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 recipes, we have a sun dried tomato cashew cheese and a cashew dressing that you will also love.
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
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
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. Put them in a bowl and pour over some boiling hot water from the kettle. Let them soak for 15 minutes, and then drain and rinse.
If, however, you have something like a Vitamix then you can also just go for it. No soaking required!
Just add raw cashews, nutritional yeast, crushed garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, ground black pepper and some water to your blender jug.
Blend until smooth, and that’s it.
Storing Tips
Make up a batch and then keep it in a sealed container in the fridge where it will last up to 5 days.
It is also freezer friendly if you do want to freeze it. Thaw it in the fridge and then stir it up very well before using.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Vegan Cream Cheese
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella
- Vegan Ricotta
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Classic Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Clove Garlic crushed
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
- ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 5 Tablespoons Water
Instructions
- Add the cashew nuts, nutritional yeast, crushed garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper and water to the blender jug. 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.
Video
Notes
- If you have a strong blender then there is no need to soak the cashews first. If you know that your blender will struggle though then you can soak them in hot water for 15 minutes before blending. Place the cashews into a bowl, pour over boiling hot water from the kettle and leave to soak for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse and then continue with the recipe.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I did make this in my Magic Bullet, and it came out fantastic! It came out smooth and thick. Mine however is off white, I suspect because the nutritional yeast is that color. Thank you!
I doubled the salt and nutritional yeast, added a date and used a quarter of a lemon… tweeking the recipe made it over the top.
First time marking this today, will not be the last time. This was very simple and easy to make . Did I mention how delicious it is. Thank you for sharing this simple and delicious recipe.
Awesome! Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Tracee!
I made this today and used with pizza toppings as a filling for my corn flour empanadas 🙂
Great recipe, thank you!
Wow that sounds delicious Martin! Thanks for your review!
I liked it, but I didn’t love it. One reason why was probably my fault, I used powdered garlic instead of fresh garlic because I didn’t want the garlic flavor to take over. This made the sauce too mildly flavored. The other reason I didn’t love it had to do with the consistency. I used my food processor and the consistency was not creamy, even when I kept adding water. So, I will use my blender and fresh garlic next time I make this sauce. One change I made that I did like was adding extra nutritional yeast, because I just love the stuff 😊.
You can definitely bump up the flavors if you want it stronger. The blender does make it much smoother as well.
I found that I had to add about double the water to this recipe to make it creamier. Even though I did use the fresh garlic, I, too, found it was a bit bland, so I added a few shakes of garlic powder and a few shakes of cayenne pepper to kick up the flavor a notch. MMMMM! That did the trick! I used this sauce on my vegan burger while my family used regular cheddar cheese, and it was delicious!
Delicious! It works so much better in my Vitamix than my food processor… much creamier. I added about 3 tablespoons of Pace Picante (NO sugar salsa) and it was sooo delicious! Thank you!!
Awesome! And salsa sounds like a GREAT addition!
LOVE THIS! We made this last night to have with nachos, and it was the tastiest vegan nachos we have had. So happy to find this recipe and so easy to make. Can’t wait to try it on Pizza and pasta!
Awesome! Thanks for the wonderful review Kylie!
I loved this! Especially since it didn’t have oil. I put it over broccoli and Mexican vegan crumbles. It makes like a casserole I guess lol. I boiled my cashews for half an hour and used an immersion blender. Thank you!
I soaked my cashews for several hours. My blender is a standard one so I had to add extra liquid. I doubled the nooch and garlic, and added more black pepper and a little lemon zest to kick up the flavor a notch. Good base recipe.
I was amazed how good this recipe is!!
Taste amazing!! 10/10 would recommend!
Thanks so much Jamie!
Can this be heated? how would I do that without issues? I want to pour over my cauliflower 🙂
The best way to heat it is over a double boiler, it can thicken a lot when heated though so its best to add extra water as it heats and whisk in.
I made this recipe with my brand new food processor. It turned out great!
Thank you for the recipe.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Janet.
Hi Alison,
I just made your cheese sauce recipe.
I love it. Can’t wait to try more.
With thanks
Veronica
Awesome! Thanks Veronica!
Love this however, the 5TBSP of water was nowhere near enough to get this to even blend, i had to add a cup of water total to get it to the consistency of a spreadable pudding tho texture.