heat. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat and allow to thicken slightly.
  5. Remove from heat. Mix cheese sauce in with pasta for macaroni and cheese, drizzle it over a baked potato, or add it to any dish that could use a little cheese goodness.

Cheese Sauce in pot squareIf you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like:

  • Tangy Herbed Vegan Cheese Spread
  • My Go-To Cashew Cheese
  • Tofu Feta
  • Smoked Almond Cheddar

Vegan Cheese Sauce over baked potatoes

Filed Under: DIY Vegan Staples, Vegan Cheese Recipes, Vegan Recipes Tagged With: carrots, cauliflower, food, gluten-free, mac and cheese, macaroni and cheese, Non-Dairy, non-dairy cheese, oil-free, plant-based, Recipe, Vegan, vegan cheese, vegetables, vegetarian

About Dianne

Dianne Wenz is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Vegan Lifestyle Coach, Plant-Based Diet Nutrition Specialist, and Plant-Based Chef, as well as the author of Truly Healthy Vegan Cookbook.

Previous Post: « Tangy Herbed Vegan Cheese Spread
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Reader Interactions

   

Comments

  1. Susan says

    November 1, 2018 at 2:55 AM

    When I first went vegan, ages ago, I made a lot of cheese sauces with potatoes and carrots. Then came the roux based ones, then the cashew based ones. I still adore cashew cheese sauce, but lately I have been enjoying vegetable based ones again. I’ve made a few that have butternut pumpkin in them, but yet to make a cauliflower one! This looks great.

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      November 1, 2018 at 9:33 AM

      So interesting! I hadn’t even heard of veggie-based cheese sauces until a few years ago.

      Reply
  2. Stephanie says

    November 11, 2018 at 7:58 PM

    Hi I really like the recipe for your cheeses sauce it sounds amazing but my husband is allergic to cashews can you recommend a replacement?

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      November 12, 2018 at 10:11 AM

      Hi, Stephanie! I’ve only made it with cashews, but I’m sure it would work with another nut. You might have to soak them first. You could also try omitting nuts, although it might not be as thick. Let me know how it goes!

      Reply
    • Rene says

      November 12, 2018 at 9:52 PM

      5 stars
      I just used cooked white rice to substitute for the cashews. It worked perfectly. The flavor and consistency were amazing!

      Reply
      • Dianne says

        November 13, 2018 at 9:14 AM

        Hi, Rene! That’s great to know! I’m so glad you liked it.

        Reply

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Dianne Wenz

Hi! I'm Dianne Wenz and I am a Holistic Health Coach, Vegan Lifestyle Coach, Plant-Based Diet Nutrition Specialist, Plant-Based Chef, and cookbook author. I offer group and individual nutrition and lifestyle coaching programs to people across the U.S., and I teach cooking classes in Northern New Jersey. Contact me today to learn more and to schedule a complimentary breakthrough session!

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