Craving that ooey, gooey nacho cheese that you love to dip at baseball games? Perhaps you’ve always loved the bright orange “stuff” right out of the can, but just KNOW there’s a healthier way to enjoy it. We’re excited to share with you our veggie-loaded, all-natural version of vegan nacho cheese dip that is made with real food ingredients and that you can feel good about eating. This 100% plant-based cheese sauce recipe is made from a base of nutritious vegetables, cashews, roasted green chilies, lime juice, and spices.
This post was originally published on May 25, 2017; Updated on May 13, 2021.
Can you make vegan nacho cheese without nuts?
Many non-dairy cheeses are made with a base of nuts (typically cashews), which makes for a nice creamy texture and flavor. In fact, we’ve created a delicious cashew-based Vegan Queso recipe that you can check out here.
But if you don’t want to use a whole bunch of nuts, then this could be the recipe for you. This one is made with a base of Yukon Gold potato and carrot, plus just a handful (1/2 cup) of cashews to add the right amount of healthful fats and texture. If you wanted to skip the cashews completely, you could replace them with 1/2 cup of silken tofu or 1/2 cup of shelled raw pumpkin seeds, OR add 1/2 cup of peeled diced zucchini to the pot with the potato and carrots during the last 5 minutes or cooking time.
Ingredients to make vegan nacho cheese sauce
- Yukon Gold potato – we use this potato because it has a creamy golden flesh that’s delicious and creates the perfect consistency and natural color
- Carrot – adds nutrition and natural color to the cheese sauce
- Raw cashews – helps create the perfect texture, but you can substitute silken tofu or shelled raw pumpkin seeds
- Unsweetened cashew or almond milk – or use any non-dairy milk
- Avocado oil or olive oil – we like Primal Kitchen oils
- Fresh lime juice
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Smoked paprika
- Cayenne pepper
- Salt
- Roasted green chiles – use a 4-ounce can
How to make vegan nacho cheese
Start by softening the cashews, potato, and carrots. To do so, place the raw cashews in a bowl and pour boiling water over top; cover and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Boil the potato and carrot pieces in a saucepan of water until they are softened, about 20 minutes, then drain.
Next, drain the cashews, potato, and carrots. Place them in a high-speed blender or food processor along with the non-dairy milk, green chiles, oil, fresh lime juice, and spices. Blend on high speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed, until the vegan nacho cheese sauce is smooth and thick.
Is vegan nacho cheese good for you?
It depends on what it’s made from. You’ll find some vegan cheeses made from a lot of processed ingredients, and you’ll find some made from whole foods. You can bet that our recipes are always packed with real food, nutritious ingredients, and this vegan nacho cheese recipe is no different. We used a mix of nutrient-filled plant-based foods to provide you with a lot of vitamins, minerals, healthful fats, and antioxidants. All that in the form of a perfectly “dippable,” wonderfully delicious, non-dairy vegan cheese sauce? You betcha! Ready to dig in?
We’ve also reigned in sodium and saturated fat a ton, so stack this up against any regular or vegan nacho cheese sauce on the market, and you won’t find a better nutritional recipe that tastes this good!
How to serve vegan nacho cheese sauce
There are so many ways to enjoy this recipe for vegan nacho cheese.
- with raw veggies or chips for dipping
- drizzled over burrito bowls, tacos, and fajitas
- tossed with steamed broccoli or cauliflower
- tossed with cooked pasta to make vegan mac n’ cheese
Try vegan nacho cheese with these recipes
- As a topper for Vegan Cauliflower Sweet Potato Tacos
- A non-dairy drizzle for Slow-Cooker Chicken Tacos
- To make Vegan Nachos by replacing the cheese and ranch topping in Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos
- As a topping for Vegan Enchiladas
How to store vegan nacho cheese
Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Stir again before serving. To serve warm, heat in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring after every 15 seconds.
Vegan Nacho Cheese
If you’re craving that spicy, melty goodness of nacho cheese but don’t want the dairy, sodium, or yucky processed junk, then this is the recipe for you. In fact, we don’t think anyone will ever be able to tell this is vegan. By using a base of vegetables and nuts, you get an ultra-creamy dip made with real, whole-food ingredients plus healthful fats and plant-based nutrients.
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed (1 cup)
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into small pieces (1/2 cup)
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced roasted green chiles
- ½ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk, such as cashew or almond milk
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (feel free to add more for a spicier sauce)
- ¾ teaspoon salt + more to taste
- Fresh cilantro and lime wedges for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, place the cashews. Pour boiling water over the top to cover completely. Cover the bowl with a plate or kitchen towel and allow the nuts to soak while you prepare the vegetables.
- In a small saucepan, place the diced potatoes and carrots. Cover the vegetables with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.
- Drain the cashews and vegetables. Place the drained cashews, potato, and carrot in the container of a food processor or high-powered blender.
- Add the drained green chilies, non-dairy milk, oil, lime juice, and spices; blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl/blender, as needed. Process until the sauce is uniformly smooth. Add additional non-dairy milk, if desired, to achieve your desired consistency. Keep it thick for dipping, or make it thinner for drizzling.
- Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Stir again before serving.
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Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: ¼ cup
- Calories: 91
- Fat: 6 g
- (Sat Fat: 1 g)
- Sodium: 295 mg
- Carbohydrate: 9 g
- (Fiber: 1 g
- Sugar: 2 g)
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Dietary
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you just sd using soaked nuts was no bueno due to high omega 6 and u subsituted veggies instead but u still used cashews??? im confused
Hi Kellie,
Using all nuts would be a lot of omega-6’s which is why I swapped out 3/4 of the nuts for veggies. The small amount of cashews in this recipe are there to enhance the texture and mouthfeel. If you’re looking for a nut-free, dairy-free cheese sauce I’d recommend the sauce used in our Dairy-Free Mac & Cheese.
This recipe is life changing It’s opened me up to a whole new realm of food choice possibilities!
So great to hear!!
Hi, in step 4, you reference adding all ingredients to the food processor except the diced tomatoes. You never reference the diced tomatoes again. Where do they come in on this recipe, what do we do with them?
Hi Kim,
I’m sorry about that – looks like that last sentence got cut off somehow. It should read: “Stir or pulse the tomatoes into the sauce once you have the desired consistency.”
I’ve updated the recipe accordingly. Thanks for the heads up!
Came across your website and this recipe when I was looking for a nacho cheese recipe that doesn’t require nutritional yeast or some kind of starch. Made this to top our loaded nachos. So easy and sooooo good. Can’t believe all that flavor came from blending together “real food”. We all enjoyed a lot of the nachos without feeling heavy after.
Thank you so much for the recipe. Will be making this again and again. Can’t wait to explore your website for more recipes.
Hi Sherry,
This is so great to hear – we’re so happy you enjoyed the nacho cheese sauce!
Hi Stacie and Jessica – this is an older post but hopefully I can get a response (as a dietetics student and therefore trying to glean whatever informed nutrition knowledge I can!)
I understand that many nuts have an omega-6 content, and omega-6’s are inflammatory (versus the anti-inflammatory omega-3s, which some nuts and seeds do contain). However, the quick statement in the post about your reasoning for using vegetables and not just nuts can maybe be confusing to a general audience (and even is to me!). If someone is making a nut nacho cheese instead of a dairy-cheese nacho cheese, would they not be consuming significantly less inflammatory fats already (by reducing the saturated fats). OR another readers’ dietary pattern may be someone who eats plant based and thus is seeking a plant-based cheeze sauce, thus their diet is likely anti-inflammatory.
This is just pulled from random sources on the internet, so not 100% sure of credibility, but 100 grams of cashews has 7.8 g of omega 6 and 0.62 g omega 3; 100 grams of cheddar cheese has 21 g of saturated fat. (Disclaimer: no fat fear here! Just pointing out nutritional profiles). Overall it seems to me that (vegetables included in recipe or not) nuts would make a “healthier” cheese sauce. While the reasoning for swapping out some nuts for veggies is valid, maybe it isn’t appropriate to put out to a very large audience that nuts are inflammatory so we should decrease intake, when alternatives are denser in inflammatory fat content…? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! 🙂
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your questions. To clarify, my intent wasn’t to compare dairy-based nacho cheese to vegan nut-based cheese but rather to point out that vegan cheese made almost entirely of nuts (and which are easy to over consume) contain far more omega-6 fatty acids than one that uses significantly fewer nuts.
I am in no way saying that one should avoid nuts (though I do strongly encourage watching portion sizes as they’re easy to overdo) and I agree with your point that those eating a more plant-based diet would likely have a less inflammatory diet but there are some for whom even small amounts of omega-6’s are inflammatory (i.e. those with autoimmune conditions to which I can speak to personally). Also, since it’s VERY difficult to avoid omega-6’s, especially if you dine out or use prepared/packaged foods, decreasing your intake at home with a simple swap like veggies for nuts can be a smart swap for some.