Easy, cheesy, totally dairy-free cashew queso! This luscious vegan cheese is loaded with flavor and easy to make, with just 7 ingredients.
This site is no stranger to vegan queso. I've made few versions before from ingredients like sweet potatoes and cauliflower. And while I love both of those recipes, I don't always have the time or all of the ingredients to make them.
I usually end up making a super simple cashew-based vegan queso, and I figured it was about time I shared the recipe.
What I love about this version is that I always have all of the ingredients on hand — they're all pantry staples!
What You'll Need
- Cashews
- Nutritional yeast
- Hot sauce
- Garlic powder
- Onion Powder
- Salt
- Water
How to Make Vegan Queso
This stuff whips up in minutes, but you do need to do one prep step: ideally, soak your cashews in water for 4 to 8 hours. I know, that requires a bit more planning for an easy recipe. If you forget to soak your cashews, just boil them in water for 15 minutes.
Once your cashews are soaked or boiled, give them a rinse and stick them into a blending vessel. Something small is preferable, in order to ensure that all of the ingredients get blended. I'm using a Ninja mini food processor.
Don't have a small blending device? Try doubling the batch size! You can freeze your leftover queso for later.
Add the nutritional yeast, hot sauce, garlic and onion powders, and salt, along with just ¼ cup of water. Blend everything until smooth, then taste-test the cheese, make adjustments, and thin it with some more water.
Grab some chips and enjoy!
Cashew Queso Tips & FAQ
- Is this recipe gluten-free? It is!
- Shelf-life and storage: Cashew queso will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Is this queso spicy? Can it be made without hot sauce? Your queso will have just a slight kick if you stick with a mild hot sauce like Cholula. I don't recommend skipping the hot sauce, as it actually adds cheesy flavor. If you absolutely must leave it out, try blending in a few roasted red peppers from a jar and a tablespoon or two of vinegar.
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Cashew Queso
Easy, cheesy, totally dairy-free cashew queso! This luscious vegan cheese is loaded with flavor and easy to make, with just 7 ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, rinsed, and drained
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tablespoons vinegar-based hot sauce, plus more to taste (I use 4 tablespoons of Cholula)
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Water
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Instructions
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Place the cashews, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, and ¼ cup of water into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade.
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Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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Thin with anywhere between ¼ and ¾ cup of water, depending on desired thickness (I used about ½ cup in the batch shown in the photos). Blend again until smooth.
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Season the queso with salt to taste, and adjust any other seasonings to your liking.
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Serve.
Recipe Notes
Makes about 1 ½ cups, but the amount will vary depending on how much liquid you use for thinning.
so delicious and easy! Thank you!
Sounded so good I couldn’t even wait to try it, so I just poured boiling water over my cashews and waited about half an hour and blended it in my Magic Bullet. Perfect! What a delicious, easy, quick queso! My 3 yr old granddaughter loved it, too. I will be making this often. Thanks!
Loved it!
Winner!! Thank you, Alissa
I rarely leave comments as I find I normally need to tweak recipes quite a bit - but this one was perfect as is and soooooo easy!