This delicious, velvety sauce is the ultimate 5 ingredient vegan cheese sauce. Whip it up in your blender and use it as a dip, add it to a recipe that requires cheese sauce, or fold it into macaroni noodles for a creamy mac n' cheese.
This cheese sauce comes really close to tasting like dairy cheese sauce thanks to the addition of unsweetened plain Greek yogurt. I was so psyched when Kite Hill introduced Greek yogurt to their line of products, because I knew that I could add it to recipes where I needed a sharp tanginess that would mimic cheese.
While lemon juice, vinegar, and even pickle juice can work well to add that tang, they don’t come close to Greek yogurt because of the probiotics that are added to it. Those live cultures are what gives cheese that distinctive taste, and now that there’s finally a great vegan Greek yogurt, whipping up a tasty cheese sauce is easier than ever.
Like most vegan cheese recipes, the base is made out of soaked raw cashews. Few nuts or seeds make a creamy and thick cheese sauce like cashews. They’re mild in flavor and they blend up so smooth and silky.
You’ll need to soak the cashews in hot water for at least 4 hours so that they soften. This is especially important if you don’t have a high-powered blender, because you won’t want to have solid pieces of nuts in your white vegan cheese sauce.
Once the cashews are soft and puffy, it’s time to make the cheesy sauce
HOW TO MAKE CREAMY VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE THAT TASTES LIKE CHEESE
First – Drain and rinse the cashews and put them in your blender.
Second – Add the Greek yogurt, sea salt, nutritional yeast, and water.
Third – Blend on a high speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides, and blend for 1 more minute, or until there are no visible pieces of nuts.
That’s it. 5 ingredients, 3 easy steps, and 1 delicious cashew cheese sauce. You can’t ask for better.
This sauce was created for a recipe that will be in our second cookbook. More on that exciting news later this month. The recipe required a tangy and delicious cheesy vegan sauce, so I created this. Once I tasted it, I knew that is was too good to be tucked away in a recipe. It needed its own special place on the blog so you could find it whenever you needed it. You’re welcome.
Make this and let us know what you think. We love hearing from you.
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The Ultimate 5 Ingredient Vegan Cheese Sauce
Equipment
- 1 food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for at least 4 hours
- 5 ounce plain Greek Yogurt (we use Kite Hill brand) See note
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast (not rapid rise or brewers yeast)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Boil a pot of water and cover the raw cashews in the water and soak for at least 4 hours. The cashews should double in size and look plump and feel soft. Drain and rinse. See Note
- Put the cashews in the blender and add the yogurt, nutritional yeast, salt, and water in the blender and blend at a high speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and blend for another 1 minute, or until the sauce is smooth and creamy. You shouldn’t see any solid pieces of nuts.
- Fold it into anything that needs a thick and creamy cheese sauce or use it as a dip.
- Enjoy!
TofuAnnie says
It might be staring me in the face, but I don't see the recipe on this page. I've gone to Facebook and Pinterest and it all leads back to the same page. Can you help? Thanks!
Linda & Alex says
Hey! You area absolutely correct. We will make sure to fix this asap and get the recipe back up and running : )
Alex & Linda
Khado says
What causes the sodium count to be so high? Thanks!
Linda Meyer says
Hi Khado, Thank you so much for asking!! We're in the process of updating our recipe cards and haven't gotten to this one. The plugin we use has improved and we're now able to add more information. We've updated it and the number doesn't look so scary now. 🙂
Jo says
Deliciously easy and so very good. Could not find the Kite Hill Greek Yogurt so went with the plain unsweetened and it was amazing.
Thank you,
Jo
Linda Meyer says
Hi Jo! Thank you so much for letting us know, we truly appreciate it. We're so happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
Jan says
I don't understand calling it vegan when there is yogurt in it?
Did anyone get back to you on how it was with vegan yogurt?
Alex Meyer, MA says
Hey Jan, Thank you for pointing that out! We recently switched our recipes over to a different program and the "vegan" part of the vegan greek yogurt didn't transfer over. We're definitely an all vegan site here and would never use a dairy product in any of our recipes. Hope you have an amazing day and let us know if you have anymore questions!
Jan says
Thanks!
kateringforveggies says
This looks so good! I'm always eager to try new vegan cheese sauce recipe and yours looks perfect!
kateringforveggies says
I press enter by accident... I will try with a vegan yogurt however, so I hope it'll be just as good!
Linda Meyer says
Just make sure it's almond or soy based, not coconut. Let me know how it works out. 🙂
Linda Meyer says
Thank you so much!
Christine @ Run Plant Based says
Yum, such a simple and fun recipe. Thanks!
Linda Meyer says
Thank you! And you're welcome. 🙂
Jennifer says
Oh WOW! Oh-So-Creamy!
Linda Meyer says
Thank you! It's so creamy. It's part of a soup that will be in our second cookbook that's being released next fall. 🙂
Jennifer Bliss says
Can't wait for the soup - and the book!
Linda Meyer says
Thank you! xoxo