Classic Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce (2024)

Published: Apr 4, 2017 Updated: Nov 11, 2021 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

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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 cheeseand 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

Super cheesy vegan cashew cheese sauce. This smooth and creamy sauce is wonderfully satisfying and simply delicious drizzled over almost anything!

4.84 from 74 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Sauce, Savory, Side

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Diet: Vegan

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 217kcal

Author: Alison Andrews

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.

Nutrition

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan

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About the Author

Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Sam's Mom says
January 26, 2024 at 9:14 am
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!
Reply
Cindy says
December 15, 2023 at 6:35 pm
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.
Reply
Tracee says
July 11, 2023 at 1:47 am
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.
Reply
- Nadine @ Loving It Vegan says
  July 11, 2023 at 8:48 am
  Awesome! Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Tracee!
  Reply
Martin says
June 04, 2023 at 9:59 am
I made this today and used with pizza toppings as a filling for my corn flour empanadas 🙂
Great recipe, thank you!
Reply
- Nadine @ Loving It Vegan says
  July 06, 2023 at 1:12 pm
  Wow that sounds delicious Martin! Thanks for your review!
  Reply
Ada says
October 20, 2022 at 7:08 pm
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 😊.
See Also
Hoisin Tempeh Noodle Salad
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  October 21, 2022 at 8:19 am
  You can definitely bump up the flavors if you want it stronger. The blender does make it much smoother as well.
  Reply
- Rosalie says
  August 29, 2023 at 4:06 pm
  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!
  Reply
Jana says
October 13, 2022 at 9:47 pm
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!!
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  October 14, 2022 at 10:26 am
  Awesome! And salsa sounds like a GREAT addition!
  Reply
Kylie says
September 23, 2022 at 11:15 pm
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!
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  September 26, 2022 at 11:01 am
  Awesome! Thanks for the wonderful review Kylie!
  Reply
Divine Femedian says
August 16, 2022 at 3:10 am
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!
Reply
Corinne says
March 16, 2022 at 12:51 am
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.
Reply
Patricia Hubbard says
December 30, 2021 at 1:04 am
I was amazed how good this recipe is!!
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Jamie says
October 18, 2021 at 9:50 pm
Taste amazing!! 10/10 would recommend!
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  October 20, 2021 at 10:59 am
  Thanks so much Jamie!
  Reply
Shelley says
August 20, 2021 at 4:38 pm
Can this be heated? how would I do that without issues? I want to pour over my cauliflower 🙂
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  August 21, 2021 at 2:07 pm
  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.
  Reply
Janet G Cook says
February 19, 2021 at 10:27 pm
I made this recipe with my brand new food processor. It turned out great!
Thank you for the recipe.
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  February 20, 2021 at 12:02 pm
  Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Janet.
  Reply
Veronica McEwan says
December 23, 2020 at 3:56 am
Hi Alison,
I just made your cheese sauce recipe.
I love it. Can’t wait to try more.
With thanks
Veronica
Reply
- Alison Andrews says
  December 23, 2020 at 9:43 am
  Awesome! Thanks Veronica!
  Reply
Karla says
December 19, 2020 at 9:51 pm
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.
Reply

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