Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce

Soy-Free Option

• Use a non-dairy milk other than soy. I think oat milk would be a good substitute!
• Omit the miso paste.

I wouldn’t call this recipe “high protein”, but because it’s made with cashews, soy milk and nutritional yeast, it does still pack in some protein! I actually came up with this vegan nacho cheese sauce for a TVP Crunchwrap recipe I’m working on, and it was so good that I felt like it needed to be a standalone recipe on the site.

This is a very low effort recipe and can add a lot of flavor to a meal. I have made this at least five times in the last couple weeks to get it just right, so I’ve been eating it. A lot. It’s really good on nachos (obviously). But if you wanted to make a quick high protein nacho meal, you could use endurance protein chips (affiliate link), some refried beans (mixed with taco seasoning and nutritional yeast), the nacho cheese, diced tomatoes, lettuce and whatever else you might want to add! I’ve also been using it in tacos, burritos, and the crunchwrap I’m working on.

If you like this recipe, I also have a Cashew-based White Queso recipe and a High Protein Cheese Sauce (this one is silken tofu-based) recipe!

If you make this nacho cheese sauce, I’d love to hear what you use it on! You can even tag me on Instagram if you post it! 🙂

Stuff You’ll Need

• Cashews – highly recommend using raw cashews that are both unsalted and unroasted. These work best because they have a more neutral flavor, they soak up water better and they blend into a much smoother and creamier sauce.
• Soy Milk – I used soy milk because it has a fairly neutral flavor. It also has the highest amount of protein out of the non-dairy milks.
  • If you are soy-free, you could definitely use a different non-dairy milk. I would recommend something like oat milk as a replacement.
• Nutritional Yeast – if you’re newer to vegan cooking, nutritional yeast is used in a lot of savory cooking because it adds a nice umami and cheesy flavor! It’s a shelf-stable ingredient that you can find at most grocery stores and online.They sell both a fortified version and a non-fortified version. The fortified version is a good source of vitamin B12.

• Miso paste – I used mellow white miso paste. Miso paste is great in cheesy vegan sauces like this, because it adds umami (savory flavor), saltiness and a bit of a tang.
  • If you can’t have soy, you can either omit this ingredient or replace it with 1/2 tsp of tahini and 1/2 tsp of coconut aminos.
• Jalapeno Brine – we are just adding the liquid that is found in jars of pickled jalapenos, not the whole jalapeno (not going to tell you what to do though, if you want it spicier, go for it!). Jalapeno brine adds a subtle heat without overwhelming the other flavors or being too spicy.
• Lactic Acid – it’s one of the more odd ingredients in this recipe, but I swear by it for cheesy sauces. It adds a tangy, sour, fermented flavor that’s found in dairy cheese.
  • If you don’t have lactic acid, you can substitute it with 1 tbsp of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
• Maple Syrup – you can also use something like Agave Syrup. This adds just a hint of sweetness to it and balances the flavors nicely.

• Garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, chili – these are the flavor-adding spices. (pretend my picture shows one garlic powder and one onion powder. I grabbed two garlic powders by mistake for the picture lol)
• Turmeric – used to add a nice yellow color to the sauce.
• Salt – adjust as needed.
• For extra spice – add cayenne pepper to taste (I’m a little baby bitch and can’t eat very spicy foods so this is the perfect mild nacho cheese to me)!

How to Make it

• First step is to soften your (raw) cashews. We’ve got two options:
  • Soak the cashews overnight in water in the fridge.
  • Boil the cashews for 15 – 20 minutes. This is always my choice because I always forget to soak my nuts.
• Drain the excess water from the cashews.
• Add the softened cashews and all of the other ingredients to a blender and blend until very smooth and creamy. A high powered blender, like a Vitamix, works best, but soaking and softening the cashews will make it easier for a non-high powered blender to blend them!
• Keep in an air-tight container in the fridge. It can last up to 5 days.
• If you want to heat it up, I would recommend doing that on the stove. Add the amount you want to a pot and slowly heat it up on low heat.
  • Heating the sauce in the microwave can sometimes result in the emulsion splitting, which is why I recommend heating it up on the stove 🙂

Silly Little Haiku

Vegan Nacho Cheese

I beg you to soak deez nuts

Great on anything