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
Wendy
Coconut milk is overpriced in the UK, so I buy blocks of 100% creamed coconut online. To make coconut milk you chop up 1/2 a block and add hot water, but if I am using this recipe, I add the chopped block of creamed coconut right in with the other indredients. I then use half as much tapioca flour and increase the water, salt and seasonings to the desired consistency and taste. Awesome poured onto pizza. Thank you.
Ela
That’s awesome, Wendy! Thanks for this helpful feedback. 🙂
Dini
Dear Ela,
Thanks a lot for your simple recipe of vegan.
I wonder could the canned coconut replaced with the fresh one? Since our country has a lot of coconut and easy to get the fresh coconut cream. Regards from Indonesia.
Ela
Yes, that’s totally possible, Dini! I bet it’s even more delicious.
Rugiada
I love eating vegan.. But it is not always easy with 2 children and a husband who don’t love it.. Yesterday I did your quesadillas recipes.. I didn’t have time to take a picture ???? thank you @r.u.g.i.a.d.a
Ela
Awesome, thanks for your feedback, Rugiada 🙂
Medina
Ms. Ela!!!! This freakin sauce was amazing! This was the first vegan sauce that I have ever made and I have to say that I may just stop right here. The looks and flavors are awesome! Thank You…. Thank You…. Thank You!!! I made pizza tonight for meat eaters with this sauce and they LOVED IT!!!
I’m looking forward to trying your other recipes now.
Ela
Yay! I am super happy you all loved it! Wonderful feedback, thanks. I appreciate it. ????
Aimee
Thankyou SO MUCH for this recipe! I have been following a vegan diet for almost a year and, as a former cheese lover, have struggled to find anything which comes close….until now! I have been put off by other ‘cheese’ recipes due to the number of ingredients, prep etc so I was thrilled to find your super easy recipe. I made this last night to put on top of a homemade pizza and WOOOOOW- best pizza ever! I also ate the remaining sauce this morning just spread onto some toast because it is that good! Thankyou!!!!
Ela
Wow!! Thank you so much for this amazing feedback, Aimee!! Makes me seriously so happy to read that you love my vegan cheese sauce! ????
Shruti
Hi Ela, I made this sauce using arrowroot powder. But when it cooled down, it somewhat solidified. I did not get a pouring consistency. Should i add water to it? I’m afraid that adding more coconut milk will end up with the sauce having a coconut flavor. It tasted really good, thanks for such a simple and good recipe!
Ela
Hello Shruti, yes, when the sauce cools down it will get thick but once you heat it up again then it will have a pouring consistency. You can add a splash of any other plant-based milk or water if it’s too thick. 🙂
Topaz Ermshar
This was a wonderful recipe! I am amazed at how the tapioca starch changed the consistency of the sauce! Thank you for sharing it.
Ela
Thank you very much for your amazing feedback!
Davika
I’m so going to try this! I’ve experimented with vegan cheese to make a sauce but it has never worked.
Danke!
Ela
I hope you will like it. 🙂
Maya
Hi, do you think that with some tweaking this could be turned into a hard cheese? If yes, any suggestions how?
Ela
Yes, it is possible but you will need agar agar powder. I haven’t made it in a while so I don’t remember the exact measurements, however, I believe I simply added 2 tsp of agar agar powder to the recipe and then filled the mixture into ramekins. It will firm up in the fridge. Let me know how it turned out if you give it a try. 🙂
Maya
Thanks, Ella, I was also thinking of agar agar, although so far I’ve never had much luck using it and things tended to go wrong. I think I’ll try your original version first and see what the taste is like and then maybe try adding agar agar …. I’ll let you know if I succeed. 🙂
Thanks again four your reply!
Nuffy
Maya make sure you use Agar Agar Powder not the Agar Agar Flakes!! If you use Agar Agar Flakes you must double the measurement otherwise the cheese will not set, I suggest you buy the Agar, Agar Powder because the Powder and Flakes are different!!
Evi
Das ist ja echt ein super Rezept!!! Ich freue mich schon das aus zu probieren:)
Thank you so much for sharing
Ela
Danke liebe Evi! 🙂
Racheal
Hey, I really want to try this sauce! I am living in a very rural area at the minute and I can’t find any tapioca flour or arrowroot. I googled substitutes and it recommended Cornstarch, what do you think?
Ela
Hey, cornstarch will just make the sauce thick but won’t make it stretchy. You should be able to buy it online almost everywhere. 🙂
Erica
Hi, I tried this recipe exactly as indicated with the precise measurements and it did taste delicious but it looked nothing like the one you made. Yours looks picture perfect. I did read your comments on the nutritional yeast potentially being the issue. Why do you think that might make a difference in terms of brands? I used Braggs nutritional yeast. Once again the taste was delicious, however texture and color were not the same as yours.
Ela
Hi Erica, I am glad you liked the taste of this vegan cheese sauce. As regards the color, I believe there are nutritional yeast brands that enrich their products with lots of B-vitamins. The one I order from Amazon (it’s linked in the recipe) contains B-vitamins and the flaked have a yellow color. When I use 3 tbsp the cheese sauce turns out pretty yellow like in the pics. When I use less (e.g. just 1 tbsp) the color is just light yellowish. So I am pretty sure it’s the brand I am using. Maybe you can try out a different brand and make the recipe again? 🙂
Nuffy
Many Vegans use a little bit of Turmeric to colour their cheese sauces, but just enough to colour, don’t add a lot, that will ruin the cheese sauce tates…
Evelien
Hello Ela,
I was so inspired to try this…but it turned out so bad. It tasted way to much like coconut and nothing like cheese…had to trow it away unfortunately. I used canned coconut cream as I had no milk left. That is also very thick but I watered it down… do you think that is the problem? Any other nut milks I could try instead?
Regards,
Evelien
Ela
Hi Evelien, sorry to hear it didn’t turn out good. I never made the recipe with coconut cream, I suppose it has a stronger coconut taste than coconut milk. You could try any other plant-based milk, however, I would suggest adding a little bit of oil since plant-based boxed milk is always watered down a lot. Homemade cashew milk or almond milk might work well. 🙂
Orchid
Hello Ela,
Your cheese looks fabulous and so yummy!!! I’ve been looking for recipe for white vegan cheese. Can I make this same cheese of yours a “white cheese?”
Ela
If you leave out the nutritional yeast it won’t be yellow. But it also depends on the brand of nutritional yeast. The brand I used (linked in the recipe) has a yellow color. 🙂 I prefer the cheese sauce WITH nutritional yeast though.
Nelly Payne
I just made it, as with all your recipes, fell in love with it, I used my homemade coconut milk and it worked perfectly fine, and also put extra milk for a runny consistency, ate them with coconut flat bread filled with potatoes, cabbage, onions, and Serrano peppers , really yummy ????
Ela
Awesome! Thanks for your feedback, Nelly. 🙂
Linda
Wondering if this vegan cheese sauce could become a Queso by adding a little drained salsa?
Or perhaps you have a better suggestion for Queso.
Thank You
Ela
I never made it but I think it should be very delicious! Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
Linda
Probably should have said ‘Chili Con Queso’. In Texas we just say Queso.
I will let you know when I try it.
Thank You
L Ugone
made cheese sauce tastey but disappeared when used over your bean casserole what happened?
Ela
Hi! Not sure what you mean with disappeared?
Simone
Thank you for this wonderful easy recipe. I used it to make a cheese sauce for my first time ever vegan mac n cheese Most of the recipes I saw were complicated but this one was perfect for me. Thank you. Thank you.
Ela
I am so glad you liked my recipe, Simone! 🙂
marylouise
I had to add extra coconut milk as i found mine was too thick. also i will add less salt next time. other that this i loved this recipe and that fact that it does not have the extra fat of almonds.
Delicious recipe thank you for sharing.
Ela
Thank you very much for your helpful feedback, Marylouise. 🙂
Karen
I made this to use in my vegan lasagne and it was delicious! Can’t wait to use it in LOTS of other dishes. Thank you!!
Ela
So glad you liked my recipe, Karen! Vegan lasagne sounds soo yummy ????