Instant Pot Vegan Cheese Sauce
Sep 20, 2018, Updated Oct 11, 2018
Seriously amazing Vegan Cheese Sauce made in the Instant Pot! Super quick, so smooth & creamy that you won't believe its vegan!
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Super cheesy and creamy Vegan Cheese Sauce made in the Instant Pot!
Use it on nachos, as dips, over pasta or make your favorite mac & cheese!
If you love all the Instant Pot vegetarian/vegan recipes that I share on the blog, please join me on this Facebook Group – Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes. The group shares/features vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
Vegan cheese? Have you guys ever tried it? I am not a vegan but I am often intrigued by some of the vegan products that I see in the market.
I remember once I was very fascinated with tempeh and bought a big packet from the store. I was not able to eat it at all!
I can eat pretty much everything as long as its vegetarian but I wasn’t able to eat tempeh. Maybe it was just me and I need to give it another shot?
Recently, I bought a pack of vegan cheese to use on my pizza from Trader Joe’s. To my disappointment, it turned out really bad and ruined my pizza. I just couldn’t eat it.
There was no taste and it was all a big mess. Is there any vegan cheese that you guys like? Let me know and maybe I will give it another go.
Anyway, I am not a very cheese person but sometime back I happened to try a vegan cheese sauce at a restaurant which I really enjoyed. I thought it was so cheesy and so perfect and I couldn’t believe it was vegan.
Since then, making a vegan cheese sauce has been on my to do list and what better than using my Instant Pot to do it!
You guys, this sauce is so cheesy, really it tastes like the real deal. You would have a hard time believing it’s all vegan.
How to Make Vegan Cheese Sauce
Well you start off with some creamy vegetables like carrots, potato. Add cashews for more creaminess, add in some spices for flavor and then add the most important ingredient – nutritional yeast!
Have you guys ever had nutritional yeast? I started adding to it salads, soups and dips recently. Don’t confuse this with the active dry yeast that you use for baking.
This is totally different, it’s deactivated yeast and you can find it online at amazon or at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s. Adding the nutritional yeast really bring out the cheesy flavor.
This is one ingredients which you absolutely cannot skip in this recipe!
This vegan cheese sauce recipe is so simple to make in the Instant Pot. You just need to dump everything together, cook it on high pressure and then puree it in a blender to a smooth sauce.
So easy and tasty!
How to Eat The Vegan Cheese Sauce?
In so many ways!
- Use as a dip with veggies, chips
- Top is over chips for nachos
- Toss with macroni for vegan mac n cheese
- Toss with rice and veggies for a creamy bowl of cheesy rice
And so so much more!
I hope you guys give this recipe a try. It’s made with simple ingredients (except the nutritional yeast) and is really good.
Can I Freeze The Vegan Cheese Sauce?
Yes, you may! I divide the sauce into small portions and then freeze each portion in a separate ziplock. Squeeze as much air as possible from your ziplock and then freeze.
Take out the portion that you want to use and place in the refrigerator overnight. I have in fact frozen couple of portions and I will get back to you how it works.
Method
1- To your instant pot add cubed russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cashews and 1 cup water.
2- Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.
Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from sealing to venting position.
3- Let the veggies cool down a bit and then transfer them to a high speed blender.
4- Add nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, turmeric, white vinegar, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of either water or almond milk.
Pulse for 30 seconds or until the sauce is super creamy and smooth. Transfer vegan cheese sauce to serving bowl. Enjoy with chips or veggies!
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Instant Pot Vegan Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 large russet potato 320 grams, cubed
- 1 large sweet potato 300 grams, cubed
- 2 large carrots 170 grams, cut into rounds
- 1/4 cup cashews raw, 35 grams
- 1 cup water 8 oz
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1.25 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water or almond milk 2 oz
Instructions
- To your instant pot add cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cashews and 1 cup water.
- Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from sealing to venting position.
- Let the veggies cool down a bit and then transfer them to a high speed blender.
- Add nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, turmeric, white vinegar, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of either water or almond milk.
- Pulse for 30 seconds or until the sauce is super creamy and smooth. Transfer vegan cheese sauce to serving bowl. Enjoy with chips or veggies!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Omg! I can’t eat hard cheeses, so I haven’t had it for at least 20 years and have always missed it. Since we started a plant-based lifestyle over a year ago, I’ve been searching for an oil free vegan cheese recipe that’s quick and easy. This cheese sauce is sooo good! Both my husband and I love it! It’s close enough for us and will definitely be our go to recipe. I added onion powder and a teaspoon of white Miso paste and I didn’t have plain white vinegar, so I used a pear infused white balsamic vinegar – these changes only enhanced the flavor even more! Thank you for developing this recipe!!
glad you liked it!
I excluded sweet potato, lemon juice and vinegar. I added some jalalenos with juice instead. It was delicious.
glad to know!
I’ve made this a few times now, both for my partner and myself, and for (non-vegan) friends when having a little party!
Works great with tortilla chips, I’ve poured it on gram flour ‘omelettes’ with vegetables, over chips (fries) with fried onions, peppers and chillis, and in quesadillas.
It’s so versatile, and so delicious, everyone I’ve made it for loves it!
I really liked this as did my family. I could see that if you were a new vegan it might disappoint, it does have a different flavor than traditional cheese sauce. But if you are not expecting the exact taste, it’s really good! I had some leftovers that I added to a tofu scramble and it elevated the dish! Thank you.
Would a large yellow potato work in place of the russet?
russet has more starch and works better but you can try yellow.
How long can this be refrigerated, can it be frozen
yes it should freeze okay
Love this! Have made it a couple times. I like to add some chipotles in adobo to add a little extra heat and flavor 🙂
Made it both ways. I preferred it with the water drained.
Just tried this and OMG it’s so yummy! Kinda tastes like a smokey beer cheese. This is the first vegan cheese I’ve ever liked so I’m stoked! Thank you!
The Daiya brand of plant-based cheeses is very good. I’m not at all vegan, but I do like using their cheese. It seems to melt fairly well in the microwave–I’ve made mac and cheese with it, and I have only a micro and an IP to cook with (no stove in this weensy studio)–and would likely melt easily on the stovetop, probably also in the IP. Daiya isn’t carried everywhere, I discovered, but we do have it here in mid MO at the Price Chopper stores. Haven’t seen it at either Kroger or Walmart here.
Thanks Joyce, I will try it!
This was really good. I added Dijon mustard, dried chives, dill seed. I omitted the vinegar and lemon juice and added crushed garlic instead of dried. I can’t stop eating it so delicious.
I have made some vegan cheese before and not liked it, but this we thought was really good! Not too strong a taste of nutritional yeast. We had it on roasted leeks, with greens on the side. Delicious! It did make far more than we needed: 4 pots going in the freezer for another time! But that saves on work and mess later! Also good that it didn’t need too many cashews, and was quick to make.
Thank you! It’s a keeper! 🙂
glad you liked it Judy!
I make a similar cheese sauce but use rhutubagas instead of potatos to cut back on my potassium intake but, never thought of using carrots , will make this and let you know my opinion but, sounds delicious.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, for how long will you have to blend the veggies?
you mean cook the veggies? until they are really soft. Add them to a pot and cook on stove-top until really soft and then blend.
Do you drain the veggies after cooking? Or do you just dump the cooled veggies with cooking liquid into the blender, and then add the additional 1/4 cup water/almond milk?
I don’t drain the veggies