The most amazing Vegan Cheese Sauce that is Nut-free and Oil-free, as well as fat-free! It has no nuts and no cashews! It is also is the perfect sauce to make vegan Mac ‘N’ Cheese. This cheese sauce is healthy, creamy and made from potatoes and zucchini.
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NUT-FREE VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE
Are you ready for this? Are you ready for a to-die-for creamy vegan cheese sauce that tastes rich, thick and silky smooth? This is so darn delicious over mac ‘n’ cheese too. There is no nuts, no oil and totally healthy, as it’s made from vegetables like potatoes and zucchini.
In case you are wondering, this one is totally guilt-free. It is even coconut-free and gluten-free. When I’m not stuffing my face with this Vegan Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake, I like to enjoy this lighter, lower calorie version.
The majority of vegan cheese recipes are made with nuts/cashews or tofu, etc. Since so many of you readers cannot have nuts, I wanted to create a nut-free and fat-free cheese sauce that we could all enjoy with absolutely zero guilt. It’s totally kid-approved too, my daughter gobbles it up.
CHEESE SAUCE MADE WITH VEGETABLES
To create a whole foods cheese sauce made with vegetables, I took inspiration from 2 of the recipes on my blog that were creamy sauces without containing any nuts. My Low-Fat Nut-Free Creamy Parsley Sauce which is made from potatoes and my Spicy Zucchini Pepper Soup which is made from zucchini! Both are incredibly creamy, so I combined the two for a magic cheese sauce.
Lastly, another key ingredient that really drives home the cheesy flavor is soy sauce. It gives a depth of flavor that salt alone doesn’t give. I tried just lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and salt and none of them gave that cheesy flavor as great as soy sauce. I mean seriously, this entire recipe is basic ingredients that I just got at my local grocery store. So easy.
HOW TO MAKE A NUT-FREE VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients (+salt and water):
- zucchini
- yukon gold potatoes
- nutritional yeast
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- smoked paprika
- soy sauce or liquid aminos
- lemon juice
Prepare the zucchini by preheating an oven to 415°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. Bake for 15 minutes.
Next, cook your potatoes either by roasting, steaming or in the microwave. Mash them with a fork and measure out 1 cup.
Add the cooked zucchini and potato, along with all of the remaining ingredients (start with 3/4 cup water and add as needed, stopping at 1 cup) to your blender and blend until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape a couple of times from the bottom during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until you’ve really blended it up a couple of minutes on high to get it completely smooth. It will seem too thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini.
Whether you use it as a dip or a vegan mac ‘n’ cheese, it’s delicious!
OTHER VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE RECIPES TO TRY:
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Cheese Sauce (Nut-free and Oil-free)
Ingredients
- 1 small zucchini, peeled and sliced, THEN weigh 130g
- 1 lightly filled cup (220g) cooked/mashed yukon gold
- 3/4 cup -1 cup water (as needed to reach desired thickness (I ALWAYS use 1 cup, so keep that in mind in regards to other ingredients)
- 1/4 cup (20g) nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular if you don't like smoked
- 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or tamari, do not omit, this is what gives the cheesy flavor, do not use coconut aminos, it will not yield the correct flavor!)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
NOTE
- It's important to weigh the zucchini and potato, so the flavor turns out correct, too much zucchini and it could have an off taste.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 415°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. It's imperative to peel the zucchini, otherwise your sauce will be an ugly green. Bake about 15 minutes until tender.
- I cooked the potato in the microwave for about 5 minutes until very soft. Do not boil them as they will get water logged and make the sauce more runny.
- Mash the potatoes with a fork and measure out 1 cup. If you followed the correct weight measurement, you should get just about 1 lightly filled cup of mashed potatoes. Update: Using a food processor will make this too gooey, make sure to use just a blender.
- Add the zucchini, potato and remaining ingredients (start with 3/4 cup water and add as needed, stopping at 1 cup) to the blender and blend until smooth. Stop and scrape a couple of times from the bottom during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until you've really blended it up a couple of minutes. It will seem too thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini. If after blending it's too thick for you, add just a TINY amount just to blend it. If it's a bit thinner than you like, heat on the stove to thicken.
- Taste and add any extra lemon juice and/or salt/spices if necessary. Add any desired toppings such as red pepper flakes, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos. I like a kick of heat to my cheese so I added red pepper flakes.
- To make it as a mac 'n' cheese, add cheese sauce to cooked pasta. You can either warm the cheese by running it awhile in the blender or gently warming over the stove. It gives such an incredible cheesy, thick and stick-to-pasta result.
Thos sauce looks delicious, and love the ingredients! Hoping to try soon!
Oh man I can’t wait to make mac and cheese….I liked the cashew cheese sauce for some things, though I didn’t use it with pasta.
Wow, Brandi this sounds like a vegan cheese sauce I would want to try too! I’m so happy as well that you added an alternative to soy-sauce – I’m not allergic, but soy often gives me headaches :/ Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe 🙂
Thank you so much Kat! It’s probably because of the high sodium content. There is only 2 teaspoons so hopefully that wouldn’t bother you, but it is definitely a key ingredient to the flavor. But worcestershire should be a decent sub, not 100%, but close 🙂
How brilliant! I am a huge fan of vegan cheese recipes… So happy to have this in my collection! It might be tricky to get my hands on yellow fleshed potatoes, but I’ll definitely keep an eye on that. 🙂
Thank you so much Nori! You are so kind! I think red skinned potatoes should still do the trick! Just make sure to peel them. The flavor isn’t quite as rich as the yellow, but you could make up in flavor with spices if necessary.
NAILED IT!! I made this for dinner last night…the day you posted it. We were out of pasta, and I’ve never bought smoked paprika…but this recipe warranted a trip to the store! I had very skinny zucchini, so I sliced 2 of those to bake…they made 1/2 cup when done. I loved that you included exactly how much potato to use (measure 1 cup after mashed). Wasn’t sure if 1/2 cup zucchini, after baked, was right. Anyway, baked the zucchini. Put 2 gold organic potatoes in a potato bag in the microwave and left to take the kids to soccer practice. (Wal-Mart stocks a VERY small crate with organic potatoes – most trips I can find a 2lb bag of organic gold for $3.74) After practice, we ran into Trader Joe’s to pick up some brown rice & quinoa spiral pasta, and smoked paprika.
You do such a phenomenal job in your write up including all the supporting details, as if you were standing in my kitchen, talking me through it while I was cooking. I made the recipe exactly as you listed, except I had coconut aminos, instead of liquid ammonia, so I added about 1/2 tsp more salt. I blended it in my Vitamix for about 2 mins. The consistency was perfect! I never even had to scrape the sides down…it blended up so smooth. I cooked a bag and a half of TJ’s pasta, and that was the perfect amount for the cheese sauce. And then we dug in. On the first bite both kids (9 and 4 yrs) gave a giant Mmmmmmmmmm!!! So creamy, rich and yummy! By the 6th bite, my 4 yr old said it was too spicy…my 9 year old and I both thought it had decent heat, but not too spicy to devour. Note above, I bought smoked paprika for the first time just for this recipe, not a flavor we’re used to. I think next time I’m going to use just 1/4 tsp. But I have my daughter a glass of chocolate almond milk, and she took a swig after ever couple of bites and finished her bowl. We LOVED it!
Thank you so much for the hard work you put into cooking! I can make adjustments and basic substitutions to recipes, but I’m not a good enough cook to CREATE the way you do. You are incredibly talented! I am so thankful to have found your blog. Your writing is as good as your recipes, I appreciate all the details in your recipe notes. Thank you, for another hit meal for my family!
Brooke- I don’t know what to say other than your comment was so incredibly kind and heartfelt that it truly brightened my whole week!! I’m so ecstatic you loved this recipe so much and more importantly, your kids did! It’s a good feeling to feed our kids meals that are not only delicious but GOOD FOR US and not full of processed fats and oils, so this recipe is a big deal to me. As far as the detailed notes, sometimes I think I’m being TOO detailed and don’t want to make the instructions appear too complicated at first glance, but you (and others) have stated how much it is appreciated, so I continue to do it. I have come across many recipes in my lifetime that the instructions were too confusing or not detailed enough that it drove me bonkers, so I try to make it as thorough as possible! Thanks again for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment, these comments are what make what I do so worth all the hard work. As far as it being a bit spicy, did you add jalapenos or red pepper flakes? Because the cheese sauce by itself isn’t spicy at all, there isn’t an ingredient in it that is spicy….the smoked paprika has a smoky flavor but nothing at all spicy, so I was just curious. Thanks again Brooke!!
I have made this three times now, and know why it was too spicy the first time…I hadn’t roasted plain zucchini before (I’d done breaded zucchini fries, and grilled, sauteed and raw zucchini, but not roasted). When it said to salt and pepper the zucchini well before roasting …I did it TOO well, and went way overboard on the pepper. I used less pepper the 2nd & 3rd times, and it was perfect!
Looks YUMMO- how did you calculate calorie count Brandy?
Hi Lisa! For all my recipes, I add all of the nutrition up myself by going off the back of the bags/packages and then divide the number of servings. I have found many of the online nutrition counters to be way off and unreliable so I take the time to do it myself manually. For vegetables that don’t come with labels, I measure the weight of my ingredient and then will type that specific weight measurement online on calorie count to get the exact calories. Hope that helps!
I am a firm believer that cheese sauce goes with anything! I love how you used potatoes as a base. I haven’t tried that yet but Im really excited to give it a go. Very clever..=)
Thank you so much Chrystal! I agree too! Let me know if you try it!!
Brandi!!! I had guessed sweet potato from your Instagram teasers, I was close! I’m so excited to try this! We don’t have Yukon gold potatoes here, what type of potato is it so I can use a similar variety? Is it a fluffy starchy or waxy kind? Thank you!
Thank you Poppy! Yes, Somer had guessed sweet potatoes too, lol! I told her she was right on one of the main ingredients, haha! The combo of both potatoes and zucchini gives the most amazing texture. I made another batch today and added jalapeños and blended them up too and I almost died, it was so good! But if you can’t find Yukon gold potatoes, any yellow potatoes or even red potatoes should be fine, just don’t use russet potatoes, those will yield a completely different texture. Just make sure to measure about 1 cup of mashed potatoes since likely the potatoes you find may be different size. Hope that helps girl! ❤️
Thank you so much Poppy for making it and your photo on Instagram! It looked amazing and I’m ecstatic you loved it so much!
I love this already!!! I can’t wait to make it, I will definitely give you the feedback. Bravo Brandi! Thank you for helping out us nut allergy folks! 🙂
Absolutely Paula! I know so many avoid or can’t have nuts and want healthy, oil-free, low-fat meals and I personally try to keep my savory meals very low-fat, so I’m thrilled when my readers are just as excited about them as I am! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Can you replace the Zucchini with anything else?
You can try yellow squash, but anything else might affect the flavor/texture too much. Zucchini and squash get sort of sweeter when they cook, so it lends a good flavor to the sauce.
So interesting Brandi! I think this would be a great”gravy”. I like a rich “cheesy” sauce so actually really love nut/seed based cheese sauces.
Thank you Emma! Don’t be fooled by the lack of nuts, this tastes just as rich as the cashew ones, that’s the amazing part! The potatoes and zucchini turn magical when blended up and makes it so creamy and thick. I was pleasantly surprised. I absolutely love my sauces to be rich too and love cashews (which is in my alfredo sauce) but after making my cheese sauce from cashews and then this, I much prefer the texture of this one…it actually goes BETTER with pasta and reminds me more of classic mac ‘n’ cheese texture. Whenever I make the cashew ones…they tend to turn to an icky texture after a while. I was surprised at how much we all preferred this one, lol!
Sounds like you’ve been working your usual magic in the kitchen! 😀
xoxo
Hi Brandi!
Your cheese sauce looks so good! I may try to trick my 10 years old carnivore into eating it (he loves nachos and mac&cheese). But it’s so hot already in Texas, that I don’t want to heat up the house for baking/roasting zucchini… what do you think about just water sauteeng or steaming it, would it make much difference?
Hi Alfiya! I’m in Texas too! Sure, I think steaming it would be just fine! I wouldn’t water sautee it though, because that might make the sauce more runny. Please let me know how your child likes it! Thank you!
Brandi, you really did well with this one. I’ve made many cheezee sauces and this one is at the top of the list. It’s really tasty with great texture and such simple ingredients. I will be using this one a lot. Thanks again.
You are so awesome Estee! I’m so happy you made it so fast! I’m honored this one went to the top of the list! I love your photo on Facebook you shared, it turned out exactly like mine did! Thanks so much for making it and providing feedback!
Utterly dippable!!
O my…this is perfection!
Thank you so much Rebecca, so kind of you!
Oh wow! My husband’s birthday was April 1st and we celebrate “birthday month”, which often involves more decadent recipes, since we don’t give gifts. The hubs is a cheese addict – to the point where my mom nicknamed him “the mouse”, haha! He has been so supportive of our journey to being plant-based, but cheese is literally the one thing that has been the most difficult to avoid / resist temptation. I will definitely be making this for him in honor of his continued birthday month as mac & cheese is his all time favorite! Thank you so very much for this recipe!
Also, isn’t the Vitamix like seriously, the best invention EVER?! We just traded in our Blendtec for the Vitamix a couple weeks ago and it is definitely worth every single penny!
Hi Carey! Haha…mouse! Cute! I understand your hubby, cheese is always that one food that people miss the most….great thing though that there is wonderful alternatives to meet those cravings and they are so much healthier! I really hope he loves it as much as all the other reviews coming in! It really does taste so similar to dairy cheese and if you add jalapenos and/or tomatoes, it tastes like an incredible nacho cheese! It really is the best vegan cheese sauce that I’ve made since I’ve been vegan and the fact that it’s fat-free makes it even more shocking! Please let me know how he likes it!
This looks SO GOOD! Love that it’s cashew-less, I looooove cashews, but never want to use it for cheese sauce, I’d much rather keep ’em for cashew butter so this is awesome. Definitely going to grab some potatoes next time I’m at the store!!
Thank you so much Leah! Yeah, I love cashews too, but I just haven’t loved them in cheese sauce…I can always kind of taste them and as the cheese sauce sits, I don’t like how the texture turns kind of mealy. This new sauce will be my go-to now…it’s just 8 ingredients and easy and simple…..and super fast!
looks so yummy!!!
Thanks so much Andie! It is quite tasty!
OMG! Never in a million years would I have guessed zucchini!! Wow! Can’t wait to try this. Gold potatoes make the creamiest mashed potatoes, so I can only imagine how amazing this is. And toddler approved?! Yay!!
Just wondering if you can use plain paprika instead of smoked. I’m not a fan of smoked paprika
Absolutely! I just updated the recipe to reflect that. Since smoked paprika is stronger, than you may even be able to add more regular paprika…just add and taste.
Drop to your knees yummy Brandi.
I haven’t had Mac n cheese for over 5 years and this one is calling me loud and clear. You’re a potato Wizard…
Drop to your knees yummy Brandi.
I haven’t had Mac n cheese for over 5 years and this one is calling me loud and clear.
This looks magically cheesy!! I am having quest flashbacks just looking at it! Awesome Brandi 🙂
Brandi you did it again, amazing. I do love nutritional yeast, actually just as much as cheese and your sauce sounds so good. Love the addition of the yukon gold potatoes, my favorite. They are so creamy and sweet and perfect for the cheese sauce.
Just wondering how this would be without the nutritional yeast. For some reason it does not settle well with me, and it’s gotten worse over time where the smell of it even affects me. Any tips on not using it?
Hi Joanne! Unfortunately, the taste is going to be greatly affected without nutritional yeast. It is a key component to giving vegan “cheeses” their cheese flavor. You can try adding a bit more soy sauce and a little tahini, since that combo gives a slight nutty/cheesy flavor….or even try adding some miso, but I have not tested that at all and not sure how much it would affect the flavor. If you try it, please let me know!
Thanks, I will definitely let you know how it comes out.
From what I’ve read, Dijon mustard along with the soy sauce (or liquid aminos if vegan) is also a good option.
I have an aversion to nooch. I find dry mustard helps a lot.
Hi Joanne. You might try nutritional yeast that is not fortified. it could be the added B vitamins bothering you. Most nutritional yeast contains added B vitamins which gives it the “smell” you mention. They do not occur naturally in the yeast. It is a little more expensive – why, I don’t know – but worth a try. Nutritional yeast is such a critical ingredient in vegan cheeses.
Joanne – I just saw this recipe for the first time so I haven’t tried it yet … 🙂 But in other cheeze recipes I have made, I use white or yellow miso. You might try this in place of the nutritional yeast and the soy sauce. It is salty and has a cheesy flavor. Good luck and let us know 😉
This was delicious. Thankyou.
Thank you so much Margaret, I’m so happy you loved it!
Hi Brandi, I’ve had the same issues with nutritional yeast not settling well in my tummy too. Then I gave the nutritional yeast product by therawfoodworld.com a try. Delicious and no tummy troubles. ;D