This is the all-time best cheesy vegan sauce that you can use for everything! Pour it on nachos, fries, broccoli, baked potatoes, pasta, or tacos. It's rich and creamy, silky smooth, and tastes amazing!
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❤️ Why make this recipe
Want your kids to eat their veggies? Just whip up a batch of this easy vegan cheese sauce and watch them disappear! Plus it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and does not have any cashews, so nearly everyone can enjoy it.
I share a ton of cheese recipes on my blog like veggie cheese sauce, vegan cheddar, vegan mozzarella, vegan halloumi, vegan feta, and more, but if you just want a simple universal cheese sauce that works with everything, this 5-minute vegan cheese sauce is it!
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Coconut Milk - a 13.5 oz can of full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream will make your cheese sauce rich and creamy plus 1/2 cup of water. (You can use soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, or any other plant-based milk if you choose, but full-fat canned coconut milk will give you the richest and creamiest vegan cheese sauce.)
- Nutritional Yeast Flakes - This is a yellow flaky powder that has a cheese flavor. This is a key ingredient to give it a cheesy flavor and cannot be omitted. You can read more about it in this article about nutritional yeast.
- Tapioca Starch - For a stretch to your cheese sauce. This is also referred to as tapioca flour. If you don't have this, you can swap it out for cornstarch, potato starch, or arrowroot, but it won't have a stretchy texture.
- Salt - To give it flavor.
- Lemon Juice - For a little tang to your cheese.
- Paprika - For flavor and color. (The red paprika mixed with the yellow turmeric gives it a beautiful orange color!) You can also use smoked paprika for a delicious smokey flavor.
- Garlic Powder - For flavor.
- Turmeric - For color. (optional)
- Spicy Brown Mustard - optional for more flavor.
- Optional for more flavor - cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, or chipotle pepper.
Note about canned coconut milk - Did you know that not all brands of coconut milk use ethical treatment of animals and therefore not truly vegan? Read more about it and see which brands of coconut milk are vegan.
🔪 Helpful tools
You don't need anything special to make this sauce, just a saucepan and a whisk. No need for a bender or any special equipment.
🥄 How to make vegan cheese sauce
A full printable version of this recipe with ingredient measurements is available at the bottom of this post.
Step 1 - Add a can of coconut milk, water, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, salt, lemon juice, mustard, paprika, garlic powder, and turmeric, then give it a stir with a whisk until all of the starch is dissolved. (Don't turn on the heat until the starch is fully dissolved.)
Step 2 - Turn the stove to medium heat and stir frequently until your cheese sauce thickens and starts to boil. Then turn down the heat to low and stir constantly for about 30 more seconds before taking off the heat.
👩🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- Use full-fat coconut milk for the creamiest cheese sauce, but you can use light coconut milk for a lower-fat option.
- Add the tapioca starch to cold coconut milk. If you try to add this after you start heating the sauce, it will clump and not dissolve.
- Tapioca starch will give you the best results for a cheesy texture that won't become gloppy when it starts to cool down.
🫕 How to use this cheese sauce
Use this vegan cheese sauce to make loaded vegan nachos, vegan baked potatoes, or vegan cheese fries. It's also delicious drizzled on top of veggies like broccoli or roasted cauliflower or on tempeh tacos, TVP tacos, cauliflower tacos, or jackfruit tacos.
You can even dip bread in it and use it as a vegan cheese fondue sauce!
🥡 Storage and reheating
Refrigerate: This cheesy vegan sauce will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Freeze: You can freeze leftover cheese sauce in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating: Reheat the vegan cheese sauce in the microwave for about 2- 3 minutes or reheat it in a saucepan on the stovetop.
🌟 More homemade vegan cheese
If you are interested in learning how to make more easy homemade vegan cheeses, check out all of my vegan cheese recipes on the blog or my vegan cheese cookbook, "The Ultimate Guide to Easy Vegan Cheese Making."
- Vegan Pepper Jack
- Tofu Ricotta
- Vegan Garlic Herb Cheese
- Tofu Cream Cheese
- Vegan Provolone Cheese
- Vegan Smoked Gouda
- Tofu Cheese Ball
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan cheese sauce recipe
Cheesy Vegan Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 1/2 tablespoon tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour) use cornstarch if you don't have tapioca starch
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard or yellow mustard (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
Instructions
- Add a can of coconut milk, water, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, salt, lemon juice, mustard, paprika, garlic powder, and turmeric, then give it a stir with a whisk until all of the starch is dissolved. (Don't turn on the heat until the starch is fully dissolved.)
- Turn the stove to medium heat and stir frequently until your cheese sauce thickens and starts to boil. Then turn down the heat to low and stir constantly for about 30 more seconds before taking off the heat.
Notes
- Use full-fat coconut milk for the creamiest cheese sauce, but you can use light coconut milk for a lower-fat option.
- Add the tapioca starch to cold coconut milk. If you try to add this after you start heating the sauce, it will clump and not dissolve.
- Tapioca starch will give you the best results for a cheesy texture that won't become gloppy when it starts to cool down.
Nutrition
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click the stars above or leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!
gloria says
I'd like to use my own homemade almond milk. Will I just be wasting money?
Sylvia W says
Ooooh! Yay! A Cheezy sauce without cashews! I have nothing against cashews - I snack on the regularly - but the raw ones usually called for in cheeze recipes are either difficult to acquire nearby, prohibitively expensive or both. This is all pantry ingredients, and I can't wait to try it! First stop - nachos! Believe it or not I have never had nachos in my life! They didn't really become a "thing" until after I already had developed my dairy allergy! Excited!
Thank you from a grateful subscriber!
Monica says
You're welcome! I'm so happy that my recipes work well for you! I always prefer coconut milk to blended cashews, it's so much creamier!
irene McDonald says
Made this last week at a friends house. We had it over cauliflower. There was about 1 cup left over which we enjoyed with nachos for the next couple of days. We loved it and will make again, so easy and tasty. My friend is not Vegan and was blown away with how "Cheesy" it was. This was a big hit.
Monica says
I'm so happy that you and your friend liked it! 🙂
Wilma B says
Thank you Thank you.
We all love cheese sauce on our nachos etc BUT our adult son has issues with cashews AND with potatoes(used in most other veg sauces )- so this is amazing.
I plan to make it today.
THANK YOU!!
Wilma B
Monica says
You're welcome! Enjoy!
Kathi says
Can you use aagar agar in place of the tapioca startch?
Monica says
You can, but this will make the cheese sauce set firm into a sliceable cheese. I use 2 tablespoons of agar agar powder to achieve a firmly set cheese. You can try using about 2 teaspoons to thicken it but not have it set if you want a cheese sauce. Enjoy! 🙂
Linda says
Thank you, can’t wait to try all of them!
Lillian Williams says
Looks delicious.Can’t wait to try it!
Monica says
Thanks, hope that you love it as much as we do.
Janet Cox says
Soi far everything that I have made from this web site has be delish !!
Monica says
I'm so happy that you like my recipes, Janet! 🙂