Vegan Cheese Sauce

Learn how to make some delicious tasting vegan style cheese sauce. This cheese sauce is perfect to use alone as a dip, or for the base/topping of your cuisines.

There are SO many vegan cheese sauce recipes out there which can seem overwhelming.

You might be asking yourself, which one should I use? Is it even worth the hassle? Trust me I understand!

That's why I decided to hop on the band wagon by making my own homemade version which I promise that you won't regret.

This recipe doesn't contain any cashews because in this ecomonical, climate raw cashews aren't cheap to use over and over again in recipes.

Also, you will be glad to know, you don't need carrots or potatoes for this recipe either as some recipes do call for it.

My version is straight forward and doesn't require and unusual ingredients or any complex methods.

The base of the sauce is created with chickpeas, yes that's right! Good old fashioned chickpeas due to their affordability and how accessible they are.

I do recommend using dried chickpeas and just pressure cooking them, if you want to save even more money because relying on canned chickpeas does get costly.

You can get as creative as you like with this recipe, but I like to use these herbs and spices, onion/garlic granules, parsley, thyme, paprika, yellow mustard powder, turmeric, chilli flakes and pink salt.

You can add more herbs and spices accordingly to your palate but the above has received the most complementary feedback from my recipe testers.

Also, a small amount of fat, being vegan butter, tapioca starch, lemon juice and milk is needed namely for the texture of the cheese sauce.

All of the ingredients are placed in a blender and blitz into a smooth consistency and there you have it, cheese sauce has just been made!

Ways to use this sauce

• Neat - Yes, really you can have a few tablespoons guilt free
• Crackers, chips i.e nachos
• Steamed/roasted vegetables
• Flatbread
• Pasta
• Baked potatoes
• A topping or base ingredient

The list is pretty endless in terms of what you can do with this cheese sauce because it is so versatile and such a multipurpose ingredient.

Keep in mind that the sauce isn't runny, it's thick in texture so keep that in mind.

Ingredients you will need

• Chickpeas - very important, these are the base ingredient for the sauces thickness, use cooked ones. If you they are canned, drain them first.
• Plant based milk - Almond milk is my go to plant based milk because it has a neutral taste.
• Nutritional yeast - This the MUST HAVE ingredient for ANY vegan recipe that requires a cheese flavour.
• Vegan butter - The fat is going to give the sauce more texture and not to mention flavour.
• Tapioca starch - To thicken the sauce.
• Thyme/parsley - Fresh or dried works for this recipe.
• Onion/garlic granules - Where I live the granulated form is always easy to obtain however use the powdered version if you want to.
• Turmeric/ yellow mustard powder - Just a small amount for colour.
• Chilli flakes - For a subtle hint of spiciness.
• Paprika//pink salt - To enhance the taste.

The steps

• Place the chickpeas, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, thyme parsley, onion/garlic granules, turmeric, yellow mustard powder, paprika, chilli flakes and pink salt into the blender.
• Add the vegan butter, lemon juice and plant based milk.
• Put the lid on and blitz into a smooth consistency.
• Serve accordingly.

Notes and tips

• I highly recommend use dried chickpeas and pressure cooking them as this is a much more affordable method to use.
• I used a Ninja blender which is high powered, I recommend using a powerful blender for this recipe or breaking down the sauce in batches.
• If you don't want to use any type of nut milk then you can use vegetable broth instead.
• If you want your sauce to be thinner then add more milk, a small amount at a time.
• If you don't want to use chickpeas, you can use butter beans or navy beans instead because they both are creamy and similar to chickpeas in texture.
• Feel free to add or omit any of the listed herbs and spices.
• This sauce should be refrigerated and store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

More recipes to try

• Apple Pear Butter
• Mixed Spice Recipe
• Tamarind Chutney
• Powdered Coconut Sugar
• Homemade Grenadine Syrup
• How To Make Gluten Free Breadcrumbs
• How To Make Turkey Drippings Without Drippings

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