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
LeVar
What is spelt, quinoa or chickpea flour be OK?
Ela
No. You can use arrowroot flour or potato starch.
Devi
how about xanthan gum to replace arrowroot? 😬😅
Ela
I don’t think that will work. Potato starch works great.
Chris
You are a genius! This is the best cheese ever. I just made a grilled/toasted cheese and loved it! Thank you!
Ela
Awesome! Happy you like it. 🙂
Crystal
Hello, excited to try this! Would coconut flour as work as a good substitute?
Ela
No, absolutely not. But you can use potato starch or arrowroot flour.
Amy
Can I use lite coconut milk in the can or coconut cream in the can for this recipe ? I bought lite on accident and had the cream already so will either of those work since u mentioned that you use water or use a less fat coconut milk ?
Ela
Lite coconut milk should work. 🙂
Melissa
Hi! How many does this serve and shat is the serving size? Thanks!
Ela
That depends on how much you use, I would say at least 3 servings, 70 g each.
Phil
WOW, amazing and loads better than any bought plant based sachets or jars.
I have never made Cashew cheese as I have always been always been put off by its cost but this is going to change mealtimes so much. Can’t wait to make cheesy pasta, lasagne, moussaka, carbonara etc.
Thank you so much. 🙂
Ela
Wonderful! I am so glad you like it, Phil. 🙂
Elvis
I was skeptical, then I remembered how good my mushroom stroganoff is with coconut milk, and 3 minutes later, I had one of the best cheese sauces to put on top of my lasagna that is baking right now. Thank you for this!!! I had stopped making lasagna because I hated making a cashew cheese sauce or bechamel. This tastes as good or better and took so little work.
Ela
Wonderful! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
Colette M Hall
Hi…love the reviews. Can I use this in a lasagna along with other cheeses and if so, will it be okay when I re-warm the lasagna?
Ela
Yes to both! That’s totally okay. 🙂
Angela
This sauce was amazing! Loved it!
Ela
I am so glad you liked it, Angela. 🙂
Renee
I am allergic to
yeast and fermented foods. Is it possible to just leave out the yeast in this recipe?
Ela
You can leave it out, but it won’t taste as good.
Terry
It is just as described, easy and delicious! If I hadn’t made it myself, I would never believe it. It is on my Permanent list of things to make.
Ela
Sounds great, Terry. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Danielle
My friend asked me to make vegan food for her daughter. Does this reheat well if I prepare it before? Thanks.
Ela
I prefer to make it fresh as it takes only a few minutes. But yes, you can reheat it. 🙂
Summer
I just made this sauce and, yum!! Years ago, I found and then lost an easy way to do vegan cheese sauce. Every recipe I have tried since then was either too convoluted or didn’t taste great. SO happy you published this one, thanks!
Ela
You are very welcome, Summer. 🙂
Bob Barnett
Oh My Gosh! This was incredible and has now changed my life. Thank you for this! I couldn’t afford to keep using cashews and honestly this tastes better than the cashew cheese I was making.
Ela
Wonderful! I am so glad you like it. 🙂
Lori
Loved the cheese sauce! I have been craving pizza and I can’t believe how tasty it was. I’m new at vegan eating due to an autoimmune disease so I’m always searching for recipes. I plan on purchasing your cookbook. Thanks for posting your recipes..
Ela
Wonderful! So glad it was a hit! Thanks for your great feedback, Lori. 🙂
Celia Jean
I continue to look for “cheesey” recipes that don’t use nutritional yeast. Because of the way nutritional yeast is manufactured, it digests as if it were an animal product and after years of being plant-based, my system doesn’t tollerate it. Can you suggest a substitute for the nutritional yeast? It’s packed with flavor, I know, as I used to use it when I was first starting out on my plant-based journey. Otherwise, your recipe looks fantastic!
Ela
You can use miso paste.
Karie
Do you have sodium content for this?
Want to try but will need to leave out salt.
Shari
I used cornstarch because that’s all I buy/haf on hand and I googled this recipe as a last minute craving lol. it turned out very lumpy and no amount of whisking helped it, however it still tasted quite good. I needed to add probably 1/4 cup of water to get the consistency right as well. Next time I’ll try using one TBSP of cornstarch instead and mixing it in to the coconut milk first before adding the rest of the ingredients, maybe that will help pthe lumpiness and the texture.
Ela
I really don’t recommend using cornstarch. Potato starch or arrowroot flour work as a great sub, but not cornstarch.
Katherine
Hello Ela.
I just found your 3 minute easy cheese sauce recipe and signed up for other posts of yours. (Thank You. They all look wonderful!) Question though:
Initially in the cheese sauce ingredients needed part of the post it mentions WATER. But, when going directly to the recipe I’m not finding how much water to use. It’s possible I missed it…(might be having one of those “can’t see for lookin’ ” moments. But I just can’t seem to find it…🙃
.
Ela
Hello Katherine, no worries! In the past, I thinned the coconut milk with water, if it was quite thick, but now I buy coconut milk with less fat, so there is no need to thin it. I hope this helps. 🙂
Avon Kleinman
Hi Ela,
This is a fantastic little recipe compared to others that I’ve tried. No nutty texture from unground cashews and no need for potatoes or carrots to complicate the flavour. It’s so simple, so delicious and so easy to make and results in a perfect cheese-like, silky smooth consistency which, in my opinion, tastes way better than the real thing! My only tweak was to add turmeric for colour.. I’ll def be making this again soon. Thanks again.
Ela
So glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Naseem
Thus recipe is amazing!!!! So easy and quick to make and the texture us exactly like melted cheese. tastes amazing too. I love that it’s way healthier than many store bought vegan cheeses. Thank you so much
Ela
You are very welcome, Naseem. 🙂
Crista
Finally got to eat some tasty nachos after MANY years of using store bought shreds that tasted terrible. I first tried it with coconut milk, then with oat milk. Both times so delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe 😍
Ela
You are very welcome, Crista. 🙂