Super cheesy vegan cashew cheese sauce. This smooth and creamy sauce is wonderfully satisfying and simply delicious drizzled over almost anything!
I suddenly realized that we didn’t have a fabulous cashew cheese sauce – that you can use to drizzle over things – on the blog yet! So I had to remedy that situation quickly.
Because this is really a staple recipe. Something to drizzle on anything and everything. Pizzas, pastas, potatoes, salads, you name it, if it’s a savory dish, it would likely benefit from a drizzle of this cashew cheese sauce.
For those who don’t eat nuts, we have a vegan cheese sauce that is entirely nut free, and when it comes to cashew cheese, we have a sundried tomato cashew cheese and a sweet basil and chive cashew cream.
However, the sundried tomato cashew cheese is more of a spread or dip, it’s thick and spreads wonderfully on crackers, and the basil and chive cashew cream is a fabulous salad dressing and also great when you want something to drizzle.
But when it comes to a cashew cheese sauce that is just dying to be drizzled on a homemade vegan pizza, well, this is the stuff.
How to make cashew cheese sauce
Whipping up a batch of cashew cheese sauce is super easy, you just need a nice sturdy blender to do it.
We don’t even pre-soak the cashew nuts, it’s just too easy!
But if your blender is a less sturdy machine, then soak the nuts first. You can pour over hot water and soak them for an hour and then they’ll be easier to blend. Even 15 minutes can be enough to soften them if you put them in a bowl and pour over some boiling water.
If, however, you have something like a Vitamix then just go for it! No soaking required!
You just throw the ingredients into the blender, blend until smooth, and that’s it.
You will love this cashew cheese sauce, it is:
- Super cheesy!
- Creamy
- Smooth
- Soooo satisfying
- Super delicious drizzled on almost anything!
Make up a batch and then keep it sealed in a container in the fridge where it will last a few days.
More vegan cheese!
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Vegan Cream Cheese
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella
- Vegan Ricotta
- Vegan Parmesan
Let us know what you think of this cashew cheese sauce in the comments and please rate the recipe too. Thank you!
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Classic Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 4
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Super cheesy vegan cashew cheese sauce. This smooth and creamy sauce is wonderfully satisfying and simply delicious drizzled over almost anything!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) Cashew Nuts (Raw)
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed)
- Pinch Sea Salt
- Pinch Black Pepper
- 5 Tbsp Water
Instructions
- Add the cashew nuts, nutritional yeast, crushed garlic and lemon juice to the blender jug. Add sea salt and black pepper. Measure out the water and add it in. Blend until very smooth and creamy.
- For a thicker cheese, use less water. For a thinner salad dressing consistency, use a little more water.
- Serve drizzled over baked potatoes, vegetables, pizzas or pastas.
- Category: Savory, Sauce, Gluten-Free
- Cuisine: Vegan, Raw
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of the Recipe
- Calories: 217
- Sugar: 2.3g
- Sodium: 45mg
- Fat: 16.5g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9g
- Carbohydrates: 12.6g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 7.8g
Keywords: cashew cheese sauce
I’m trying to make ice cream. I saw a recipe that was made with cashew cheese for the base. It looks amazing. How should I prepare the cashew cheese for ice cream?
Hi Gay, I’m not sure at all since I’ve never used a cashew cheese base for ice cream, but you can check out our recipe for vegan ice cream that uses a rich homemade cashew milk.
This was great by itself for a dip (I did not add the garlic cause I was out). With the leftovers I added some almond milk, a little vegan butter and salt/pepper to taste in a saucepan and it made a DELICIOUS alfredo sauce for my gluten free fettuccini noodles!
★★★★★
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing Cass! 🙂
I usually soak and dehydrate my nuts before consuming…can I still make this recipe?
Yes, I think it would still be fine. 🙂
Sooooo good as a dip for tortilla chips! I’ll try it on something else if we can stop eating it before it’s all gone! 🙂
★★★★★
Fantastic! Thanks Shawnna! 🙂
This is a good base recipe, I went ahead and kicked it up with some liquid smoke, chili powder, paprika and turmeric (for color) and it came out really good!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This is great! How do you know if it’s gone bad in the fridge? It’s been 4 days…
★★★★★
If it looks good and tastes good then it’s still good! 🙂
This is really delicious. I use the food processor because I like it chunky. Last nite, I made pistachio crusted cream cheese ball for a party. And I made a vegan version with this and it was a success!
★★★★★
Awesome! That sounds totally delish! Thanks for sharing and the great review. 🙂
Instead of water you can use ‘nut’ milk. I’ve found what ever amounts of dry parts you put in the blender the milk or water should just about cover everything, if you add too much liquid add more nutritional yeast to thicken up again
Also if you exclude the lemon and add onion and garlic powder instead it becomes a whole new sauce that is out of this world
★★★★
Can this be served warm? How would you recommend heating it?
Hi Sereena, yes it can. You could heat it over low heat or in a double boiler. You will likely have to add more water to the recipe because cashews thicken when heated, so this would be very thick. So I would thin it out more, I would add double the water in the initial blend and then heat gently and whisk in more water if it gets too thick while it’s heating.
This could be served warm by soaking the cashews in boiling water before blending everything together. I soaked mine for about 45 min and it was still warm when i served it.
Oh my goodness, so simple yet so good. I am lactose intolerant and decided to give this a try to have with Nachos as a dip. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased, great flavor.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Can I use cashew butter instead of whole cashews?
I’m not sure! Haven’t tried that but it might work great! 🙂
I made this as a drizzle for raw zoodles last night. Topped it with fresh sliced grape tomatoes and coarse grind pepper. It was fantastic. Even my husband who is not very adventurous when it comes to food really liked it. He had two helpings sprinkled with a little fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Thanks!
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy to hear it worked out great. Thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
Hey, thanx for this awesome recipe can I freeze this?
Yes, it is freezer friendly. 🙂
Just made this to go on pizza tonight and I could have eaten the whole lot on its own! Yum 😋
★★★★★
Haha that’s awesome! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. 🙂
Delicious as “Mac n’ Ca-Cheese”!!
How long will this keep in the refrigerator?
★★★★★
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. It will last a few (3-4) days in the fridge. 🙂
Hi Alison,
Will roasted cashews work as well as raw for any recipe that calls for raw? I’ve never used either but would like to try roasted for my first attempt if it makes no difference. I thought unsalted roasted might have a nice flavor, (plus they are on sale at my local Sprouts this week).
Hi Sana, if the recipe doesn’t require you to soak the cashews first then I think it would be fine. I suspect (but I’m not sure) that soaking wouldn’t work as well for roasted nuts. If you do use them then I think the flavor would just be more roasted, but still should be pretty good! 🙂
Hi Alison
Would you drizzle this sauce over pizza before or after cooking the pizza please? Looks delicious xxx
Hi Catherine, we usually drizzle it on after the pizza is done baking, but you could do it before as well. 🙂
My daughter loves this as a snack.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Tammy! 🙂