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
Video
Ingredients
- ¾ 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)
- ½ tsp sea salt (or to taste)
- ½ tsp onion powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)
- Pinch of smoked paprika (optional)
Instructions
- You can check out the video for visual 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
- 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
„Simple and Delicious Vegan“ Cookbook by ElaVeganCLICK HERE to order!If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
This was amazingly good! I’ve missed cheese so much but this is my new favorite thing! I’m SO glad I found your site!!!
Thank you, Julianne! So glad you loved the recipe! 🙂
Wow. I made this and I’m in love! The only change I made was adding in 1/4 tsp of turmeric for color! Although we are eating over everything, it’s particularly delicious over thinly sliced, sauteed yellow zucchini!
So glad you liked the recipe, Dee! I also eat it over everything (except desserts) haha. 🙂
Thank you so so much.
You are welcome, June! 🙂
Hi, is there a difference between nutritional yeast in powder and flake?
The only difference is that the powder is finer than the flakes but the taste is the same. 🙂
Where is the pizza receipe?
You can find all pizza recipes here: https://elavegan.com/tag/pizza
This is AMAZING. Mac and cheese it all the way. I really enjoyed this, and my brother, who is a picky vegan, also loved it. A success!
That’s fantastic! I am so glad you both enjoyed this recipe, Angela. 🙂
UH-MAZE-ING!!! Seriously so good I might just finally be able to commit to Vegan 🙂 Cheese was my big hold back, and this is THAT good. Thanks for creating and sharing.
Yay, I am so happy to read that, Emily! Giving up cheese was also very hard for me, that’s why I had to create this easy vegan cheese recipe to make my life easier. 😀
Thanks for your great feedback! 🙂
Has anyone tried reheating the next day? I ‘d like to make a day ahead for some meal planning.
Lol.. nevermind. After scrolling for sometime reading comments. I decided to post my question. And right above it someone else posted my question yesterday ??
Haha, yes! I should probably answer it in the recipe notes! 😀
I will be trying this recipe out, but I was wondering if it can be stored if some remained or should it be consumed right away?
It always tastes best consumed right away as it will change the consistency in the fridge and get thick. You can reheat it with more milk but I prefer to make it fresh since it takes only a few minutes! Hope this helps.
I never leave comments on food blogs but this LITERALLY the best vegan cheese recipe I’ve ever made. And it’s made better by how simple and quick it is to make. Thank you for sharing!
Aww, this makes me so happy, Teresa! Thanks a lot for your amazing feedback! I am glad you love the recipe as well. 🙂
Love this recipe! It’s so easy to make and really tasty. I’ve started making extra to have on hand!
Glad you liked it Alicia! 🙂
Love this sauce ? I usually use a cashew recipe which is very tasty but this is so simple and easy I’m all about a simple life in the kitchen!! Thanks so much Ela xx
Btw, I’m in the UK and the shop I got my tapioca flour from said it’s also called cassava flour in some places. Hope that helps other people find it easier, I got a huge bag much cheaper than the tiny expensive bag of tapioca off amazon xx
Yay, that’s awesome, Kyla! I am so glad you loved the recipe. And great tip for other readers, thank you! 🙂
Unfortunately I did not like the taste of it at all. I used exact same ingredients but found it really inedible. I think i am too used to the cashew based cheese and this was way different.
So sorry you didn’t like the taste of this vegan cheese sauce. It’s my favorite sauce ever and has become the most popular recipe on my blog with hundreds of raving reviews over all social media channels. Every taste differs though. 🙂
Hiya,
Made this tonight and I liked it, however it had to sit a few minutes (while I was feeding small kids), and in the meantime it went super elastic and rubbery. Wondering what size TBS you use – 15ml or 20ml? I added in extra coco milk too, so thought maybe you use the 15ml tablespoon and I added too much tapioca/arrowroot….
Hi Johanna, I use the 15 ml tablespoon and it’s not heaped. The sauce can quickly become too thick if using too much tapioca. Hope this helps. 🙂
Wow, this was amazing! It tastes like alfredo sauce, and mine looks like it too. It was great on my pasta and broccoli, and I’m going to adjust the seasonings for different dishes too.
Awesome! Thanks for your feedback, Syleste! 🙂
To make the cheese sauce more yellow, you could add some Turmeric powder. It looks orange-ish in the bottle, but turns very yellow when combined with wet/damp ingredients. Be careful, it stains; use paper towels to clean up any spills.
Yes, true! 🙂
Okay, well this really is it as far as cheese recipes go. I’ve made it about four times now with almond milk. Just now I didn’t have any almond milk open, but did have the liquid from a can of cannellini beans, so I used that instead. The result was at least as good if not better than the almond milk version. So this recipe is not only easy and yummy but also versatile. And also, I’m thinking of pre-mixing the dry ingredients in bulk to make the process even more streamlined. Anyway, thanks for the recipe, it’s just so good.
Fantastic feedback! Thanks a lot. 🙂
I’m now pleased to report that using plain water instead of almond milk also works; while still being super yummy
Interesting! I never tried that I guess. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hi! I recently made this and it came out slimy…..do you know what may have caused this?
Which milk did you use? Did you use heaped tbsp of tapioca starch? Sounds like too much tapioca flour.