Easy vegan cheese sauce with minimal ingredients and ready in 3 minutes! A super simple and nut-free plant-based recipe which requires only a handful of ingredients. This vegan queso is perfect for pizza, nachos, Mac and Cheese, burgers, pasta bake, toast, and more savory recipes. The sauce doesn’t contain cashews!
Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce Without Cashews!
This is probably the easiest homemade vegan cheese sauce ever! It might change your life, it changed mine, I am not kidding. Coconut milk, tapioca flour, nutritional yeast flakes, water, and salt – these are the ingredients which you will need to make this delicious sauce.
Since most people have water and salt at home, all you need to buy is coconut milk, tapioca flour, and nutritional yeast flakes. But maybe you already have these ingredients at home as well. So let’s start to make this easy recipe, it will be done in 3 minutes!
Only A Few Ingredients
I know there are tons of vegan cheese sauce recipes out there, but most of them contain cashews + many more ingredients and require longer preparation time. This cashew-free cheese sauce contains only a handful of ingredients and is ready in 3 minutes.
How To Make Vegan Cheese Sauce
You just need to put all the ingredients into a saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil and that’s it! You don’t even need a blender or food processor. No cooking of veggies, no soaking of cashews. It seriously couldn’t be easier than that.
Not Only For Vegans
This recipe is not only amazing for vegans. I served it also to vegetarians and meat eaters and everyone loved the taste AND texture of this vegan cheese sauce. The tapioca flour (which is also called tapioca starch) makes this recipe so special because it adds the amazing elasticity to the sauce. It makes the sauce stretchy and even reminds of real cheese. Nutritional yeast is an important ingredient for the taste because it adds a cheesy flavor. The spices are up to you, but I love to add some garlic and onion powder, and also a pinch of smoked paprika.
Perfect For Nachos, Pizza, Gratin And More
You can use this vegan sauce for any savory recipe which requires cheese. Whether it is pizza, nachos, gratin, pasta, or any other plant-based recipe. Sometimes when I am too lazy to make my Mac and Cheese recipe I will simply make this 3-minute cheese sauce and pour it over my cooked pasta and my dinner is served in just a few minutes. I have included some pictures of different dishes which I made using this cheese sauce recipe.
This easy vegan cheese sauce is:
- Plant-based
- Gluten free
- Oil-free
- Dairy-free
- Nut-free (no Cashews!)
- Paleo-friendly
- Easy to make in a few minutes
Make This Vegan Cheese Sauce Today
I made this cheeze sauce probably 100 times already because I use it in almost all of my savory recipes lol. I just love simple recipes which require only a few ingredients and this easy sauce recipe is one of them. So don’t wait any longer and make it NOW. I am sure you will love it as well.
Tapioca flour can be bought in every Asia shop or big supermarkets or simply ordered online. Same goes for nutritional yeast flakes. Check the Recipe Notes for a tapioca flour substitute.
Should you recreate this vegan nacho cheese sauce, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your recreations.
Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) coconut milk canned (*see notes )
- 3 tbsp (20 g) nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tbsp (15 g) tapioca flour OR arrowroot flour/starch (*see notes)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- Pinch of smoked paprika (optional)
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into a saucepan and stir with a whisk. Once everything is combined, turn on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly.
- Let simmer on low to medium heat for about one minute until the sauce is stretchy.
- Enjoy this vegan cheese sauce with nachos, on pizza, over pasta, and many other savory dishes! Please read the recipe notes below.
Notes
Video Of The Recipe
- Thickness: If the cheese sauce turns out too thick, just add more coconut milk or any other plant-based milk (or water), up to 1 cup.
- Coconut milk: I use coconut milk that contains 17% fat. In case you don't like the taste of coconut milk, you can use a different plant-based milk instead, e.g. almond milk, cashew milk, etc. The higher the fat content of the milk, the better will be the taste of the vegan cheese sauce.
- Tapioca flour: Tapioca flour/starch can be bought in every Asia store or larger grocery stores or simply ordered online.
- Tapioca substitute: Two readers (thanks, Brooklyn and Nichola) commented that arrowroot flour (also known as arrowroot powder or arrowroot starch) is a great substitute for tapioca flour/starch.
- Cornstarch: You could use cornstarch instead of tapioca flour, but the result won’t be as good (stretchy) as with tapioca flour. It will still taste ok!
- How to store: You can store the sauce in the fridge for up to 2 days, but it will change the texture. Reheat with a splash of dairy-free milk. It tastes best freshly made.
- FAQ: "My cheese sauce didn't turn out yellow. What did I do wrong...?" Answer: Some nutritional yeast brands enrich their products with lots of B-vitamins. The nutritional yeast flakes which I ordered from Amazon contain B-vitamins and are therefore yellow. When I use 3 tbsp, the cheese sauce turns out pretty yellow, but when I use less (e.g. just 1 tbsp) the color is just light yellowish." You can also add a pinch of turmeric powder.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Celia
Medical Medium does not recommend nutritional yeast due to MSG (explains why it gives me a headache). Is there a replacement for nutritional yeast.
Ela
Hi, Celia, please check the article of Dr. Mercola:
“Yeast is a natural source of umami flavor, or natural glutamic acid (glutamate). This is what gives it its rich, satisfying, almost meat-like flavor. It’s also what triggers the MSG fears, but they are unfounded.
The glutamic acid found in nutritional yeast is “bound” to other amino acids or proteins. The glutamic acid that is MSG is not. When you eat glutamic acid in real foods, your body controls how much is absorbed. Excess glutamic acid is passed off as waste, not stored in your body. As reported by Smithsonian magazine”
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/04/nutritional-yeast.aspx
And no, unfortunately, there is no good replacement for it.
Anne
maybe miso as a replacement for nooch?
Ela
Yes, Anne, I heard that quite often but actually never tried it myself. 🙂
J
I agree. I’ve heard the same! My practitioner also does not recommend it either.
Mariaan Viljoen
It is a year now since I had to start cutting out all dairy, egg, gluten and sugar due to food allergies and this is the best pizza I have had in a year!!! I do not usually experiment in the kitchen (cooking is not one of my passions and I am a bit of a boring cook.) and all the “cheating” the past couple of weeks were making me feel horrible. So I decided to spent some more time in the kitchen and get alternatives for the things that I tend to cheat with. This sauce was so good! I used normal coconut milk (the dairy milk replacement, not the canned type) as I have a lot of that in the house. I think the sauce was creamy enough. I also put in all the extra’s (onion, garlic and paprika). The onion taste of the sauce was a bit overwhelming though. So next time I will try it again with the coconut milk, but without the onion and garlic salt. My 10 year old daughter and I ended up having a pizza competition and this is the first time that she admitted my pizza won fair and square.
Ela
So glad you loved it, Mariaan! Thanks for your thorough feedback. 🙂
Dana
The recipe calls for garlic powder, not garlic salt. Two very different seasonings. Just making sure you understand this detail. You don’t want to use garlic SALT as it can over salt any dish if too much is added. With garlic powder, you’re just adding more garlic (yum!), and can never be salty. Garlic salt was never found in our household when I was growing up with an Italian mother who was a great cook. 🙂
Julie Edwards
Thank you! This is the vegan cheese sauce I’ve been looking for! I feel like I’ve tried allll the cheese sauce recipes. They always involve cooking veggies, soaking cashews, dirtying a bunch of appliances/dishes, and a lot of time….and they still don’t taste great. I really didn’t expect much taste-wise since this was so quick and easy, but it’s prefect! Cheesy texture and great taste! This is a keeper!
Ela
That’s awesome, Julie! So happy you love the taste and simplicity of this sauce! Thanks for your great comment. 🙂
A
So good! I’m newly dairy-free and was missing cheese. This recipe hit the spot! I used almond flour and some different herbs. The consistency was not stretchy (which I expected) but it was thick(ish), savory, and surprisingly cheese-like. I think it would taste great on shirataki noodles. Thanks for the recipe!
Ela
Hey, I am glad you liked it but I hope you will give it another try with tapioca flour. 🙂
Kahleela
Excellent recipe, thank you! I’ve been wanting a nacho cheese sauce and didnt have cashews readily available. I had all the ingredients for your recipe so I whipped up a batch this morning which I thoroughly enjoyed with some tortilla chips before adding the rest to your Broccoli and Quinoa Casserole recipe! Now I’m making another batch just because lol, it’s so good! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes, keep up the beautiful work!!
Ela
Aww, thanks for your kind compliments, Kahleela! I am so glad you like this nacho sauce. I agree, it’s addicting, in a good way. 😀
Kelly
Best cheese sauce ever! Amazing how it stretches! Used homemade cashew milk and no garlic and put it in my quesadillas. Making again and all of the time for sure!!
Ela
That’s awesome Kelly! I am so glad you love it as much as I do. 🙂
Roopa
Hello Ela,
It came out as Amazing cheese sauce! Loved it we used it for pizza. Very good vegan options!
I was wondering is there a recipe with cashews? Thanks a lot.
Ela
Thanks so much, Roopa! I am glad you loved it! 🙂
Yes, please check out my cashew based vegan cheese sauce: Healthy Vegan Mac And Cheese
Mik
I followed this recipe and was surprised how amazing it was on a jacket potato with home made coleslaw. Yum thanks.i don’t have onion powder or smoked paprika.
So easy and taste good thanks
Ela
That’s awesome, Mik! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe. Homemade coleslaw sounds yummy! 🙂
Esther S.
So I’m lactose intolerant and wanted to try a vegan cheese sauce for pizza but without the high fat content that comes with cashew based cheese sauces. This one was not that bad! I will say that I increased the liquid by 1/2 cup (I used a Ripple Original Unsweetened Pea milk for added protein) because the arrowroot starch I used made it a little too thick to stir once it became stretchy. I also added some Sriracha spice (1 tsp), 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp lemon juice and about 1-2 more tbsp of nutritional yeast (it didn’t taste cheesy enough for me before), and it’s more to my taste. The original recipe was sorta bland for my taste but a good starter recipe!
Ela
Thanks for your feedback, Esther! 🙂
Tarisa
Made this the other week and tossed the cheese sauce with broccoli to serve over baked potatoes. ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. Kids didn’t know it wasn’t real cheese. Going to experiment with it tonight to thin it out with vegetable stock to make a broccoli cheese soup – any tips?
Ela
Sounds amazing, Tarisa! I am glad you liked it. 🙂
Brooke L.
Unfortunately, the recipe was not edible for me. I had to dump it. The texture was similar to cheese but the flavor was way off. The flavors that really came through were coconut milk and nutritional yeast. Not a great combination imo.
Ela
Ugh, such a pity you didn’t like it. As mentioned in the recipe notes, there are plenty of substitutes for coconut milk… no need to use it.
Thousands of people rave about the recipe but not every recipe can please everyone. 🙂
Francesca
My first time making tonight. Loved the texture….just thinned a bit with water. I added lime juice & some mild hot sauce & the flavor was terrific! The additions helped the flavor along. Thank you for such a simple recipe! ????
Ela
Sounds amazing, Francesca. 🙂
Cheese Fiend
This is just so much easier and comes together so much quicker than a lot of other vegan cheese sauce recipes.
It’s a great template to start with and then you can adjust seasonings and add whatever else you like to get it just right. I throw in jalapenos or green chilies.
Ela
I am glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Jenny S
I had no tapioca flour in the house, so I made it with corn starch. With substitution 1:1 I ended up with a solid blob of cheese! Whoops.
Added a bunch of water in slowly while stirring until it was more a sauce-y consistency. I also added a bit of chopped up spicy pepper and a dash of mustard.
Man, this is really good! I ate it straight out of the pot on some tortilla chips while waiting for the rest of my sweet potato taco ingredients to finish cooking.
Definitely a keeper – I’ll put tapioca flour on my shopping list for the week.
Thanks for sharing this recipe
Ela
Hi Jenny, yes, I think cornstarch thickens more than tapioca flour. I am glad you were able to turn it into a delicious sauce!
Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
Jennifer
Should you use unsweetened coconut milk or sweetened?
Ela
Unsweetened! 🙂
Barbara Hart
Omg Love every one of your recipes. I have been going insane Trying to make burritos out of tortillas that are too thick to fold properly and then I found your soft homemade tortillas and I’m in heaven.
I tried almost every vegan cheese sauce on the Internet and yours in the clear winner. Our use it I’m nachos, I use it on tacos I use it in burritos ….Really anything taste better with it on it.
Thanks for keeping my dinners interesting. Hubby loves the peanut butter noodles, mushroom burrito and the Taquitos. You are my go to internet chef!
Ela
Aww that’s awesome, Barbara! Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback. 🙂
Nicki
Delicious! We are making your Creamy Vegan Risotto with Broccoli and Cheese and I’m afraid I’ll need to make another batch of this cheese because I can’t stop eating it!
Will definitely use this recipe again! Might try to add salsa next time and use as nacho topping. Thanks so much!
Ela
Haha, that’s awesome! I make it very often too, totally obsessed with the cheese sauce. 😀
Thanks for your great feedback, Nicki! 🙂
Kylie
Hi! This sounds so good but I was wondering if I would be able to sub the tapioca flour for regular flour? I don’t have tapioca or cornstarch. Thank you!
Ela
Hi Kylie, unfortunately, that won’t work.
Leah
My daughter and I are gluten and dairy free. It was such a nice surprise to find this recipe, It’s Delicious! I had to use corn starch instead of the tapioca flour. We also added salsa. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Ela
You are very welcome, Leah! I am so glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Elif KAYMAKCI
Are Maniokmehl and Tapioca Flour same?
Ela
No, it’s not. Cassava flour (manioc) is the flour of the whole root and tapioca flour/starch is the extracted starch.
Rawaya
Can we use corn strach instead of topioca flour cause we don’t have it in our country.and it won’t change the texture of the cheese sauce
Ela
Hello, please check the recipe notes, as I already answered your question there. I will copy and paste it for you:
Camisha
This recipe is amazing and delish! I did add some additional seasonings to the taste of my family but I love it! It has definitely made the monthly rotation. Thank you SO MUCH! My daughter has a nut allergy so I have been on a quest for a nut free delicious cheese sauce recipe!!
Ela
That’s awesome, Camisha! I am glad the recipe is helpful. 🙂
Nicole
Can we add some water to this recipe to use for baked scalloped potatoes? (and exclude cashews recommended in your actual scalloped potatoes recipe?) Thank you, I finally tried this with some subs and I am still quite happy with the result, homemade cheese! Who would have guessed!
Ela
You can definitely give it a try! It might work fine. 🙂
Ieneke Van Houten
I just had this for dinner, served over rice and greens. A few chopped black olives in the sauce because the jar was open. Added a bit of mustard for tang and colour. My body is purring with wellbeing.
I shared the recipe to facebook with the following comment: This WORKS! I was just idly cruising recipes. I love to feed people, some of my friends are vegan and I enjoy a challenge. I take a dim view of foods that desperately try to be something else, like all those fake meat soy products. This recipe is easy, supernutritious and amazingly tasty. I added a bit of mustard. For all you people trying to please finicky vegans. And to anyone trying to convert me: us old hippies were combining plant proteins with “Diet for a small planet” when your parents were in diapers. So yes, we can, we just prefer not to.
Ela
I am glad you enjoyed the recipe, Ieneke! 🙂