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 cheeseΒ andΒ 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.
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.
If, however, you have something like a VitamixΒ then just go for it! No soaking required!
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.
If you make this recipe let us know how it turned out! And if you have any comments or questions fire away!
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Classic Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce
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Prep Time: 10 mins - Total Time: 10 mins
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Yield: 4 -
Category: Sauce -
Cuisine: Vegan, Raw
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.
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
Super cheesy!
★★★★★
Do you soak the cashews first?
No, we don’t! But we do have a high powered (Vitamix) blender.
Thanks and had Cashew Sauce at Sprial Diner in Fort Worth Tx.
I loved it and made this and canβt thank you enough.
Patty
This didnβt work for me:/ I have a vitamix as well, but when I tried to blend everything together, the majority sat underneath the blades and I couldnβt blend much of it together at all. What am I doing wrong?
Have you got the tamper (stick) attachment? That would be super helpful when that happens. Otherwise just give it a stir (with a spoon that won’t scratch the blades) and try and get it out from under there, add a little more water and blend again. It’s quite a creamy sauce, as opposed to a thick cheese, so it is usually quite easy to get it going in the blender. You could also do it in the food processor, it won’t be as smooth, but you could do it there as well if you’re having trouble in the blender.
This happened to me as well. So disappointed… I spent well over a half hour scraping and trying to mix but ended up throwing it out. The push stick just barely touches the blades so it can’t get underneath while mixing.
I suggest to anyone trying it to double the recipe.
Just tried this recipe with my nutri ninja and itβs tastes amazing. So much easier than soaking cashews overnight!
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad it worked out great! Thanks for sharing! π
Fabulous! Used a Vitamix. Super easy to play around with proportions. I used less garlic and more water. Thanks a million! πππππ
Great stuff Carolyn! Thanks for sharing! π
Love this recipe! Tonight Iβll be using it to top baked delicata squash stuffed with brown rice and veggies. Sriracha is a great add-in to this delicious sauce!
★★★★★
That sounds awesome Christina! Thanks for sharing! π€
I am still in the process of fully converting to vegan and struggling with my cheese addiction so I’ve been trying several cashew cheese recipes. I halved this one, but forgot to halve the amount of lemon and purposefully kept the whole garlic clove (yum). With the smaller portion of cashews and liquid it was a little hard to get the mixture to catch in the vitamix blades and I ended up using about 4.5 tbsp water but it still came out quite thick and creamy, though in flavor it has more of a sour cream taste! Unintended but splendid… a cheesy-ish sour cream. Heaven.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Nikki! Yes, it gets harder to blend when you cut the portion down, but glad it turned out well! π
just made this sauce to go on our veggies tonight! really nice sauce recipe. i added quite a bit more water though as i like my sauce extra runny. will maybe do half a garlic glove next time as my kids found it a bit strong. not me though! as a family we are converting to a plant based diet. so now we can add this to the list of recipe keepers! thanks!
★★★★★
Fantastic Tania! Thanks for sharing! π
How long can you keep it, and does it need to be refrigerated?
Yes, keep it in the fridge, it will last a few days.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It was so easy & turned out so creamy. The small smoothie cups for the Ninja worked great for this.
Great Sharlene, thanks for sharing! π
I made this and really loved it I used cashew milk as well as water to thin it out.I live in Canada and the cashews were so expensive! Can you substitute any other nut or seed….. Example:sunflower seeds?
Oh such a pity the cashews are pricey over there! I really don’t know about sunflower seeds for this recipe, but I did find another recipe that uses them, maybe give that one a try. π
Hi Alison! I was wondering if i could sub the raw cashews for raw cashew butter, and if so how much cashew butter should i use? I sometimes dont have access to raw cashews but can get it already in the butter form.thanks in advance!
Hi Marleah, I honestly have no idea, it would have to be a case of trial and error to figure out the amounts and if it works. Sorry I can’t be more help! π
I just tried this recipe as well, I do not have a powerful blender, so started in a food processor to see how that would work, and then moved to the blender. I did have to add more liquid, so I added Almond Milk and it turned out super creamy after the extra liquid was added. It took me about 1/3 cup of extra liquid to get to the right consistency.
Thanks for sharing Debi! π
Wonderful & easy ~Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay! So pleased to hear that Elizabeth, thanks for the awesome review! π
Hey Alison,
Haven’t made this recipe yet, but I will as soon as I get myself some Cashew nuts!
I wondered how I can subscribe to your blog please, loved reading it!
And, would I be allowed to include this recipe in my blender recipe section at Smoothiesailor.com.au? Full links & credits to you, of course π
Cheers, Elle
Hi Elle! So glad you like the blog! You can subscribe here. We don’t allow republishing of our full recipes, but we do love being featured on other blogs, if you use a single image with a link back to the page for the recipe, we have more information on our policy here and the kind of sharing that we love to see. All the best! π
Just made this for lunch to have on some pasta. I’m not sure how I feel about it! It was super easy to make and I think the creamy cashew base is one I’ll definitely use again. I’m veggie, not vegan, but trying to cut down on my cheese intake, and I think the nutritional yeast element is going to be somewhat of an acquired taste for me. I do have some commercial vegan hard cheese that I quite like so I think next time I’ll try grating that in instead. Definitely a recipe I’ll try again, but maybe with a few tweaks for my newbie palate!
★★★
Hi Ali, I have heard this before about nutritional yeast being a bit of an acquired taste for some. You could try drastically reducing the amount and seeing how you go, like just use 1 tsp. You will lose some of the cheesiness, but it will still be delicious and you can increase the nutritional yeast later on if you start liking it more. π
Great idea thanks, Iβll try that. I had some left over and have just had a snaffle of it straight out of the fridge – it was lovely! I think Iβll mix it with some chilli flakes or tomatoes tomorrow and try it in a toastie!