Ok friends, this is it. After all of the love for my Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella, it's time for a follow-up act: Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Nacho Cheese. (I know, I am just so incredibly original with the new name).
With the help of reader Amanda (hi Amanda!), I toyed around with different spices and flavours to achieve a cheddar-like cheese recipe. No small task, especially when you don't eat cow's milk cheddar to compare. With a little zing and zang, salty and sweet, ooey and gooey, I managed to achieve... are you ready for it?...nacho heaven. Big plate of nachos featuring Vegan Nacho Cheese! Hello again, Nachos. Oh, how I missed you. Now I will devour you!
This recipe is good for more than just nachos. You can load up a baked potato, make a grilled cheese, layer on a veggie patty for a melty cheeseburger, or stir into noodles for quick mac and cheese. Anywhere that you would use melted cheddar cheese, you can now use this recipe.
Do you want more good news? Of course you do. It's oil, gluten, and dairy free, only 150 calories per serving, omnivores love it, over 10 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and only 15 minutes to make. Vegan high fives all around!
Can we see another shot of this ooey, gooey, melty-ness. Ahhh.... there we go.
Notes about this cheese:
- You have to use tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour). Corn starch, potato starch or any other starch won't have the same stretchy quality. If you can't find tapioca starch in your grocery store, you can always order it online here. If you have tapioca pearls, you can use a coffee grinder or a high powered blender to grind them into a homemade batch of tapioca starch.
- You can store the leftover cheese in an airtight container in the fridge and it should last for several days. This cheese will never turn into a solid block. It will always remain in a melty state. If you want to return the cold nacho cheese back to dipping consistency, reheat over medium heat while stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Once it is hot and bubbling it might have thickened up too much. You can thin it out by adding a tablespoon of water at a time, stirring it in until desired consistency is reached.
- Please beware, once you make a batch, you will probably eat the whole thing in one sitting. Don't say I didn't warn you!
To make this nacho cheese, first start by soaking the cashews for four hours or overnight. OR if you need to eat this immediately (and I always do), you can skip the soaking, and instead boil the cashews for 10 minutes until soft and tender, then drain before using. Sneaky deaky cashew softening trick.
Toss all the ingredients into a blender and blend until completely smooth. It will be very watery, don’t worry, it will get cheesy!
If you don't have a high powered blender, you may want to pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into the pot to remove any cashew bits that didn't grind up. This will ensure a smooth cheese texture.
Put the pan over medium-high heat. Stir to keep anything from burning. You will start to see clumps forming.
Ooo clumpy. Keep stirring!
Then all of a sudden, magic! Everything comes together and makes this cheesy, melty, deliciousness. Keep stirring and cooking for another minute or two, to make sure it’s finished firming up. It should take about 5 minutes to cook total. That’s it! Done. So easy.
Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Nacho Cheese
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews (see notes)
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour)
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt (or to taste)
- 1 ½ teaspoons white miso paste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- To soften the cashews: Boil them for 10 minutes until soft. OR soak the cashews for four hours or overnight. Drain before using.
- To make the nacho vegan nacho cheese: Add the softened cashews, water, and all the remaining ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. It will be very watery.
- Pour into a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, while stirring. If you don't have a high-powered blender, you may want to pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into the pot, to remove any cashew bits that didn't grind up. This will ensure a smooth cheese texture. As you stir it will start forming clumps, and then all of a sudden it will become a cheesy gooey mass of yumminess. This takes about 5 minutes. Continue to cook and stir for an additional minute or two to make sure it has firmed up completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Kristine says
I'm obsessed with this and I make it often, but I noticed in your video you are able to pour your cheese onto your nachos. Mine always comes out as one big ball of cheese, not pourable. Any tips?
Nikki says
I have the exact same issue. I am going to try it with less tapioca, and see if that helps.
Gayle says
Hi there,
I really want to make this or the nacho cheese recipe from your cookbook to make Mac and Cheese. However, my husband is on a low fodmap diet and can’t eat onion or garlic powders. If I omit these, do I need to adjust the recipe? Thanks for any advice!
Nic says
Made this tonight for my family and they LOVED it! My husband and son LOVE cheese and say they could never go vegan because of that. They were completely satisfied with this nacho cheese recipe. They couldn't believe it didn't have a ton of cheese in it. My husband was a little worried that I'd used a whole block of cheese. AMAZING recipe and it has an incredible taste and texture. It would have to for a 7 year old cheese lover to accept it as awesome.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha that's wonderful! Thrilled you enjoyed it, Nic 🙂
Laura says
WOW this is great. You get all the stars to the moon and back on this recipe. This was delicious as written. Simple ingredients in my pantry and refrigerator. Thank you so much for sharing.
Anne-Marie says
BEST VEGAN CHEESY SAUCE EVER :oD Thank you SOOO much!
My husband and boys (and I) literally fought over the big platter of loaded nachos with your sauce. It's definitely the new family favorite.
I had a bit of trouble getting the sauce to thicken enough even though I had followed your recipe. I wonder if the tapioca flour can vary in quality? I ended up adding maizena which did the trick. Maybe with less stretchiness but still aMAzing!
Marie says
My daughter has decided to change to a vegan diet around the beginning of the year. She is allergic to most nuts though. The ones she can eat are almonds, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds. Could any of these be substituted for cashews?
michelle LaFayette says
I use boiled potatoes, half can of white beans instead of cashews buzzit up taste test it adjust as needed, add more or less tapioca starch cook and enjoy.
Mandy says
This is absolutely delicious! I made a grilled cheese with it - yum. I made poutine with it (let it cool in the fridge, use a small spoon to make "curds") - yum. I also froze some to test, and it was still amazing! I thawed it out in the fridge for a day, microwaved for 30 seconds, and stirred it up - it was melty, cheesy goodness.
Lay says
OH. MY. GOODNESS. You guys, this vegan goddess knows what she's doing. I have tried SO many cheese recipes and the search is finally over! I love this recipe! I poured it over baked potato and topped it with jackfruit BBQ! All the cheese recipe's I've tried were disappointing. I was stuck with big batches of yellow flavorless goo so I halved this recipe just in case I wouldn't like it. I regret not making more! Will definitely make this again as soon as I get my hands on more cashews! I only sub'd the agave with a tiny bit of brown sugar. Follow her recipe exactly. I'm thinking of all the nacho chips, enchiladas, baked potatos, macaroni, popcorn, cheese fries, broccoli and cheese, cheesy potato soup, chips and spicy queso, and frito pies in my future <3
Sam Turnbull says
Aww yay!! THrilled you love it so much, Lay 🙂
Anna says
Scarcity of food at present. Amazon can't ship tapioca flour until April th stores are out. Is there any quasi-worthy alternative? Will cornstarch suffice? No arrowroot on-hand either.
A baked potato is dry without a creamy dressing. Looks perfect...if only I could swap Thebes star ingredient with another
Sara says
I’ve made it without starch before and it’s still very tasty just not stretchy
Mandy says
Hi can I use this cheese in lasagna or wouldn’t it work
Thanks
Sam Turnbull says
Absolutely you can 🙂
Ian Wilson says
Tapioca flour is often known as Arrowroot
Jan B. says
They're not exactly the same. See https://www.spiceography.com/arrowroot-vs-tapioca-starch/
I don't know if arrowroot would have the same stretchy quality.
Anthony Wilson says
In Australia McKenzie's Arrowroot says 'Tapioca flour' on the container and states it is interchangeable. You can actually buy both products at many supermarkets.
Teresa says
I've just started eating and cooking plant-based, and I was excited to try this recipe. I suck at cooking because I'm always substituting more healthy ingredients and it rarely works. So, I followed this recipe exactly and to be honest, I had to force myself to eat a serving, then threw the rest out. First of all, the mixture became very thick so I had to add about twice as much water. It wasn't the consistency of cheese AT ALL. But most disappointing of all, it tasted very bad. Like nutritional yeast and cardboard. Sorry to tell you this. I promise to try more of your recipes and maybe this vegan stuff is an acquired taste.....Thank you for being here for us!
Lonneke says
Love this recipe and use it all the time! Was just wondering if you could blend the ingredients before cooking, and then freeze the mixture? Or would it go weird? I'm just wanting to freeze a few batches to have postpartum, where even 5 minutes to prepare something sounds like a lot of work
Sam Turnbull says
I haven't tried it but I believe it should work fine. You could also prepare it fully and freeze the finished cheese. Enjoy!
Kristy says
Made this again tonight. This time I left the mixture blending for like 5 minutes. It was perfectly smooth and I ate like at least mmmmm meats half of it over the course of the evening. My best batch ever!!
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing!
Kristy says
I’m not sure what the mmmmmm means typo meant, maybe I was in mid Delicious
Bite and got distracted while talk to texting this review. Just came back to the recipe because I made it again today!
Kristy says
Another Great thing about it is that, It seems like it would stick to the Pot and blender and take forever to clean, but it rinses off like instantly! I just hand washed The pot , the blender, the blender parts and they’re all dried and put away while my cheese is still piping hot in the bowl! Amazing! Best recipe ever!
Jennifer P. says
Made this today and I liked it a lot! Better than a couple other nacho cheese recipes I tried. Its A little sticky, but maybe I heated it for too long. I have everything on hand usually except for the miso paste (which doesn't effect the outcome all that much if you leave it out.)
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you enjoyed! You can always add a bit more water to thin as needed. ENjoy!
Ann Marshall says
Holy deliciousness, Batman! I made this nacho cheese to use in your black bean and corn quesadilla (they were delish!), and I couldn’t believe how incredibly tasty this cheese was! If the Green New Deal ever comes to the USA and farting cows are banned to counteract climate change, I take comfort in knowing that this cheese will sustain all my cheesy cravings! THANK YOU, Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's wonderful, Ann! SO happy you love the cheese 🙂
Kenzie says
Would you be able to substitute tahini for the miso paste? I want to try this recipe out, but I don't think I'd have any other use for miso paste.
Sam Turnbull says
Miso paste adds an umami taste that tahini doesn't have. You can try it but keep in mind that it will not have the same flavour 🙂
Shannon Rodine says
I am allergic to soy, what can be used in place of the miso paste?
Shannon Rodine says
I am allergic to soy, what could be used in place of the miso paste?
Laura says
Shannon, if you can find chickpea miso it substitutes nicely for white miso paste. It's what I use to keep my husband's soy load down (he doesn't have full-blown allergies but has an intolerance to some forms of soy preparation) so that he can have soy when we do something with tofu.
Sam Turnbull says
You could substitute a chickpea miso paste, or try sauerkraut. 🙂
Emilie says
My dad use to make us a big plate of Nacho’s with cheese sauce and mozzarela on top on the week-end when I was I child. This recipe bring me back to this memory and this is even tastier. This is so delicious it’s a revelation to me. I topped it with vegan mozzarella, olive and tomatoes pieces, thank you.
Sam Turnbull says
Aww I love that! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
TAMI MAILLET says
My friend sent me this recipe, sounds yummy but my husband is allergic to nuts, is there a subsitute that I can use?
Sam Turnbull says
Some people have tried it with sunflower seeds with similar results.
Kat says
This used to be my go-to cheese recipe but my son has developed a cashew allergy, unfortunately. Could I use something else in place of cashews like sunflower seeds? I miss this recipe so much! Even omnis enjoy it.
Sam Turnbull says
Blanched almonds or macadamia nuts work very well. Enjoy!